Highbrow Magazine - trump administration https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/trump-administration en A Guided Tour of MAGA Country in ‘The Storm Is Here’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/21977-guided-tour-maga-country-storm-here <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 11/22/2022 - 13:50</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1jan6.jpg?itok=7cAUxjuq"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1jan6.jpg?itok=7cAUxjuq" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>The Storm is Here: An American Crucible</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Luke Mogelson</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Penguin</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>360 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Luke Mogelson was living in Paris in April 2020, when, as he recounts in <em>The Storm is Here, </em>“It started in Michigan.” There, anti-lockdown protestors swarmed the state capitol, demanding relief from what they saw as “draconian” Covid-19 prevention methods, such as wearing masks. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Seeing how much this menacing protest resembles the January 6<sup>th</sup> insurrection in Washington D.C., it certainly seems like the start of danger brewing. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Of the many so far unaccounted-for crimes of his administration, few are as pernicious as the way Donald Trump and his corrupt ilk have warped reality and called basic truths into question. Whether Trump caused the right-wing wave or expertly rode it, his shamelessness and grifter tendencies have diminished the office of the presidency. He also hastened the collapse of civility and any impulse among his followers to cooperate with so-called “enemies of the state” (that is, anyone who disagrees with him).</span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2jan6_0.jpg" style="height:607px; width:399px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">All this pales against the attempted coup d’état of January 6. And here is where <em>The Storm is Here </em>offers valuable boots-on-the-ground reportage of what happened that day, and in the tumultuous year preceding it.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Mogelson, a veteran <em>New Yorker </em>writer, returned to the U.S. in May 2020 and began reporting on MAGA activity (and protests against MAGA) across the U.S. In this way, bringing together different moments of our recent, troubled past, he offers fresh insights and details only possible from being on the front lines. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For example, at the riots exploding in Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd, he writes about a Black Lives Matter protestor’s confrontation with the police:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Bringing out a Sharpie from her bag of supplies, she started writing the phone number for a local bail fund on people’s arms. A young officer trained his gun on her and held it there … The scene is seared in my memory. Half-hidden behind his body armor and his helmet and his face visor, the young officer is almost not a person—almost a generic uniform, another badge. But as he points the gun at Simone, there is also something definitely human in his posture and his eyes. What makes him so frightening is that he is so frightened.”</span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3jan6.jpg" style="height:366px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Embedded among civilian militias like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Mogelson crafts arresting portraits of individuals falling under the sway of Trump and his cohorts. And while he and the rest of us couldn’t have anticipated January 6<sup>th</sup> in all its gory details, it’s not surprising that he finds himself caught up in the crowd’s violent assault on the Capitol:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Seconds later, the entrance gave. The officers caught in the breach fought desperately to fend off the mob while more Trump supporters attacked them from behind. One man repeatedly whacked an officer on the head with a length of plastic conduit wrapped in an American flag. Besieged from the front and the rear, the police could do little other than attempt to stay on their feet while using their bodies as obstacles to slow the stampede.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In <em>The Storm is Here, </em>we meet men and women who are furious with the federal government, with the decline in our quality of life, and with “elites” on both coasts who—in their view—do all they can to keep people down. In this respect, Mogelson’s reportage is especially significant, giving a voice to MAGA protestors, including some of the most violent among them. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Many other books analyze the causes and repercussions of right-wing extremism. Luke Mogelson takes us into the middle of it and gives it a human face. The results aren’t pretty.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Lee Polevoi</em>, Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book critic, is the author of </em>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash, <em>forthcoming in 2023.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Image Sources:</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--TaptheForwardAssist (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DC_Capitol_Storming_IMG_7939.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--DonkeyHote (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/51210156975" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Penguin</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/maga" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">maga</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/january-6" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">january 6</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/storming-capitol" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">storming of the capitol</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/maga-protestors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">maga protestors</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/right-wing-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the right wing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 elections</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/presidency-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the presidency</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 22 Nov 2022 18:50:40 +0000 tara 11481 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/21977-guided-tour-maga-country-storm-here#comments Profiles in Cowardice in the Trump Era https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12480-profiles-cowardice-trump-era <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 08/23/2021 - 11:24</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2mikepence_gageskidmore-flickr.jpg?itok=-IGavuOL"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2mikepence_gageskidmore-flickr.jpg?itok=-IGavuOL" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities </em> – Voltaire</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Chapter 1: Vice President Mike Pence</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">After his near-death experience at the hands of a pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and was seeking to hang him, Vice President Mike Pence would be the last person you would expect to take the lead in perpetuating the dangerously false myth that the 2020 election was stolen by President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies. And yet, on March 3, 2021, Pence broke his silence by writing an op-ed piece for the <em>Daily Signal</em>. The piece opposed HR 1, the voting rights bill backed by House Democrats, which proposed what Republicans believed was the radical and dangerous concept that American voters should be encouraged to vote and that the procedures should make it as easy as possible to do so. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Pence’s op-ed started out by stating: “After an election marked by significant voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law, I share the concerns of millions of Americans about the integrity of the 2020 election.” This remarkable (and totally false) reference to “significant voting irregularities” put Pence exactly where he decided he wanted to be if he expected to have any future in the Republican Party, which was now the 100 percent anti-democratic party seeking to cling to what remaining power it could through voter suppression efforts. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Simply stated, Pence and the entire Republican Party leadership realized that the only way their party could avoid becoming a permanent minority party of right-wing conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, and xenophobic populists was if the states sharply restricted voting rights. This meant requiring photo ID, signature verifications, restrictions on mail-in and absentee voting, and other Jim Crow-type laws that discouraged or prevented voters who aren’t white from exercising their voting franchise. In order to justify these restrictions, they first had to promulgate and perpetuate Trump’s Big Lie, which was that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from Trump through massive election fraud. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Across the country, Republican state legislators proposed hundreds of bills to do things such as scale back voting by mail, despite no evidence of substantial fraud with regard to mail-in voting or any other form of voting, and these voter suppression efforts became the number-one priority for Republican-controlled legislatures in several key swing states.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">If former Vice President Pence had just restrained himself from jumping on the election fraud and companion voter suppression Republican bandwagon after Trump lost the 2020 election, he would have gone down in history as one of the preeminent examples of profiles in courage during the Trump era. After all, he had resisted extreme pressure from Trump to invalidate enough state electoral slates to swing the election results away from Biden and to Trump on January 6, 2021. But Pence, to his credit, performed his constitutional responsibility on January 6 by correctly certifying the actual election result, not the fictitious one that Trump was angling for. Pence then paid the price for it by being vilified by Trump and being hunted down inside the Capitol on January 6 by a mob shouting, “Hang Mike Pence!”