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November is Coming: How people who choose to embrace democracy can stop Trump’s election coup

We have a president who has openly said he might not respect the outcome of our election. We have to be ready if he claims victory before votes are counted, tries to stop counting, or refuses to accept a loss. Some days I feel confident it will happen. A poll showed over 75% of Democrats think this is possible— and a shocking 30% of Republicans do too. Other days I feel confident this is tough talk from a president not good at planning ahead. Still, he is good at the kind of misdirection that can keep us complacent and...

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Knowing Who Won: The formalities of declaring the 2020 presidential election

By Amy Dacey, Executive Director of the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics, American University With the U.S. presidential election rapidly approaching at a time of extraordinary political and social disruption, the possibility of an unclear or contested result is coming under scrutiny. Unlike many other countries, where the president or prime minister is chosen by direct popular vote, in the U.S., a candidate may win the popular vote and still not be elected to the nation’s highest office. The U.S. also differs from most other democracies in that it has no independent electoral commission to certify the final...

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The danger of denial: Ignoring domestic terrorism and the propaganda that blinds us to its threat

“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes truth.” – Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda One of the greatest tools we have available to understand the world we live in is looking at the past. Humans are a predictable species. People often say history repeats itself because humanity has not evolved enough to shift away from its ugliest habits. We still kill a ridiculous number of our own species for no good reason. We still exploit the resources of the planet to make a small segment of the species rich, while...

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Gateway to Radicalization: Wisconsin cultivates extremism with ties to Michigan insurrection group

The men arrested in connection with a kidnapping plot against Michigan’s governor were connected with a movement of anti-government extremists that is active in Wisconsin. Experts who track extremists say the loosely organized groups can serve as a gateway to radicalization — and in extreme cases, that can lead to planned acts of domestic terrorism such as those described in the Michigan plot. Some of these groups deny being anti-government extremists. On the Three Percenters website, the organization states: “We are NOT a militia.” But a consistent thread among such groups is the idea that people should be prepared...

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Lord of the Flies: Small insect generates big social media buzz from Vice Presidential debate

The first and only vice presidential debate for the 2020 election was held on October 7, and it transpired about as anyone would have expected. With the poll numbers as they are, the burden was on Vice President Mike Pence to try to move undecided voters into Trump’s camp, while Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris simply had to make sure to avoid any major gaffes. But Harris is a good enough debater that she had a loftier goal, too: to make people who didn’t know her well connect with her as a person. Surprisingly, the moderator, Susan Page,...

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A wake-up call: Milwaukee activists warn Democrats not to take Black voters for granted

The pandemic forced Milwaukee’s 2020 Democratic National Convention to go virtual, but some feel the party abandons the Black communities that get them elected. As protesters outside Wauwatosa’s city hall shouted “wake up, wake up,” to energize the crowd, activist Charley Frazier remarked how just miles away, the Democratic national convention (DNC) had kicked off on what was The People’s Revolution’s 81st night of demonstrations. The coalition of organizers are made up of young activists challenging the current political system and trying to force systemic change. “This is the Milwaukee they don’t want you to see,” she said. “[It’s]...

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