'An unbreakable plurality of the GOP explicitly wants fascism'

'The authoritarian shift of the Republican Party, led by Donald Trump'

Bryann Tannehill in The New Republic

Former President Donald Trump and the GOP are "not even bothering to try to hide their authoritarian aims anymore," says Bryann Tannehill in The New Republic. Trump is calling opponents "vermin" out to "destroy America," and arguing that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our nation." Instead of condemning his "Hitlerian overtones," Republicans are lapping it up. "The horrifying conclusion is that there is plenty of appetite within the party for this sort of rhetoric."

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'Blaming Black outcomes on the criminal justice system will do little to help the Black underclass'

Jason L. Riley in The Wall Street Journal

Another academic paper has called into question the "notion that the U.S. criminal-justice system is stacked against Black people," says Jason L. Riley in The Wall Street Journal. Two Stetson University sociologists, Christopher Ferguson and Sven Smith, analyzed 51 studies on sentencing disparities published between 2005 and 2022 and found "overrepresentation among perpetrators of crime explains incarceration disparities" — not racism. Blaming "systemic bias" may "help activists raise money" but it won't "help the Black underclass." 

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'It's time for America to return to Afghanistan'

Kathy Gannon in The New York Times

Washington has tried to isolate the Taliban government that took over as the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, says Kathy Gannon in The New York Times. But leaving Western embassies in Kabul vacant isn't "going to get girls back to school." It will only backfire like it did the last time the U.S. tried "to pressure the ruling Taliban" into moderation. It's time to admit "past policies have failed" and "commit to greater engagement."

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'The political case for Haley is the moral case against her'

Will Saletan in The Bulwark

Chris Christie "is right," Nikki Haley is "a coward," says Will Saletan in The Bulwark. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu wants Christie to drop out of the Republican primaries to boost Haley's chances of beating former President Donald Trump. Sununu argues that, unlike Christie, the former South Carolina governor "has managed not to antagonize too many pro-Trump voters." But it's "craven self-preservation" like Haley's "that gave Trump power over the GOP in the first place."

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