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Before the fleeting courage he displayed during the counting of the electoral votes in Congress on January 6, there had been nothing particularly extraordinary about Mike Pence’s tenure as vice president. He displayed a seemingly limitless ability to quietly sit on the sidelines as President Trump wildly careened from one crisis to another, usually of his own making. Pence remained silent even as his boss insisted on picking fights with our country’s friends in NATO and elsewhere around the globe while, at the same time, cozying up to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea, and other despots that he clearly admired and wished to emulate. Pence’s dedication to the president seemed limitless, and no controversy—not the <em>Access Hollywood </em>tape, the Ukraine scandal, nor the St. John’s church photo op with an upside-down Bible—ever caused Pence to break with Trump or even try to put a little daylight between them. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1trumppence_gage_skidmore-flickr.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For four long years, Pence watched this disastrous combination of White House soap opera and reality TV show with perfect equanimity. No matter how outrageous the president’s words or actions, he stood by his man with a smile permanently affixed to his face and never a single hair on his perfectly coiffed head out of place. His legendary equanimity was forever memorialized when a large fly landed on his head for a full two minutes during a televised debate with now Vice President Kamala Harris. Pence never flinched, causing the fly to eventually give up from boredom, flying off in search of a more interesting venue. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Pence came direct from central casting for his role as vice president, displaying all of the qualities that we would expect of someone playing the part of second fiddle to the leader of the free world. He was disciplined, always on message, and loyal to a fault. But then, through no fault of his own, all of the goodwill that he built up with the president and his supporters over a long and stressful four years was put into jeopardy on one fateful day: January 6, 2021. The vice president, as we all know by now, does not generally have any real responsibilities other than to stay alive and be available to step up in the event that the president dies or is disabled. Thus, the vice president is literally “only one heartbeat away from the presidency.” However, the office has been less generously described by John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s running mate in 1932, as “not worth a bucket of warm spit.” </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">While Garner’s description is memorable, it is not entirely accurate. The vice president also serves as president of the Senate, which requires him or her to do two things. First of all, he or she has to break any tie vote in the Senate with the deciding vote. Secondly, every four years, on the sixth day of January of the year following a presidential election, the vice president must preside over a pro forma certification of the Electoral College vote and formally announce who will be the next president to be sworn in on January 20. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As you may guess, this is a job any sixth-grader could handle, since it only requires the ability to add up the number of state electors for one of the candidates (in this case, President Trump), add up the number of electors for the opposing candidate (in this case, Joe Biden), and then declare the one with 270 or more electoral votes to be the winner of the presidential election. Sounds simple, right? The answer is “yes”—usually. But the 2020 election in the Trump era was anything but usual. After losing to Biden, Trump clung to the fantasy that he could retain power and continue to occupy the White House by alleging, without any basis in fact, that there had been widespread voter fraud and that the election had been stolen from him. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Trump’s scheme to overturn the 2020 election results failed to win the support of Republican state election officials and governors in key states. Even the Republican-controlled legislatures would not help him in dumping the Biden electoral slates and replacing them with Trump electors. Trump was quickly running out of time and options. The 60 or so election challenges brought by Rudy Giuliani and the rest of his legal gang-that-couldn’t- shoot-straight failed miserably in one after another state and federal court. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">These election challenges failed even in courts where Republican elected or appointed judges presided. These state and federal judges almost uniformly refused to reverse the election results in states where Biden had won narrow victories. This was not especially surprising, since judges are sworn to make decisions based upon the facts presented and the applicable law, and the Trump campaign and pro-Trump lawyers failed miserably in presenting any evidence of widespread fraud in support of their specious claims of voting irregularities. As long as they were not biased and uninfluenced by political consideration, even these Republican appointed or elected judges could not rule in favor of the Trump team while, at the same time, upholding the rule of law and their oaths to act impartially. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1congress_1.jpg" style="height:417px; width:626px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This left Trump with only one last line of defense before he had to suffer the shame and ignominy of vacating the White House. The label that Trump always liked to pin on any adversary or critic was “Loser,” and he could not bear the thought that such a label would finally, at long last, be applied to him as well. Only Vice President Mike Pence and the Republican members of Congress who were willing to usurp the Constitution and overturn the election results could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. All Pence had to do was violate his oath of office and do something that the Constitution did not permit him to do, which was to discard the Biden slates of electors submitted to Congress by Arizona and Pennsylvania and perhaps other states. Then Pence, as the president of the Senate, would recognize Trump’s bogus slates of electors for those states and declare Donald J. Trump as the once and future president of the United States. That, anyway, was the plan. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This was Vice President Pence’s ultimate loyalty test: Either back Trump and overturn the election results or incur the wrath of Trump and his increasingly agitated supporters by ratifying the victory of Joe Biden as required by the Constitution and federal law. Trump felt he could count on Pence this one last time and with good reason: Pence had done his bidding up to that point, so why would he dare cross Trump this time? </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The first signs of trouble for Trump from his erstwhile loyal factotum and vice president came when a federal lawsuit was filed against Pence in late December 2020 by Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert and 11 other Arizona Republicans who would have become presidential electors had Trump actually won that state. The plaintiffs sought to give the vice president the power to reject state-certified presidential electors in favor of “competing slates of electors” so that Biden’s victory over Trump could be overturned. The U.S. Department of Justice represented Pence in this case, and in arguing for its dismissal stated that the lawsuit was a “walking legal contradiction” because it sought to grant powers to the vice president not found in the Constitution while, at the same time, suing the vice president. Within a week, the lawsuit was dismissed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, and the appeal was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel. Both courts held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue Pence. Gohmert then appealed to the Supreme Court, which on January 7 summarily denied his petition.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In the days preceding the Joint Session of Congress that the vice president would be presiding over on January 6, Trump ratcheted up the pressure on Pence to go along with the plot to overturn the election results and prevent the Biden-Harris team from being certified. Trump publicly stated that he expected Pence to use his position to overturn the election results in swing states and declare Trump-Pence the winners of the election. Pence told Trump that the relevant portions of the Constitution and federal law did not give him that power. Trump ignored him, publicly insisting: “The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.” </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Before the start of the Joint Session, however, Pence stated in a letter to Congress that the Constitution prevented him from deciding which electoral votes should be counted and which should not, writing that “vesting the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would be entirely antithetical to” the system of checks and balances between branches of the government designed by the framers of the Constitution. He concluded: </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The Presidency belongs to the American people, and to them alone.” Trump must have thought he was bluffing, and that when push came to shove, Pence would fold like a rusty lawn chair and go along with the program carefully orchestrated by Trump loyalists in the Senate and in the House. After all, Pence had gone along with Trump on everything up until then. Trump would tell his vice president to jump, and Pence would ask, “How high?” This was just one more bridge for them to cross together. Much to Trump’s dismay, however, this one was a bridge too far for Pence. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">On the morning of January 6, the day on which a joint session of Congress met to count and certify the results of the electoral college for the 2020 presidential election, Trump held a rally near the White House at which he urged his assembled army of supporters to march on the Capitol, repeatedly expressing the expectation that Pence would “do the right thing.”  