Free Republic

President-elect Trump ran much of his campaign based on retribution and absolute loyalty. As he prepares for a second term in office, what might that mean for the future of U.S. democracy? Laura Barrón-López discussed more with Jason Stanley, a Yale philosophy professor and author of “Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future.” William Brangham: President-elect Donald Trump ran a lot of his campaign promising retribution for his enemies and asking absolute loyalty from his supporters. Now, as he prepares for a second term in office, Laura Barron-Lopez has a look at what that might mean...

When Kamala Harris dropped out two weeks ago, it hit Cory Booker hard. She may have been his rival in the race for the Democratic nomination, but her exit represented something bigger. If Harris — a friend of Booker’s and the only black woman in the race, who began her campaign with such promise — couldn’t make it to Iowa, what did it mean for him, a black man still in the fight but unable to qualify for the Democratic debate? At the heart of Booker’s dilemma is a larger question about the Democratic Party and American politics: What if...

Pete Buttigieg came into Wednesday night’s debate bracing for an onslaught that never came. Yes, Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard questioned his experience. Cory Booker dinged the young mayor’s résumé, pointed out that he himself is the “other Rhodes scholar mayor on the stage” and warned voters against picking a Democratic nominee with an “inauthentic” connection to African American voters — a bloc that has largely ignored Buttigieg’s campaign so far.

Operatives and organizers warn that Democrats are doing little to mobilize a key constituency that the president is targeting aggressively. Democratic presidential candidates are squandering a critical early opportunity to mobilize Latino voters ahead of 2020, potentially easing Donald Trump’s path to reelection, according to leading Latino political operatives in battleground states. Interviews with more than a dozen strategists and organizers revealed rising alarm at the lack of attention being paid to Latinos in swing states where they could decide the outcome of the Democratic primary and the general election. Trump is counting on a slice of the Latino electorate...

A top building trades union is launching a midterm-election assault on House Democrats who oppose construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. A letter distributed Friday by the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) to the districts of 27 House Democrats calls for union members to make sure their representative "feels the power and the fury of LIUNA this November." Their crime: signing a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last month urging him to reject Keystone, which would carry oil sands from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries.