“The mob is easily deceived, for it judges by appearances.” Aristotle’s words speak to a dangerous flaw in human nature: how easily fear can be stoked, trust compromised, and institutions dismantled from within. In 1947, amid growing fears of communist influence, President Harry Truman issued an executive order authorizing a “loyalty investigation of every person entering civilian employment” in the...

What do we owe the people who dedicate their lives to public service? Should the security of their jobs—and by extension, their families—be subject to the whims of those in power? Across the country, federal workers were preparing for the fallout of a sweeping purge of the federal workforce by the White House, but Ryleigh Cooper didn’t figure it would include...

Let me get this straight: … the Senate will vote to approve a woman with ties to authoritarian leaders, a man who has pushed vaccine conspiracy theories for years, and a man on the bubble who openly plans to fire thousands of career FBI agents who investigated Trump’s role on January 6, and have the White House oversee the agency....

After learning that one of Donald Trump’s first actions as president pardoned nearly all of the 1,600 January 6, defendants, police officer, Michael Fanone–who was almost beaten to death by Trump supporters said this: “I have been betrayed by my country and I have been betrayed by those who supported Donald Trump. Whether you voted for him because he promised...

“[President Trump] then engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the legitimate results of the election in order to stay in power.”—Final Report on the Special Counsel Investigation into Efforts to Interfere with The Lawful Transfer of Power Held on January 6, 2020 Despite the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report, one thing is clear: amid the relentless...

Last week, ABC News announced a $15 million settlement to resolve a defamation lawsuit involving the network and news anchor George Stephanopoulos. The lawsuit stemmed from Stephanopoulos’s inaccurate report that president-elect Donald Trump had been found “liable for rape” of writer E. Jean Carroll. In reality, Trump was liable for “sexually abusing” Ms. Carroll, not for rape, as defined under...

What began as a commentary about team Trump’s missed deadline to submit an ethics code—a legally required document meant to reassure the public about transparent and ethical leadership—has morphed into something much darker. Trump has been transparent, but not about an ethics code, but his frightening, self-serving picks for top cabinet posts. Tulsi Gabbard has been chosen to become Director...

Published in 1937, Walter Lippmann’s An Inquiry into the Principles of the Good Society feels especially relevant today, given the current state of politics. Lippmann was a standard-bearer of the hope for a better American society, and his insights on leadership and the moral compass that should guide public life are spot on. An astute observer of the political landscape,...

We know the darkness—we’re living it—but what about the light? America’s moral conscience reflects our evolving values, shaped by both successes and failures. We’ve seen progress in Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, LGPTQ+ rights, but we’ve also faced dark chapters—slavery, the mistreatment of Native Americans, Japanese internment, McCarthyism, and Watergate. Each of these pivotal moments, both the triumphs and the trials,...

It doesn’t take the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to unleash widespread chaos and destruction—just one . . . and they’re all rolled into Donald Trump: Cynicism, Contempt, Deceit, and Retribution. Trump’s dark prophetic vision—as South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem framed it—is that “this election is a battle between good and evil.” With 15 days left to the election,...