His MAGA troops then marched to the Capitol at the president’s direction and stormed it. Some rioters were overheard saying they wanted to seize Pence and lynch him, with many others loudly shouting that he should be executed. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3mikepencekarenpence_gage_skidmore-wikipedia.jpg" style="height:368px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The bloodthirsty mob of rioters searching the U.S. Capitol for Pence missed him by only a matter of seconds. <em>The Washington Post </em>reported on January 15 that Pence came “dangerously close” to the rioters during their occupation of the Capitol. He was not evacuated from the Senate chambers until 14 minutes after the initial breach of the Capitol was reported. He and his family were eventually ushered from the Senate chambers into a second-floor hideaway, but only in the nick of time. One minute later, the mob rushed onto a stair landing only 100 feet away, from which they could have seen him enter the room if they had arrived a minute earlier. Pence later approved the deployment of the National Guard after Trump delayed taking that action and after frantic calls to the White House informing Trump’s staff that many of the members of Congress were trapped in various rooms and could not leave until relief forces arrived.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, and the plot to prevent the certification of the election results that day, were without precedent in American history. The closest equivalent was the 1860 presidential election, after which seven Southern states seceded because they objected to the election of President Abraham Lincoln. After Lincoln’s inauguration, four more states joined the newly formed Confederate States of America, and two others partially seceded. And yet none of the seceding states or their elected representative in Congress claimed that Lincoln’s victory was illegitimate or stolen. Nor did anyone ever argue that Lincoln’s predecessor, the pro-slavery James Buchanan, should remain in office after the election. Until Trump, there had never been a sitting president who encouraged his supporters to forcibly stop the certification of a presidential election so he could stay in office. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Fortuitously, neither the vice president nor any of the members of Congress were seized by the mob, and none were physically injured. While still holed up in a secure room in the Capitol, Pence defiantly tweeted that “The violence and destruction taking place at the US Capitol Must Stop and it Must Stop Now. Anyone involved must respect Law Enforcement officers and immediately leave the building.” Trump was in his radio silence mode at that point, waiting to see which way the pendulum would swing. If the insurrection succeeded, he would be the beneficiary of it. If it failed, he would deny responsibility. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">While his vice president was still in peril of being captured and killed by the pro-Trump mob ransacking the Capitol, Trump unleashed a torrent of invective, attacking Pence for not doing his utmost to illegally overturn the results of the election. “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Trump tweeted. L. Lin Wood, a Georgia lawyer associated with Trump, was more explicit as to what should happen to the vice president, calling for Pence to be “executed” by “firing squad.” A gallows and a noose was actually erected just outside the Capitol. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In spite of the mortal danger that Pence was in, Trump never contacted him during the siege of the Capitol to inquire as to his well-being or that of his family members who were with him. It appeared to knowledgeable observers that Pence was being set up as a scapegoat for Trump’s failure to overturn the results of the election. Pence was understandably angry with Trump, but still held his tongue.  What he did do was more important than what he said, anyway. After the Capitol was cleared and Congress reconvened on the evening of January 6, Pence declared Biden and Harris the winners after Republican objections were voted down.” He also bluntly told the rioters: “You did not win.” Trump probably wishes in retrospect that he had chosen a vice president even more compliant than Mike Pence. It is likely that he will forever blame Pence for letting him down. Just when the Trump-incited insurrection was on the brink of success and needed him the most, Pence hesitated to jump on board, using the excuse that what Trump was asking for was not permitted by the Constitution. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For the rest of us, however, Pence’s decision to do his constitutional duty on January 6, 2021, was a historic moment of truth for the country. When Vice President Pence certified the actual 2020 election results (rather than the phony ones that Trump was looking for), all Americans grounded in reality and in favor of the continuation of our noble democratic experiment breathed a collective sigh of relief. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1u.s.capitol_noclip-wikipedia.jpg" style="height:257px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Vice President Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence then stood by at the inaugural ceremony for President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, from which outgoing President Trump was noticeably absent. Although these were courageous acts, Pence incurred the wrath of both Trump and his diehard base. As Trump re-emerged as the odds-on favorite to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, there was talk circulating that Trump would dump Pence as his vice-presidential candidate, since Pence had shown himself to be disloyal to Trump by refusing to violate his oath of office and constitutional responsibilities. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Pence squandered his opportunity to be remembered for all time as a great American hero, however, by cravenly falling back into lockstep with the other Republican Trumpists who felt it was necessary for their own political survival to reaffirm their allegiance to the Big Lie that there was rampant election fraud in the country and that sharply restrictive voting laws needed to be urgently enacted to combat this fictitious scourge upon our nation. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Excerpted with permission from the publisher, Bryant Park Press, from <em>Profiles in Cowardice </em>and<em> Profiles in Courage</em> by Kenneth Foard McCallion.  (Copyright 2021 by Kenneth Foard McCallion.  Bryant Park Press is an imprint of HHI Media Inc.)</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>KENNETH FOARD MCCALLION</strong> <strong>is author of the new books, <em>Profiles in Courage in the Trump Era </em>and P<em>rofiles in Cowardice in the Trump Era</em>.  He is also the author of the forthcoming<em> Saving The World One Case At a Time</em>. He has appeared on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “Cuomo Prime Time,” and Netflix, and his expertise has been published by dozens of major news outlets including<em> The New York Times, MarketWatch, Salon,</em> and <em>USA Today</em>. He previously worked as a prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, the New York State Attorney General’s Office, and the New York State Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes (now Medicaid Fraud Control Unit). His legal practice involves environmental health, hospitals, nursing homes, and other medically related issues, and he previously worked for the New York City Department of Health. He is a graduate of Yale University and Fordham Law School and is the author of <em>COVID-19: The Virus That Changed America and The World</em> (2020), <em>Treason &amp; Betrayal: The Rise and Fall of Individual-1</em> (2019), <em>The Essential Guide to Donald Trump</em> (2016), and <em>Shoreham and the Rise and Fall of the Nuclear Power Industry </em>(1995). Ken is also an Adjunct Professor at Cardozo Law School in Manhattan and has lectured at Fairfield University in Connecticut.</strong> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Gage Skidmore (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/29270338142" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Gage Skidmore (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/29302369541" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Noclip (</em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Capitol_Building_Full_View.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikipedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Lawrence Jackson (WhiteHouse.gov, </em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Obama_Health_Care_Speech_to_Joint_Session_of_Congress.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Gage Skidmore (</em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mike_Pence_%26_Karen_Pence_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikipedia</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kenneth-foard-mccallion" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Kenneth Foard McCallion</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mike-pence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">mike pence</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/january-6" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">january 6</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/capitol-riots" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">capitol riots</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vice-president" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vice president</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voting-rights-bill" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voting rights bill</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cowards" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cowards</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cowardice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cowardice</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Kenneth Foard McCallion</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 23 Aug 2021 15:24:04 +0000 tara 10582 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12480-profiles-cowardice-trump-era#comments Bob Woodward Turns His Mighty Pen on Trump and the Presidency https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10966-bob-woodward-turns-his-mighty-pen-trump-and-presidency <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 10/14/2020 - 09:50</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/trumpkimjongun_dan_scavino_-_wikipedia.jpg?itok=b7ew91C2"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/trumpkimjongun_dan_scavino_-_wikipedia.jpg?itok=b7ew91C2" width="480" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>Rage </strong></p> <p><strong>Bob Woodward</strong></p> <p><strong>452 pages</strong></p> <p><strong>Simon and Schuster</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, <em>Rage</em>, centers mostly around 17 recorded interviews between President Trump and Woodward between January and July 2020, although over half of the book reviews major events in the first three and a half years of Trump’s presidency. </p> <p> </p> <p>Woodward’s conclusion that the president was not suited for his job is not surprising – based on his analysis of issues plaguing Trump’s presidency, ranging from Russian interference in the 2016 election to the president’s leadership in the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.