How the Populist Moment Will Shape the Debates

How the Populist Moment Will Shape the Debates

How the Populist Moment Will Shape the Debates

The moment and the movements shaping it.

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Tuesday night, Democrats will finally hold their first presidential debate. Already ideas for the drinking games are piling up. Take a drink for any question mentioning Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server, the FBI or Benghazi. A sip for every time Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee are asked how they expect to win given their lack of support in polls or in money. A drink when the candidates are asked what they think about Vice President Biden getting in the race. Another for every time the candidates are invited to attack someone else on the stage.

And if you want to get plastered quickly, two shots for all if Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is asked in the first five minutes if he really thinks Americans will vote for a socialist. A drink for every time he’s called an outsider or he’s asked if his proposals are “realistic.” A full shot for questions on his writings from decades ago, cheap titillation utterly divorced from his qualifications.

The media narrative on the Democratic race has already congealed. Clinton, the prohibitive favorite, has been sliding in the polls, burdened by the scandals over her private server and her “character.” Sanders, the insurgent, is rising but can’t win because he’s a “socialist.” The remaining three are too far behind to count. Joe Biden, the media wait for you.

Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.

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Even before February 28, the reasons for Donald Trump’s imploding approval rating were abundantly clear: untrammeled corruption and personal enrichment to the tune of billions of dollars during an affordability crisis, a foreign policy guided only by his own derelict sense of morality, and the deployment of a murderous campaign of occupation, detention, and deportation on American streets. 

Now an undeclared, unauthorized, unpopular, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran has spread like wildfire through the region and into Europe. A new “forever war”—with an ever-increasing likelihood of American troops on the ground—may very well be upon us.  

As we’ve seen over and over, this administration uses lies, misdirection, and attempts to flood the zone to justify its abuses of power at home and abroad. Just as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth offer erratic and contradictory rationales for the attacks on Iran, the administration is also spreading the lie that the upcoming midterm elections are under threat from noncitizens on voter rolls. When these lies go unchecked, they become the basis for further authoritarian encroachment and war. 

In these dark times, independent journalism is uniquely able to uncover the falsehoods that threaten our republic—and civilians around the world—and shine a bright light on the truth. 

The Nation’s experienced team of writers, editors, and fact-checkers understands the scale of what we’re up against and the urgency with which we have to act. That’s why we’re publishing critical reporting and analysis of the war on Iran, ICE violence at home, new forms of voter suppression emerging in the courts, and much more. 

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