Jamelle Bouie

“Racial hysteria has been a part of many winning campaigns in our country. But it's rarely the only part.”

“By no means is Trump the first president or even the first Republican president to abuse the power of the office in an effort to overcome the constitutional limits of the office.”

“For many millions of Americans, time seemed to move differently under President Donald Trump. There was no breathing room - no calm in the eye of the storm.”

“We don't live in a party system where political parties have that kind of control of authority or authority over the people that they nominate for the office of the presidency.”

“This vision of Trump as tribune of the 'real America' has trickled down from Trump's most devoted acolytes to the rest of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.”

“The drama of any election night often obscures the banal reality behind voting. Even when winners and losers are clear, it takes time to count ballots. The more people in a state, county, or locality, the longer the process.”

“People should eat what they like, and traditional Thanksgiving sweet potatoes are a respectable option.”

“Americans tend to focus on external threats to our democracy: foreign adversaries wielding disinformation and subversion. But the most serious dangers have always come from inside the house, products of our own demons and dysfunctions.”

“Republican lawmakers unwilling or unable to win blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans, and other groups have used the leeway of Shelby County to institute voter purges and sharply gerrymander their electorates on racial lines.”

“Trump did not win the 2016 presidential election solely on the votes of his base; he won it after he consolidated wavering Republicans and persuaded just enough moderate and independent voters in the right places - essentially the bare minimum - to back him over Hillary Clinton.”

“When it became clear to Vance that Trump was the only game in town on his side of the aisle, he did not hesitate to twist himself into the shape of a MAGA acolyte.”

“To vote in the United States, you can't simply go cast a ballot.”

“Voter identification laws are tied to a sordid history of discrimination and vote suppression, but even procedures as uncontroversial as voter registration contain assumptions about who should participate.”

“Democracy depends on the legitimacy of the process for winning and exchanging power. Once lost, that legitimacy is difficult to recover.”

“My go-to source for beans is Rancho Gordo, which cultivates heirloom beans and offers resources and recipes.”

“On op-ed pages and around dinner tables, Americans have substantive conversations about politics. And while the facts aren't always right, the discussion is often valuable.”

“It's almost axiomatic that a party dominated by reactionary business owners is going to support, as much as possible, the interests of reactionary business owners.”

“The ring, in 'The Lord of the Rings,' represents power in all of its terrible glory.”

“Trump's authoritarian instincts - his refusal to accept or even learn the rules of the constitutional system - are a huge part of the reason he struggled in the job of president. They helped produce the chaos of his administration.”

“I'm very much a writer at heart.”