Please join me tomorrow from 1-3pm for a virtual event on the role courts play in democratic backsliding, both in the U.S. and around the world. Hosted by Center for American Progress and Court Accountability. https://rsvp2.americanprogress.org/theunitedstatesjudiciaryanddem

My new deep dive on how Trump “won” the popular vote.

I put “won” in quotes because it wasn’t his win, but Harris’s loss. The results were not a “swing right” embracing Trump/MAGA, but a vote of no confidence in Democrats (and in our system as a whole).

https://www.weekendreading.net/p/how-trump-won

Like the defendant convicted of murdering his parents claiming the high ground as an orphan. 

https://courtaccountability.substack.com/p/john-roberts-declares-himself-immune?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3184833&post_id=154084723&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=103bk&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

This is my year-end appeal: Take seriously what Abraham Lincoln said at his first inauguration: https://www.weekendreading.net/p/this-is-not-a-year-end-appeal

As I told Annie Lowrey at The Atlantic: "Beginning with Jimmy Carter, there was an increasing effort to see unions and labor as a special interest, rather than a foundational part of the party. There hasn’t been a political party in this country with working people at the table for decades."

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/republicans-democrats-workers-unions-appeal/681103/

"It is a sad day when a judge’s criticism of self-evident judicial corruption is subject to greater accountability than the judicial corruption itself."

https://courtaccountability.substack.com/p/judicial-ethics-rebuke-of-judges

We cannot forget the power we have. It’s not the power of Democrats, the media, intellectuals, elite NGOs and too-comfortable liberals who almost never fail to fail us. Rather, it’s the power of collective action and unions, the only source of durable human progress and shared prosperity.

Over the next four years, the Biden Administration, Democratic officeholders and seekers, the media, civic and religious leaders, commentators from center-right to left, and self-styled pro-democracy NGOs all but ignored the need for repair.

For those bewildered by Trump 2.0, I reprise my December 2020 post about the “Great Forgetting” of Trump’s dangers that spread after Biden’s win: “The tides didn’t breach the levees this time, but without repair, it won’t be long before they do.” https://www.weekendreading.net/p/the-great-forgetting

Essential reading from Jane Mayer -- meeting the new moment. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history

For the last two decades, all but one election has been a “change election,” because Americans are simply fed up with the system not working for them.

In 21st century America, the best strategy for winning the next election is losing the last one.

https://www.weekendreading.net/p/is-this-what-democracy-looks-like

If the reaction this week is is any indication, we continue to fail to see that Trump’s “someone” on Fifth Avenue was never an anonymous bystander; it was always us.

And now, a captured Supreme Court majority, which includes three justices he appointed, accepts that if he pulls the trigger, it will be well within his “core constitutional authority.”

https://www.weekendreading.net/p/is-this-what-democracy-looks-like

Many people analogize following the polls closely to riding a roller coaster because of all the ups and downs.

I would add to that: in the end, you arrive exactly where you began.

For more, see my Election Day Reading post: https://www.weekendreading.net/p/election-day-reading

While I can’t tell you who is going to win each Electoral College state, I can tell you this: For the third straight time, a majority of Americans will reject Donald Trump as their president and the MAGA agenda for their future.

https://www.weekendreading.net/p/kamala-harris-will-win-the-popular

The “Electoral College penalty” is not a factor that affects the outcome; it is not something you have to worry about (today).

We do have to worry about it tomorrow because the existence of the Electoral College is such a corrosive factor in our toxic politics.

And that urban-rural divide? These are the actual results (as opposed to polling) from 2020:

-Blue rural counties favored Biden by more than all of Red America.
-Urban Red America favored Biden by less than all of Blue America.

National aggregates hide very different realities in Blue and Red states.

For instance, Biden did better with white NON-college voters in Blue states than he did with white COLLEGE voters in Red states!!

In 2020, Biden would have lost the Electoral College without the unprecedented turnout of less likely voters.

The idea that Democrats need a low-turnout election to win requires privileging polls over actual voting, and ignoring how turnout actually works. There was never any way that 2024 was going to be a low turnout election by historical standards.

As we wait for results on Election Day, let’s remember a few things. (Thread)

Beware the margin of pollster: We very often see very wide variations between subpopulations in different surveys that have exactly the same result for the horse race—even for the final results!