</p> <p> </p> <p>Why did the president consent to the interviews that would be reported in a book published in the year of his re-election campaign?  He had publically lashed out against Woodward’s previous book, <em>Fear</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/trumptillerson_state_department_-_flickr.jpg" style="height:266px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>One partial answer is that Trump had been advised to consent to the book because of Woodward’s coverage of previous presidents all the way back to Richard Nixon and Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s major role in exposing Watergate. Another reason is that Trump perhaps hoped that a book based on interviews with the famous reporter would result in a more favorable view of the president’s actions and policies than conveyed in the many published books critical of him by former aides, such as John Bolton. Another is that Trump enjoyed the opportunity to discuss his actions and reasons for them with an audience of one.</p> <p> </p> <p>Woodward’s description of the interviews was one of frustration with Trump’s evasiveness, mostly by changing topics when responding to Woodward’s questions in the middle of the interview. The interviews themselves were often conducted at night or on weekends and often by phone. In frustration, Woodward gave Trump a list of 14 topics he wanted to cover. It didn’t change the processes of the interviews materially.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump’s history of contradictions, and ignoring or refuting advice is a major theme of the book.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/ragebook.jpg" style="height:520px; width:345px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Trump’s first major appointees included Rex Tillerson at the State Department, James Mattis at Defense, and Donald Coates as director of national intelligence. All experienced great difficulty in both briefing and advising the president. During briefings, Trump frequently lost interest, changed topics, and dismissed information, especially in the area of intelligence.</p> <p> </p> <p>During the course of advising Trump, all three found their recommendations denied or contradicted in later public statements or tweets. The intelligence agencies were widely and publicly assailed by Trump, most famously in his comments about his private meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, in which he seemed to publicly accept Putin’s denial of election interference and his distrust of his own intelligence services. </p> <p> </p> <p>The Secretary of State was was repeatedly sidelined in relations with China, the Middle East, and during the Israel-Palestine negotiations and negotiations with North Korea. Trump had assigned most of these activities to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Tillerson was eventually fired by the president.  As a result, the president’s actions with respect to criticizing or withdrawing from previous alliances, e.g., with Iran, made the U.S. defense system more difficult to maintain.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/bobwoodward_jim_wallace_-_wikimedia.jpg" style="height:500px; width:375px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>More than half of the book is devoted to the major events, including the controversy with the FBI, the Robert Mueller investigation, the convoluted relations with North Korea, and Trump’s impeachment.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump believed that his personal relationships with other world leaders would solve longtime controversies.  These were mostly unsuccessful, and Woodward identifies many who believed that Trump was played by Putin, King Jong-un, Xi Ping, and Benjamin Netanyahu in his personal diplomacy efforts.  Flattery and praise of Trump by these leaders seldom resulted in productive results.</p> <p> </p> <p>A main focus of <em>Rage </em>is<em> </em>the president’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Denials of its importance, ignoring of public health advisories, attributions of blame to China and the WHO, misleading and incorrect statements about vaccines and treatments, and frequent contradictory statements—all have resulted in an unfocused approach to national efforts to contain the pandemic.</p> <p> </p> <p>For this analysis alone, the book is well worth reading.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>James Fozard, a </em></strong><strong>Highbrow Magazine<em> contributor, is an academic, scientist, and writer, who has written extensively for a number of scientific journals and other publications.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Shelah Craighead (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donald_Trump_and_Kim_Jong-un_(33352861498)_(cropped).jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Whitehouse.gov</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Shelah Craighead (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trump_and_Kim_pose_a_photo_before_Singapore_Summit_(square_crop).jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Whitehouse.gov</em></a><em>, Wikimedia.org, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Simon and Schuster</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Jim Wallace (Smithsonian Institution, </em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bob_Woodward.jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/bob-woodward" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Bob woodward</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rage" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">rage</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rex-tillerson" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">rex tillerson</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jared-kushner" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">jared kushner</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/netanyahu" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">netanyahu</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/xi-ping" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">xi ping</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vladimir-putin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">vladimir putin</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/white-house" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">White House</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/coronavirus" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">coronavirus</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">James Fozard</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 14 Oct 2020 13:50:12 +0000 tara 9907 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10966-bob-woodward-turns-his-mighty-pen-trump-and-presidency#comments Why Controversy Has Often Loomed Large in the History of the U.S. Census https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10696-why-controversy-has-often-loomed-large-history-us-census <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 06/17/2020 - 06:03</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1census.jpg?itok=mNh5o1KL"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1census.jpg?itok=mNh5o1KL" width="381" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>The 2020 U.S. Census is underway and in full swing. In the middle of March, right during the unfortunate uptick of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau began its efforts to conduct a headcount of all residents of the nation.</p> <p> </p> <p>Usually with a timeframe of approximately four months to allow people to respond to the questionnaire, the bureau has now <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/news-events/operational-adjustments-covid-19.html?cid=23764:census%20deadline:sem.ga:p:dm:en:&amp;utm_source=sem.ga&amp;utm_medium=p&amp;utm_campaign=dm:en&amp;utm_content=23764&amp;utm_term=census%20deadline" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">revised</a> its schedule to accommodate the ongoing health crisis, extending the response deadline as far back as October. This year also marks the first time that the population headcount will be based almost entirely online, so that respondents will be able to submit their answers through the internet rather than by mail, thus allowing for a reduction of the usual Census agents that would normally go door to door to update records or collect this vital information (although this ground force will still be strategically <a href="https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/government-elections/info-2020/census-coronavirus.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">deployed</a>, as necessary). This means that most of us don’t have an excuse not to respond to this year’s Census in one form or another, and the importance of doing so cannot be overstated.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Census is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, established by the Founding Fathers as an important facet of a working democracy. The first Census was conducted soon after the birth of the nation, when in 1790 federal Marshalls mounted their horses and fanned out throughout the newly formed United States of America to tally up its population (just short of 4 million people at the time, although George Washington and Thomas Jefferson apparently <a href="https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/1790.