Monday Nov 21, 2016
WHAT WE’RE FOLLOWING
‘Hail Trump’: That’s how a group of white nationalists saluted the November 8 victory of the president-elect this weekend at the annual conference of the National Policy Institute, as seen in an exclusive video filmed by The Atlantic. The disturbing scene came during an after-dinner speech by alt-right leader Richard Spencer, who among other anti-Semitic and racist statements described America as “a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity.” His audience cheered, and many raised their arms in Nazi salutes. Trump has not endorsed these statements, of course, nor has he asked white nationalist groups for their support. But the sentiment is alarming.
Democracy Now: There’s no question that Trump legitimately received enough electoral votes to secure the presidency. And yet, as mail-in and absentee ballots continue to be counted, Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote is over 1.5 million and growing—a wider margin, as one reader notes, than that by which seven presidents have won office. That’s part of the reasoning behind calls for the electoral college to vote against Trump; another compelling reason is that stopping the rise of a reckless demagogue is just the purpose for which the electoral college was designed. It would be a grave step to break the norms of how American presidents are chosen, but to many of Trump’s critics, this is a grave situation—and at least two electors are trying to make it happen.
Around the World: Trump’s election has also called into question the future of America’s alliances, after he criticized the nation’s obligations to its allies on the campaign trail. South Korea, Japan, and other allies in Asia and the Pacific are concerned about whether the U.S. will back them against the rise of China as a regional power and North Korea’s growing nuclear capacities. Meanwhile, NATO has a couple of possible paths ahead—and whether the alliance will hold may depend on Trump choosing between NATO and Russia.
What we covered this weekend: Trump’s potential conflicts of interest, the question that underpins the death penalty, rewriting the Bible’s “curse” on women, the real media bubble, the emotional labor of waitressing, the lessons of 1984 in 2016, and the future of the Trump-Putin bromance.
SNAPSHOT
Police use tear gas and water cannons against protesters attempting to force their way through barricades at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline on November 20, 2016. More photos from the protest here. (Stephanie Keith / Reuters).
WHO WE’RE TALKING TO
William Darity Jr., an economist, discusses whether Trump’s policies will help close the wealth gap between black and white Americans.
Alexander Todorov, a psychologist, explains how exposure to different people can help overcome biases—more easily than scientists once thought.
John Hanke, CEO of the company that developed Pokémon Go, discusses how augmented reality will change the way we experience tech. Watch here.
Torry McAlvain Jr., a project engineer at the Idaho construction company his family has run for three generations. “We’re just a hard-working blue-collar workforce,” says McAlvain. “I think that everybody in Idaho, in a way, has that blue-collar mentality. That’s rolled right into who I am as a person.”
How has your community shaped your career? Does your job serve the specific needs of the place where you live? Or, do you carry the values you learned growing up into your working life elsewhere? We’d like to hear your stories: hello@theatlantic.com.
2 Comments
What a comprehensive post!
ReplyDelete“It is now no more that
toleration is spoken of,
as if it was by the
indulgence of one class
of people, that another
enjoyed the exercise of
their inherent natural rights.
For happily the government
of the United States,
which gives to bigotry
no sanction - to persecution
no assistance, requires only
that they who live
under its protection
should demean themselves
as good citizens.”
George Washington
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AngIBct938
ReplyDeleteThanks for being here.