We live in a partisan age, and our news habits can reinforce our own perspectives. Consider this an effort to broaden our collective outlook with essays beyond the range of our typical selections.
FROM THE LEFT
From “The Most Dangerous Law in America,” by Joseph Nunn in Democracy Journal at tinyurl.com/22w9vyt9.
The context, from the author: The Insurrection Act is a nuclear bomb hidden in the United States code, giving presidents unimaginable emergency power. No president has abused it. Yet.
The excerpt: Allowing the president unbounded authority to deploy troops domestically goes against core constitutional principles. It also invites abuse. In a host of scenarios — from political protests to the crisis at the Southern border — the Insurrection Act, in the wrong hands, could be used in ways that are more likely to cause emergencies than to resolve them. In such cases, the courts would likely deem themselves powerless to intervene, and Congress might be unable to muster the supermajority necessary to restrain the president.
From “The First Three Months,” by Anthony Fauci in The Atlantic at tinyurl.com/2f7pytvn.
The context, from the author: I took no pleasure in contradicting the president of the United States. I have always had a great deal of respect for the Office of the President, and to publicly disagree with the president was unnerving at best and painful at worst. But it needed to be done.
The excerpt: Admitting uncertainty is not fashionable in politics these days, but it is essential in my work. That’s the beauty of science. You make a factual observation. If the facts change, the scientific process self-corrects. You gather new information and data that sometimes require you to change your opinion. This is how we better care for people over time. But too few people understand the self-corrective nature of science. In our daily press conferences, I tried to act as if the American public were my patient, and the principles that guided me through my medical career applied.
From “The Most Under-Covered Story of 2024: Trump and Right-Wing Extremism,” by David Corn in Mother Jones at tinyurl.com/2xp9ku7w.
The context, from the author: For decades, there’s been an ugly swamp of bigotry, hatred, and intolerance on the right. Republicans have often played footsie with its denizens. ... But (former President Donald) Trump has enthusiastically leaped into this muck, bear-hugging and elevating extremists and miscreants. And he seems poised to welcome them into a Trump 2.0 administration. This ain’t a secret. But it practically might as well be, if the media and the Democrats don’t tell the story of this ongoing crusade loudly and often.
The excerpt: (One example) is Project 2025, the operation organized by the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing think tanks to develop a far-reaching agenda for a second Trump term that would grant him expanded powers to run an authoritarian-ish government in which he could order the prosecutions of his foes and critics and demand loyalty oaths from federal workers.
FROM THE RIGHT
From “Yes, We Need ‘Camps’ for Illegal Immigrants,” by Rrich Lowry in The National Review at tinyurl.com/3cameabf.
The context, from the author: Detention is a key part of enforcement.
The excerpt: The less inflammatory synonym for “camps” is enhanced ICE detention space, but that doesn’t have the same ring. The point of detention, by the way, isn’t to hold people, it is to remove them, as Trump noted the other day. Immigration hawks would be happy to skip the detention phase and simply turn around illegal immigrants at the border, or pick them up within the U.S. and send them back home immediately. If the ACLU and other open-borders organizations didn’t do so much to fight removal, there’d be less need for detention. The perverse effect of the use of the word “camps” is that it takes something that is normal and authorized — nay, mandated under federal law — and makes it sound illicit.
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Explore all your optionsFrom “Nothing Is More American Than The Summer Road Trip,” by Christopher Jacobs in The Federalist at tinyurl.com/yeysy8pj.
The context, from the author: I rediscovered the joys of the road trip through an unfortunate twist of fate. Nearly three years ago, my mother’s health deteriorated such that her continuing to drive became unwise and impractical. As such, I ended up inheriting her automobile.
The excerpt: Some months after the shock of this family health scare subsided, it dawned on me: I have a car in my back yard. More than a decade of living without an automobile in the nation’s capital had conditioned me to rely on public transit. And while maintaining a car was a financial luxury I could not afford right after I purchased my home, paying off my mortgage, not to mention the grant of a free and well-preserved automobile, meant I now had the means to use this car to explore. And explore I have. What started off as day-long sojourns to nearby locales turned into weekslong excursions to far-flung destinations. My car has taken me to major sporting events that represent pure Americana: the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500 and the Kentucky Derby. In between the big spectacles, I’ve also found time to explore scenic byways and small towns, from Madison, Indiana, to Madison, Georgia.
From “No, Biden’s Not Stuttering — but Could His Bizarre Speech Pattern Be Something Known As ‘Cluttering?’” by Bob Hoge in RedState at tinyurl.com/5ykmz76m.
The context, from the author: I don’t relish in (President Joe) Biden’s speech impediment, his robotic gait, or his apparent confusion, but to tell us we’re not seeing it is the height of gaslighting. Their effort to convince you that the entire narrative is “fake” is not convincing, and few are buying it.
The excerpt: The bottom line is that the left can babble on all day about “cheap fakes,” but we’re seeing — and hearing — Biden’s decline right in front of our eyes and ears. Take any raw, unedited video or audio of Biden lately, and you don’t need to alter it to see that he is severely compromised.