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">doubted</a> the accuracy of this count and estimated the number of people to be much higher). Since that first mounted expedition, the federal government stages and launches its decennial population count, with many hiccups along the way and with questions that sometimes changed to reflect the panorama of the time.</p> <p> </p> <p>For example, the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-the-census-changed-america" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">1880</a> Census, in addition to the usual headcount, also requested information on the type of soil and terrain of the land, whether it was hilly and if the soil was alluvial or clay. Native Americans were not counted at all until 1870—what that really means is that there was no count at all for Native American peoples in U.S. territory for the first 100 years of the nation’s history.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2census.jpg" style="height:338px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The word “Negro” was <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/02/25/172885551/no-more-negro-for-census-bureau-forms-and-surveys" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">dropped</a> from the race/ethnicity category beginning just with this most recent 2020 Census, after having been on the form since at least 1950 to accommodate an older cohort of African-Americans who self-identified as “Negro.” From 1920 to 1940, Asian-Indians were <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/25/the-changing-categories-the-u-s-has-used-to-measure-race" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">categorized</a> as “Hindus” regardless of their religion. And a 1902 <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/census/native-americans/1885-1940.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">directive</a> instructed agents taking Census data from Native tribes to assign women and children the surname of the husband or father even though this is not the way many Native nations assign names, and to translate animal names to English but to avoid “foolish, cumbersome, or uncouth translations which would handicap a self-respecting person.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Yet, the worth and value of the Census is paramount. One of the most well-known uses of the Census is to establish the number of congressional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. At its core, being a tally of persons living in the country, the Census serves as the official federal count for each state and district, thus determining how many representatives a state sends to Congress; to this day, the number of seats each state holds in the House depends entirely on Census results.</p> <p> </p> <p>But the Census has many other applications, and the data it provides is as rich as its history. To have an accurate population count is essential not only to determine the number of representatives sent to the lower house of Congress, but also for a myriad of other things that may not be readily apparent. For instance, Congress also uses population counts to determine federal grants, aid, and other government-provided funds to congressional districts. In other words, it helps determine how much federal money is given to states to help fund hospitals, schools, community colleges, etc.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Census can even be used to establish officially recognized Native American tribes. During the 1970s, for example, Census <a href="https://rewire.news/article/2019/12/09/paper-genocide-the-erasure-of-native-people-in-census-counts/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">counts</a> played a key role in establishing the sovereignty of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts, when they were asked to prove that they were a culturally unified people when the Census data proved inconclusive. At the time, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1978/01/07/archives/indians-lose-in-court-in-fight-to-gain-land-jury-says-mashpee-group.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">jury</a> found that the Mashpee were not really native, a decision that was eventually overturned in 2007, when the Mashpee were finally afforded the title of federally recognized tribe which, among other things, secured them with a land trust and native nation sovereignty. In 2018, the U.S. government <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/native-tribe-could-lose-reservation-land-under-new-trump-administration-guideline/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">questioned</a> the tribe’s land trust by citing the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934,  and as recent as March of this year, the Trump administration informed the Mashpee people that the government would revoke the tribe’s reservation status (although a judge was not <a href="https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/05/20/youre-gonna-have-a-lot-trouble-judge-tra.asp" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">pleased</a> by this turn of events and the case is currently pending). And all this because of inaccurate Census data. </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3census.jpg" style="height:412px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>This question of race, ethnicity, and origins has always been a thorny point throughout the history of the Census, least of all because its job is to basically identify any person who count as “people.” The <a href="https://userpages.umbc.edu/~bouton/History407/SlaveStats.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">first</a> Census of 1790 counted a total of about 700,000 slaves in the U.S., or about 18 percent of the population. In the South alone, 34 percent of the Southern population were slaves. But by then, the Three-Fifths Compromise had been reached three years prior during the U.S. Constitutional Convention—the same convention that eventually led to the drafting of the Constitution—to appease the Northern states which argued that the high number of slaves would give Southern states unfair legislative control, and so that the Southern states, in turn, would not bemoan any taxes related to population count. And so that first Census asked each household only five things: number of white males 16 or older; number of white males under 16; number of white females; any other free peoples; and number of slaves. In fact, the same article of the Constitution that <a href="https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/Article_1_Section_2.pdf" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">establishes</a> the Census as law (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3), also establishes the three-fifths count of non-free persons. </p> <p> </p> <p>Meanwhile, the government’s first <a href="https://www.prb.org/us-census-and-hispanics/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">attempt</a> to count its Hispanic population came in 1930, when it added a “Mexican” category to that year’s Census. It was the first and only time that the Census included this question. It decided to drop it from future forms for many reasons, but also partly because the Mexican government itself complained about the bias of this question, given that the entire Southwest used to be part of Mexico and the United States had agreed to treat residents there as citizens.</p> <p> </p> <p>It must also be noted that Puerto Ricans had <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/puerto-rico-history-and-heritage-13990189/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">received</a> U.S. citizenship in 1917, which meant that actual American citizens from Puerto Rico only had the option of choosing “Mexican” if they wanted to be categorized correctly as being of Hispanic origin. It wasn’t until 1970 when the Census included questions about ethnicity and place of origin again, now expanded to broader categories. This time around, this question still made a bit of a <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/03/03/census-history-counting-hispanics-2/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">mess</a> but for different reasons. In an ironic flop, during this 1970 Census, hundreds of thousands of people living in the Southern and Central regions of the United States misidentified themselves as South or Central American in the ethnicity category. Interestingly enough, later research found that the total data reported by the Census was still about 500,000 less than the estimated number of Hispanic-Americans in the country, even though over 1 million of the responses collected had not come from actual Hispanic-Americans, but from those in the Central and Southern United States who had mistakenly self-identified. Before this, the government simply categorized the Hispanic population as <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/08/03/541142339/heres-why-the-census-started-counting-latinos-and-how-that-could-change-in-2020" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">white</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p>The need to properly categorize the subpopulations of the country is important beyond the simple desire of knowing our demographics. This is because different populations in any given part of the country have different needs, and an accurate count can help to ensure that the appropriate federal assistance is being given, or at least proportionally distributed to meet the necessities of a subpopulation. For example, Native American youth faces a higher rate of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6708a1.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">suicide</a> and <a href="https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics/native-americans" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">substance</a> abuse than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S., and an accurate count of a reservation’s adolescents can help tribal leaders and Congress implement effective policies to combat this crisis, perhaps by funding mental health programs or providing substance abuse counseling and rehabilitation centers.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4census.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Similarly, a correct Census count of persons who have English limited proficiency in a congressional district can even help <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/voting-rights/voting-rights-determination-file.