Politics | Voter.org

Ro Khanna Wants to Be the Future of the Democratic Party

April 1, 2024 Party, Wants, Khanna, Democratic, Future0 comment

Photographs by John Trotter In January, as the 2024 primary season got under way, Representative Ro Khanna stood in the middle of a spacious New Hampshire living room and marveled at the dozens of Democrats who had crammed in. “What enthusiasm for President Biden!” Khanna said as the crowd cheered. The California progressive wasn’t in the land of would-be presidents to promote himself—at least not directly. He came here to boost his party’s flagging 81-year-old incumbent. Khanna represents Silicon Valley, but he’s lost count of how many times he’s been…

A Senator Who Loved to Kibitz

March 28, 2024 Senator, loved, Kibitz0 comment

Say what you will about Joe Lieberman, the self-described “Independent Democrat” senator from Connecticut and onetime Democratic vice-presidential candidate. He was many things—honorable, devout, sanctimonious, maddening, and unfailingly warm and decent—all of which have been unpacked since his death yesterday, at 82. He elicited strong reactions, often from Democrats, over his various apostasies to liberal orthodoxy. But what I’ll miss and remember most about Lieberman was that the man loved to kibitz. It is something of a lost art, at least the in-person version, which has largely given over to…

Why Trump Won’t Stop Suing the Media and Losing

March 24, 2024 media, Losing, Trump, Suing, stop, won't0 comment

Why would the most notoriously cash-strapped man in America waste money on frivolous lawsuits? On Monday, Donald Trump—whose lawyers recently announced that he can’t come up with the money to post a $ 454 million bond in his civil fraud case—fired off yet another suit against a news organization that reported facts he didn’t like. The targets this time are ABC News and its anchor George Stephanopoulos, who Trump alleges defamed him by stating that Trump had been found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll. The case looks like a…

What Trump Supporters Think When He Mocks People With Disabilities

March 20, 2024 supporters, People, think, Disabilities, Trump, mocks0 comment

Last weekend, I stood among thousands of Donald Trump supporters in a windy airfield, watching them watch their candidate. I traveled to the former president’s event just outside Dayton, Ohio, because I couldn’t stop thinking about something that had happened one week earlier, at his rally in Georgia: Trump had broken into an imitation of President Joe Biden’s lifelong stutter, and the crowd had cackled. Mocking Biden is not the worst thing Trump has ever done. Biden is a grown man, and the most public of figures. He does not…

D.C.’s Crime Problem Is a Democracy Problem

March 16, 2024 Problem, Democracy, Crime, D.C.’s0 comment

Matthew Graves is not shy about promoting his success in prosecuting those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. By his count, Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has charged more than 1,358 individuals, spread across nearly all 50 states and Washington, D.C., for assaulting police, destroying federal property, and other crimes. He issues a press release for most cases, and he held a rare news conference this past January to tout his achievements. But Graves’s record of bringing violent criminals to justice on the…

Trump Repeats Obama’s Mistake

March 12, 2024 Obama's, mistake, Trump, REPEATS0 comment

Donald Trump has long detested Barack Obama and sought to present himself as the opposite of his presidential predecessor in every way. But in his takeover of the Republican National Committee, he risks echoing one of Obama’s biggest political mistakes. Last night, Trump’s handpicked leadership of the RNC took charge and conducted a purge. The new regime, led by the new chair, Michael Whatley; the vice chair, Lara Trump; and the chief of staff, Chris LaCivita, fired about 60 employees—about a quarter of the staff—as part of “streamlining.” The “bloodbath”…