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Lincoln’s midterms: The lessons of 1862, and how they may still apply

Aug 14, 2022 | , ,

Abraham Lincoln Speaking During one of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Charleston, Illinois, USA, September 18, 1858. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

When Joe Biden met last week with a “select group of scholars” for a “Socratic dialogue” about America’s future, the esteemed historians compared the current crisis facing our democracy with two other historical periods: The years immediately preceding the Civil War, which broke out shortly after Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election, and the years before World War II, when proto-fascist or explicitly fascist movements like those led by aviator Charles Lindbergh popped up all over the land....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Right-wing snowflakes love to whine about free speech — this socialist went to jail for it

May 29, 2022 | , ,

American labor leader, US Presidential candidate, and prominent socialist Eugene V. Debs (1855 – 1926) waves to supporters following his release from prison on Christmas Day, December 25, 1921. PhotoQuest/Getty Images

Nothing divides Americans like the question of free speech: What it means, who deserves it and who does not. Conservatives like to complain about being “censored” or “canceled” for their attacks on LGBTQ rights or mask mandates, but lately have started trying to impose all kinds of restrictions on speech in education, especially on issues of gender identity, sexual orientation and race....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Can Democrats break the midterm curse? Maybe — consider the example of 1934

Dec 26, 2021 | , ,

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images

Now that Joe Manchin has sounded the death knell — at least for the moment — for Joe Biden’s Build Back Better package, Democrats are doomed in the 2022 midterm elections.

Or, wait: Are they? Sometimes the “laws” of politics (or economics) are characterized as immutable, akin to the laws of physics....

Originally posted on salon.com

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The Revolution of 2020: How Trump’s Big Lie reshaped history after 220 years

Nov 14, 2021 | ,

John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson, Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden Photo illustration bu Salon/Getty Images

There are few words as overused as “revolution,” which has many Merriam-Webster definitions and here means “a fundamental change in political organization.” While people who discuss politics are prone to dramatic talk of “revolutions,” few of the American presidential elections described that way really merit the term....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Is Trump like Andrew Jackson? Yeah — in all the bad ways, and none of the good ones

Oct 10, 2021 | ,

U.S. President Donald Trump, beneath a portrait of populist President Andrew Jackson, speaks before the swearing-in of Rex Tillerson as 69th secretary of state in the Oval Office of the White House on February 1, 2017 in Washington, DC. Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images

In a recent editorial for The Washington Post, historian J.M....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Think Biden is a “failed” president who can’t get re-elected? Consider Bill Clinton

Oct 3, 2021 | ,

Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images

It is historically ignorant to describe Joe Biden as a failed president, which hasn’t stopped pundits from trying. From MSNBC to New York Magazine, the view has emerged that if Biden’s package of infrastructure and spending bills falls flat, it will be his political death sentence....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Fascism makes a comeback — but nothing about its methods is especially new

Sep 19, 2021 | ,

Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images

On Nov. 3, 2020, the American people conclusively decided to make Donald Trump their first one-term president in more than a quarter-century. On every previous occasion when an incumbent president was defeated — it had happened 10 times before Trump, the loser president at least swallowed his pride and honored the democratic process....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Only one presidential election has provoked civil war — at least until now

Sep 5, 2021 | , ,

Donald Trump, Abraham Lincoln and Joe Biden Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images/Drew Angerer/Jim Watson/Hulton Archive

Before Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020, only one presidential election had resulted in massive violence against the federal government. That of course was the election of 1860, which was as divisive as any in history and plunged the United States into the Civil War....

Originally posted on salon.com

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Untwist your knickers, Trump fans: History says the 2020 election was nothing special

Aug 1, 2021 | ,

Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, JFK and Richard Nixon Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images

In his cascade of lies about the 2020 election, Donald Trump preys on the desire of his snowflake supporters to believe that they’re special. The thing is, they’re not.

I live in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, a swing region in a swing state. ...

Originally posted on salon.com

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“An act of war”: How does the insurrection fit into the larger history of violence in Congress?

Jun 20, 2021 | ,

Asked to reflect on the events of Jan. 6 — not in his official capacity as a member of Congress but as a witness to history — Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., called out several of his Republican colleagues by name.

“I look at [Alabama Rep. Mo] Brooks and [Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor] Greene and [Colorado Rep....

Originally posted on salon.com

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