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">ensure</a> that there are enough interpreters and language assistance during elections and at voting sites, in an attempt to protect citizens’ right to vote and ensure that they are all given sufficient information to make informed decisions in a language they speak or understand.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is why minority leaders have urged the subpopulations of the country not to  discard the importance of the Census, encouraging them to take its completion seriously. Although this is easier said than done given that, especially in minority populations, there is a spread of misinformation about the Census and a general mistrust of the government. Mistrust is one of reasons the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/06/politics/census-citizenship-question-donald-trump-administration/index.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">citizenship</a> question had been such a point of contention when the Trump administration announced its plan to include it on this year’s Census. It was first posed as a way to help enforce the Voting Rights Act, under the guise that having a count of actual voting-age citizens would help the Department of Justice oversee any districts that may be tempted to disenfranchise minorities. (In a way, the Census does help enforce the Voting Rights Act—see above about language assistance at the voting booth).</p> <p> </p> <p>When that rationale failed to convince the courts given the administration’s history of overexaggerating voter-fraud conspiracies, the Trump White House then floated a myriad of other possible reasons for wanting to include the citizenship question on the Census, one of them being <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-census-redistricting-insight/republicans-want-census-data-on-citizenship-for-redistricting-idUSKCN1RK18D" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">districting</a> based on citizenship. Basically, the Census data would open the possibility of drawing congressional districts based on the population count of eligible voters.</p> <p> </p> <p>Experts were quick to criticize this strategy, noting that the drawing of districts based on voting-age citizens would be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/us/census-citizenship-question-hofeller.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">advantageous</a> to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites. This is a conclusion that the GOP’s own master strategist Thomas Hofeller arrived at during his 2015 study of gerrymandering which, in a bonkers turn of events, we only know about because his estranged daughter found thumb drives with her father’s work after he died and provided them to Common Cause, which <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/page/read-the-gops-plan-to-supercharge-gerrymandering-with-a-census-citizenship-question/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">challenged</a> the citizenship question in federal court citing Hofeller’s own study. But alas, the Constitution may prohibit this anyway, as it calls for a democracy that represents all its people, including those who may not be able to cast a ballot as is the case for children, green-card holders, and some felons, for example.</p> <p> </p> <p>Activists also argued that inclusion of the citizenship question would discourage immigrants from responding to the Census. This is because while undocumented immigrants may not be drawn to taking the Census themselves, there are many immigrant household in which an undocumented alien may live. In other words, it would have discouraged documented immigrants and citizens alike to respond to the Census if an undocumented immigrant resides in their household, fearing retaliation from the government and immigration agencies.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/6census.jpg" style="height:473px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>And this fear is not unfounded. Census data is supposed to be completely confidential, and it is never to be shared with other government agencies, except as applicable and compartmentalized for official and legal purposes. But the Census Bureau was finally forced to admit that it had played a role in the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.</p> <p> </p> <p>In 2000, after a study uncovered proof of the Census Bureau’s complicity, the agency recognized its participation and issued an <a href="https://www.census.gov/dmd/www/9-19.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">apology</a>, in which then Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt acknowledged that the bureau’s staff had proactively cooperated with internment efforts.</p> <p> </p> <p>Incidentally, Mr. Prewitt has been a vocal <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/06/739227590/former-census-director-citizenship-question-to-hurt-2020-accuracy" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">critic</a> of the citizenship question being included on this year’s Census based, in part, to this misuse of power back in the 1940s. A follow-up study in 2007 revealed that the bureau had provided microdata to the Secret Service, including individual Japanese-Americans’ names and addresses. There are some technicalities here; for example, the sharing of this information was <em>technically</em> made legal under the emergency provisions of the Second Powers Act of 1942. But its participation still contradicted the bureau’s own promises printed on their form:</p> <p> </p> <p>“Only sworn census employees will see your statements. Data collected will be used solely for preparing statistical information concerning the Nation’s population, resources, and business activities. Your Census Reports Cannot Be Used for Purposes of Taxation, Regulation, or Investigation.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Normal privacy protections have been reinstated, of course, and other restrictions have since been put in place. But it isn’t hard to understand why immigrants may have misgivings about sharing such personal information with a government agency, especially since these “protections” can easily be rescinded, say, by an executive order establishing a state of emergency (although one would hope that such an action would be challenged in the courts, just as the citizenship question was). </p> <p> </p> <p>Thankfully, there is no citizenship question on this year’s Census. Instead, the questions on the form are the <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/about-questions.html?cid=20007:%2Brespond%20%2Bcensus:sem.ga:p:dm:en:&amp;utm_source=sem.ga&amp;utm_medium=p&amp;utm_campaign=dm:en&amp;utm_content=20007&amp;utm_term=%2Brespond%20%2Bcensus" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">standard</a> fare in attempt to accurately identify the country’s demographics. There is also a myriad of ways in which to respond to the Census, including online, by mail, and even by phone, in 13 different languages. The Census is more than just a headcount; it is a vital tool that is used to create policies that directly affect all of us and to ensure that enough federal funding is allocated appropriately.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>For more information on how to respond to the 2020 Census, you can <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/ways-to-respond.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">visit</a> the Bureau’s official site. </em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Angelo Franco is</em> Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief features writer.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Coffee (<a href="https://pixabay.com/illustrations/word-cloud-census-population-data-3269304/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)                 </em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--DonkeyHote (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/24208842140" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)                     </em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Defense Department (</em><a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/603726/face-of-defense-native-american-vietnam-vet-takes-spiritual-path/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Creative Commons</em></a><em>)</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--</em><u><em> </em></u><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/fdrlibrary/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>FDR Presidential Library</em></a><em> c/o: Dwight Hammack, U.S. Bureau of the Census</em><em>, </em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census#/media/File:1940_Census_-_Fairbanks,_Alaska.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikipedia.org</em></a><em>)</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--</em><u><em> </em></u><em> </em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._National_Archives_and_Records_Administration" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline" title="en:U.S. National Archives and Records Administration"><em>U.S. National Archives and Records Administration</em></a><em> (</em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census#/media/File:Card_puncher_-_NARA_-_513295.