Donald Trump

Middlebury, Vt. (Special to Informed Comment) – Four years ago, before the 2016 election, I wrote in these pages about my search for the appropriate literary or folkloric character with we could understand Donald Trump and his supporters. As a scholar of religion and mythology I felt in dire need of archetype with whom i […]

Donald Trump

Pandemic Failure, Vaccine Success Indict American Monopoly Capitalism

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The contrast between the unprecedented failure of the United States to deal successfully with the coronavirus pandemic, and the success of pharmaceutical companies in coming up with effective vaccines in record time is bittersweet. The reason for the difference is that no one could make any money on mitigating the […]

Donald Trump

America already had Fascism in Jim Crow; is the Trumpie Dream a Totalitarian Amerika?

Leif E. Vaage

Toronto (Special to Informed Comment) – It is widely recognized that the Nazis learned from the example of the United States of America about politics in a racist key. It is important to recall that before the Nazis came to power, there was already the long-standing example of Jim Crow in the Deep South. The […]

Conspiracy Theories

How and Why the American Judicial System Saved the U.S.A. from Trumpism

Ted Becker

By Ted Becker No president has so many close associates from his election campaign and his administration tried in the federal criminal courts—and convicted or pleaded guilty—than Donald J. Trump did in his lone term. Score big points for the U.S. federal courts’ judicial independence for that alone. However, despite the 10 “obstruction of justice” […]

Donald Trump

How US Sanctions have Contributed to the 50K Dead of Coronavirus In Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The US financial and trade blockade of Iran, which has strangled its economy, has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s coronavirus response. Nick Paton Walsh, Jo Shelley, Ramin Mostaghim and Scott McWhinnie at CNN did a great story on this heartrending travesty. They write, ‘Retired teacher Khalif Farahani […]

Authoritarianism

A Well-Timed Atrocity: How Trump could yet try to Make a Coup and how to stop it

Scott Corey

Quincy, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – During the Presidential campaign, some very respectable voices expressed concern that the current administration might be planning a coup against the Constitution. Now hope of peace prevails even though intransigence at the top and a closing window of opportunity should, logically, intensify concerns. Is the threat of a […]

Authoritarianism

Ritual Coup: Republicans hope that by Performing a One-Party State, they will one Day Achieve it

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Today’s Republican Party is one big denial of reality. If it were only that, however, it would merely be madness. Rather, the denial of reality is a form of ultimate power-seeking. In the bizarre mental world of Republicans, Joe Biden lost the presidential race. Some 75% of them tell pollsters […]

Democracy

Blue Arizona: Pandemic, Trump and racism drove Decisive voter turnout in some American-Indian tribal communities

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Anthony J. Wallace ( Cronkite News) – PHOENIX – Enthusiasm across Arizona was higher this election than in the 2016 presidential contest, and final results show the contrast was even more stark in Indian Country, where voters said they were especially motivated because of the COVID-19 pandemic and issues of race. A census analysis […]

Donald Trump

How COVID-19 led to Donald Trump’s defeat

The Conversation

By Abel Brodeur, Leonardo Baccini, and Stephen Weymouth | – Did the COVID-19 pandemic doom Donald Trump’s re-election? Our study examining the effect of COVID-19 cases on county-level voting in the United States shows that the pandemic led to Trump’s defeat on Nov. 3. Our analysis suggests that, all things being equal, Trump would likely […]