Once all the votes are counted, two things will be true: One, the United States will have its greatest electoral turnout since 1900, potentially as high as ⅔ of eligible voters. And two, nearly half of those voters will have cast ballots for Donald J. Trump.
Pause for a moment and ask yourself: How does that happen? How does a man get this close to reelection after demonstrating catastrophic incompetence as President, abusing the office to enrich himself, flagrantly violating federal law, and apathetically allowing a preventable pandemic to spread unchecked and kill a quarter-million Americans?
There is only one…
There’s this phrase I’ve heard for most of my life, but especially in the last few years: “This is not who we are as Americans.”
I heard it after Trump won in 2016. I heard it when Nazis marched on Charlottesville, Virginia, and I’ve heard it a lot in the days following the attempted coup by Trump loyalists in Washington. Each time it’s been in response to a demonstration of the racism and white supremacy that poisons America.
And here’s the thing: It’s a lie. This is most definitely who we are.
In addiction treatment, the saying goes that “the…
Dear Joe,
You won’t remember me, but we’ve met. It was 1993, and I was 14 and part of a group of high school students from Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware who collectively drafted a clean water bill. Our sponsor was Harris Wofford (wish he were still with us to see this day), but you made a point to come over and introduce yourself. You shook our hands and told us to stay involved in our government. So here I am, taking your advice and staying involved.
First of all, congratulations. After devoting most of your life to the service…