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikipedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-census-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the U.S. Census</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/thomas-hoffeler" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Thomas Hoffeler</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/census-bureau" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Census Bureau</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hispanics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hispanics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African Americans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/constitution" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the constitution</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/citizenship" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">citizenship</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-census" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 census</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Angelo Franco</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 17 Jun 2020 10:03:04 +0000 tara 9624 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10696-why-controversy-has-often-loomed-large-history-us-census#comments Yes, A Free Press Really Matters -- Especially in Times of Crisis https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10462-yes-free-press-really-matters-especially-times-crisis <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Media</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 03/16/2020 - 06:38</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1trump-coronavirus.jpg?itok=72L9vEYO"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1trump-coronavirus.jpg?itok=72L9vEYO" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>Opinion: </strong></p> <p> </p> <p>For nearly four years, President Donald Trump, his administration, and his most adamant supporters have ruthlessly attacked the free press, frequently calling into question reporting from journalistic institutions with a long history of delivering accurate, fair information on issues ranging from healthcare to natural disasters. Simultaneously, <a href="https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/" target="_blank">he has advanced one false claim after another</a> in settings ranging from official press conferences and speeches to social media posts. As of January 20, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/20/president-trump-made-16241-false-or-misleading-claims-his-first-three-years/" target="_blank">Washington Post had tallied 16,241 false or misleading claims</a> by the president. Now – amidst the Covid-19 crisis – this behavior has the potential for devastating real-world impact measured in American lives.</p> <p> </p> <p>In recent weeks, there has been a “blame game” regarding the slow U.S. reaction to the pandemic. Almost certainly, the lack of early testing in the U.S. aided the spread of the disease, but it seems unrealistic to think that it would have somehow avoided spread to the U.S., with or without adequate testing. As an affluent, diverse country, the U.S. is a leader in global commerce populated by a citizenry that interacts with nations around the globe for business and pleasure, meaning an outbreak halfway across the world has the potential to impact people in Kansas and Iowa.  </p> <p> </p> <p>There will be time for an outbreak postmortem once the U.S. gets past the threat of the coronavirus  --  and the nation will move past it, just as it has countless challenges in the past. The question now is how many Americans will suffer and how many will die unnecessarily. Our goal should be to protect as many fellow citizens as possible, regardless of political affiliation, race, age, gender, etc. Viruses neither care about nor recognize these traits, nor should we when addressing a crisis.  </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2coronavirus.jpg" style="height:339px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Unfortunately, our efforts to safeguard the populace have been seriously undermined by the current social and political climate, rife with division and prejudice, and this climate has been not only fostered, but furthered, by the current administration. With undermined confidence in the two most important institutions of support during a disaster – government and the free press – we have more than a crisis of health: We have a crisis of faith and communication.</p> <p> </p> <p>When a world leader lies often enough, he or she loses credibility with all but those with a stake in believing and advancing the lies. For those invested in reality, that leader becomes a real-world version of the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf from <em>Aesop’s Fables</em>. When that same leader has worked to undermine trust in institutions committed to truth-telling, much of the public has no idea who or what to believe. As Dr. <a href="https://www.jhsph.edu/faculty/directory/profile/1781/joshua-m-sharfstein" target="_blank">Joshua Scharfstein</a> of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is quoted saying in a <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article241202561.html?fbclid=IwAR16Jtz9MI0MR4Yv9YXUGShQtMGQJwvo6e4HNqmsQ4rigN7zi8gEcWrycF8" target="_blank">March 15 article in the <em>Sacramento Bee</em></a>, “With mixed messages, people tend to lapse back into what’s easiest for them to believe.” And – in a time of crisis – it seems easiest for people to believe in falsehoods that lead to panic or denial -- neither of which represent a productive approach to threat mitigation. </p> <p> </p> <p>This stated, I agree with political historian Heather Cox Richardson who – in her <a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-13-2020" target="_blank">March 13 “Letters From an American” newsletter</a> – wrote that much of today’s reporting is focused on trying to get Trump administration officials “to admit they screwed up.” I not only agree with Richardson on this point, but on her follow-up assertions that we will see no such admission and that these efforts don’t serve a valuable purpose at this time. In the future, it will be valuable to reflect on the decisions that led to a delayed response to the coronavirus crisis. At present, we are where we are and should focus our efforts in more productive directions.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1nytimes.jpg" style="height:523px; width:287px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>One such direction is a restoration of trust in American institutions. It is crucial – now more than ever – that Americans have information they can believe in, and that we take steps to assure that the information is taken seriously. For instance, many seem to believe the coronavirus poses virtually no threat to younger Americans. While this is true, there are a few high-profile cases of seemingly young, healthy people becoming critically ill.</p> <p> </p> <p>For example, on March 13, the <em>New York Times </em>published the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/13/world/asia/coronavirus-death-life.html" target="_blank">story of two young doctors who became critically ill</a> after contracting Covid-19. Only one survived. Also, a <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/evergreenhealth-doctor-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-in-critical-condition/" target="_blank">40-something doctor in Washington is in critical-but-stable condition</a> after contracting the virus. This information is valuable and were it widely spread – and accepted – it could convince young people to take advisements of social distancing more seriously.</p> <p> </p> <p>I write this not arguing that young people are narcissistic. Quite the opposite. I work with college-age people daily and take great joy in my interactions. People are people, and a personal stake in issues provides the greatest motivation. Likewise, there still seems to be widespread belief that this is no big deal and that the world is merely dealing with yet another outbreak of the seasonal flu. But the flu does not shut down much of Europe on a seasonal basis, nor does it force doctors to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/who-gets-hospital-bed/607807/" target="_blank">decide who lives and dies based on available medical resources</a> rather than their knowledge and technical skill set. I can only imagine the emotional toll these heroic physicians will pay once the crisis is past.  </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1newsroom.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>This is a call for Americans to lose the tribalism promoted by political parties and other groups with inherent self-interest and place a premium on critical thinking and media literacy. It’s true that American “media” is sometimes flawed. For years, we have seen sensationalism and reductions in staff dedicated to investigative reporting and other critical issues; some media outlets demonstrate this far more than others.  Let us not forget that we have also seen some of the best journalism ever produced in news outlets ranging from the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/" target="_blank">New York Times</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/" target="_blank">National Public Radio</a> and other news sources to local broadcast, print and Web publications that routinely put reporters in harm’s way to get accurate information to the public.</p> <p> </p> <p>Some of these media organizations have faced scandals (as no media outlet is perfect), but you can separate the good from the bad by considering their track records and the way they responded to crises. For instance, the <em>New York Times</em> was alarmed when it learned that reporter Jayson Blair had been fabricating and plagiarizing stories. So, it not only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/us/correcting-the-record-times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html" target="_blank">acknowledged the flawed reporting</a>, but did its best to make corrections, annotating the stories (still available on the <em>Times</em> site) with accurate information.</p> <p> </p> <p>Also, when one considers the volume of information these news outlets process in any given year, a scandal or two is hardly proof they push “fake news.” The acknowledgement of flaws is not proof – as journalist and longtime friend <a href="https://muckrack.com/cory-farley" target="_blank">Cory Farley</a> is fond of saying – that journalists lie, but rather that good journalists take action when untruths are discovered. Furthermore, all attempts to lump these journalists under a simplistic label like “the media” is nothing more than lazy anti-intellectualism. As <em>Washington Post</em> reporter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/dear-readers-please-stop-calling-us-the-media-there-is-no-such-thing/2016/09/23/37972a32-7932-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html" target="_blank">Paul Farhi noted four years ago</a>, journalists should not be referred to as “the media” because we don’t gather daily to assure our stories line up politically and disgruntle as many consumers as possible. Sorry. Doesn’t happen.    </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3coronavirus.jpg" style="height:401px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>I am likely writing for the wrong audience (preaching to the choir, so to speak), but I hope at least one person who reads this will reconsider his or her biases and take a more scientific approach to media consumption. Rather than simply accept what one’s favorite pundit or politician says without question, conduct research and consider that maybe that person has been deriding the best news sources in the U.S., not because those sources were wrong, but because they were critical of policies or ideas in which the critic has a personal stake. </p> <p> </p> <p>Also, be aware that – as Farhi and others have mentioned before me – “the media” is not “the media.” CNN and Fox News are about as far removed from the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> as Katy Perry is from Taylor Swift (no offense to either artist, as I have both on my iPhone).</p> <p> </p> <p> This is also a plea to the current administration to halt its media war for the next 12 to 18 months, the amount of time experts expect to pass before we have a viable vaccine for Covid-19. Instead of battling our best reporters and advancing easily debunked falsehoods, perhaps the federal government can provide honest, reliable, and up-to-date information, so the public knows­ what it should and shouldn’t do to minimize the toll of the pandemic. Wishful thinking, perhaps. But it shouldn’t be. </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:         </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>Forrest Hartman, a </strong></em><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong><em><strong> contributor, is a longtime entertainment journalist who teaches in the Department of </strong></em><a href="https://www.csuchico.edu/jour/" target="_blank"><em><strong>Journalism &amp; Public Relations at California State University, Chico</strong></em></a><em><strong>. You can reach him at </strong></em><a href="mailto:forrest@forresthartman.com" target="_blank"><em><strong>forrest@forresthartman.com</strong></em></a><em><strong>. </strong></em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--<a href="https://flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/49659236886/">Whitehouse.gov</a> (Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--<a href="https://health.mil/News/Articles/2020/02/06/MHS-prepared-to-support-interagency-coronavirus-response">Cody R. Miller</a> (Military Health System, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times#/media/File:NewYorkTimesFrontPage-15Nov2012.jpg">Wikipedia</a> (Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Thomas Schmidt (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Axel_Springer_Haus_Newsroom.JPG">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020-03-06_%E2%80%94_Coronavirus_%E2%80%93_Flyers_at_Hartsfield-Jackson_Atlanta_International_Airport_wearing_facemasks.jpg">Chad Davis</a>, (Wikimedia, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/coronavirus" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">coronavirus</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/coronovirus-cases" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">coronovirus cases</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/pandemic" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">pandemic</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/media-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the media</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-times" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">New York Times</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/los-angeles-times" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Los Angeles Times</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fox-news" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Fox News</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/news" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">news</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-1" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/crisis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">crisis</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Forrest Hartman</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 16 Mar 2020 10:38:10 +0000 tara 9418 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10462-yes-free-press-really-matters-especially-times-crisis#comments Echoes of Peru in Trump’s America https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7419-echoes-peru-trump-s-america <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 02/12/2017 - 14:52</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1perucoup.jpg?itok=PHhibc76"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1perucoup.jpg?itok=PHhibc76" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/02/i-have-lived-this-story---echoes-of-peru-in-trumps-america.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Commentary:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>I remember clearly the night we lost our democracy. Peruvians woke up on the morning of October 3, 1968 to the sight of tanks surrounding the government palace, the immediate shutdown of the press, and the imposition of martial law.</p> <p> </p> <p>There are times when democracy succumbs in one fatal stroke.</p> <p> </p> <p>Then there are times – such as the one Americans face today -- when democracy is eroded by a gradual yet relentless assault that corrodes its institutions like a cancer chews up cells.</p> <p> </p> <p>In Peru, we were caught unawares by the suddenness of it all. Authoritarianism and the accompanying repression would confine us to our homes during dawn-to-dusk curfews.</p> <p> </p> <p>Meanwhile, <em>bolas</em> – rumors – swept the country, with ordinary citizens having no way of verifying whether what they were hearing was real or fake. Street demonstrations were met with water tanks knocking <em>manifestantes</em> – protestors – off their feet and tear gas burning their eyes.</p> <p> </p> <p>The protestors, of course, were maligned by the junta as unpatriotic, criminals, hooligans. The accusation was all that was needed to unleash the police state, which led to arrests, injuries, disappearances, and deaths.</p> <p> </p> <p>All the while, Peruvians held on to the hope that we would be able to reclaim our democracy – one rooted like so many around the world, in the ideals of the U.S. Constitution.</p> <p> </p> <p>In our struggle, we were to learn that democracy – like life itself – is both resilient and fragile.</p> <p> </p> <p>I recently came across a poster at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Titled, “Early Warning Signs of Fascism,” it contained the following checklist: powerful and continuing nationalism, disdain for human rights, identification of enemies as a unifying cause, supremacy of the military, rampant sexism, controlled mass media, obsession with national security, religion and government intertwined, corporate power protected, labor power suppressed, disdain for intellectuals and the arts, obsession with crime and punishment, rampant cronyism and corruption, fraudulent elections.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1trump_1.jpg" style="height:352px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>In Peru we met eleven of the fourteen conditions. In the United States today, the rhetoric, actions, and expressed intent of the current administration arguably meet all of them. I have lived this story before and the march towards extreme authoritarianism is one that inexorably follows its own logic to terrible conclusions.</p> <p> </p> <p>This means that now is the time to address the early symptoms.</p> <p> </p> <p>There are three major bulwarks against this march: institutional checks and balances, a free and independent press, and the power of a determined citizenry to take to the streets in protest when their votes have been taken away or their voices diminished.</p> <p> </p> <p>Unfortunately, as Peruvians we did not have the foundations of 200-plus-year-old democratic institutions. Historically, we had swung on a pendulum between dictatorship and democracy, robbing us of a legacy of checks and balances as counterweights. There was no ACLU equivalent to argue for our habeas corpus. We also did not have a strong press to amplify the voices on the street and to hold the regime accountable.</p> <p> </p> <p>The populace was powerless against the tanks and the usurping power of the state.</p> <p> </p> <p>It took us twelve excruciating years to remove the yoke of dictatorship, and another twenty years to restore and mature our democratic institutions to a place of stability and one where citizens have confidence in the system.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the United States, in contrast, the institutions – the pillars of our democracy – have been shaken but are still standing.</p> <p> </p> <p>We have recourse in the federal and state court systems. A vigilant and skeptical press, meanwhile, will continue to be bashed by the executive, but it is already responding, fueled by a renewed sense of purpose and aided by an outpouring of support from ordinary Americans who are increasingly reminded of the critical role it plays.</p> <p> </p> <p>And then, most importantly, are the people – democracy’s guardians. There is, admittedly, a sizable portion in the country that sees in the current president someone responsive to their fears and hopes. But there are millions more who have taken to the streets to demonstrate their opposition to things like a Muslim ban and Border Wall.</p> <p> </p> <p>Americans, when it comes to tackling a burgeoning authoritarianism in its infancy, have home field advantage. Win this struggle not just for the sake of the United States, but for democracies everywhere.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Andrés Tapia is a journalist who grew up in a bilingual, bicultural home in Lima, Perú.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/02/i-have-lived-this-story---echoes-of-peru-in-trumps-america.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/peru" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">peru</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">U.S.</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fascism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fascism</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/racis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">racis</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/protestors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">protestors</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Andres Tapia</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 12 Feb 2017 19:52:44 +0000 tara 7375 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7419-echoes-peru-trump-s-america#comments