It’s hard to find strong enough adjectives to describe the unmitigated disaster the Senate hearing on the nomination of Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense was. Even the few Republicans who had expressed previous concerns about his nomination handled him…
A peaceful January 6 offers little reassurance about our democracy
On Sept. 11, 2024, two months prior to the 2024 election, the Secretary of Homeland Security designated Jan. 6, 2025, as a “National Special Security Event.” The press release announcing this decision explained this designation had been made based on recommendations from…
Three highlights from PRRI’s post-election survey
The color line in the American religious electorate As has been the case for the last four decades, when the political parties began sorting themselves along ethno-religious lines in the wake of the Civil Rights movement, the largest voting divides…
Trump’s dangerous closing message to his white Christian followers
Down the home stretch of the campaign, Donald Trump has doubled down on his message of Christian nationalism and white grievance. While his speeches have indeed become more meandering and more extreme, they nonetheless contain a coherent appeal that taps…
The survey findings keeping me up at night
Like every other high-quality survey, the topline results of PRRI’s American Values Survey shows the presidential election — both at the national level and in the battleground states — as a toss-up. Moreover, the PRRI data generally confirm earlier Pew…
Trump officially disavows Project 2025, but does he reject its vision for America?
The big news today was that Paul Dans, director of “Project 2025: The Presidential Transition Project,” is stepping down from his position at the Heritage Foundation, which spearheaded the project. The policy blueprint and political playbook is publicly supported by…
We can’t let political violence be used to silence concerns about rising political violence
On the flight home from our family vacation on Saturday, my phone lit up with messages about the horrific and thankfully unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at his rally in rural Pennsylvania. In the wake of that awful event,…
What, to the white American, is the 19th of June?
On July 5, 1852, the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester invited Frederick Douglass to give a speech on the 76th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which became known by its central piercing question, “What, to the American slave, is your…
Trump the totem
Last week’s historic verdict is worth rehearsing. On May 30, Donald J. Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a crime. Twelve ordinary citizens unanimously found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in…