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In photos: The 149th running of the Preakness Stakes

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Jabin Botsford

This week, we talk about the enormous stakes for democracy in 2024, pick the person of the week and share some Thanksgiving Day pointers.

Four-times-indicted former president <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> declared on Truth Social (on Veterans Day weekend, no less) that “the radical left thugs ... live like vermin within the confines of our country.” He repeated the invective during an appearance in New Hampshire. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/11/12/trump-compares-political-foes-to-vermin-on-veterans-day-echoing-nazi-propaganda/" target="_blank">As Forbes pointed out</a>, “The former president’s incendiary rhetoric invokes a term frequently used by Nazis to dehumanize Jews, including a 1939 quote attributed to Hitler: ‘This vermin must be destroyed. The Jews are our sworn enemies.’”

The Biden campaign <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-campaign-says-trump-echoed-hitler-with-use-word-vermin-2023-11-13/" target=_blank>responded forcefully</a> to Trump’s fascist threats: “On a weekend when most Americans were honoring our nation’s heroes, Donald Trump parroted the autocratic language of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini — two dictators many U.S. veterans gave their lives fighting, to defeat exactly the kind of un-American ideas Trump now champions.” <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4307189-trumps-vermin-comment-blasted-biden-aides/" target=_blank>The campaign’s statement continued</a>: “Trump doesn’t care about our troops or what they fought for — he thinks they’re ‘losers’ for making the ultimate sacrifice defending our country from forces opposed to democracy and its ideals.”

Trump’s vile outburst coincides with new and shocking reporting on the GOP front-runner’s plans for a second term. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/us/politics/trump-2025-immigration-agenda.html" target=_blank>The New York Times reported</a> that Trump “is planning an extreme expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration if he returns to power in 2025 — including preparing to round up undocumented people already in the United States on a vast scale and detain them in sprawling camps while they wait to be expelled.” Likewise, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/05/trump-revenge-second-term/" target=_blank>The Post reported on</a> “specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.”

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/09/trump-interview-univision/" target=_blank>The Post just days later</a> reported on Trump’s Univision appearance in which he uttered a bone-chilling threat: “If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business,” Trump said. “They’d be out of the election.”

And<a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election?stream=top" target=_blank> </a><a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election?stream=top" target=_blank>Axios chimed in to report</a> that Trump allies “are pre-screening the ideologies of thousands of potential foot soldiers, as part of an unprecedented operation to centralize and expand his power at every level of the U.S. government if he wins in 2024.” The report added: “Hundreds of people are spending tens of millions of dollars to install a pre-vetted, pro-Trump army of up to 54,000 loyalists across government to rip off the restraints imposed on the previous 46 presidents.”

Mainstream news organizations are still failing, however, to convey the dire stakes the nation faces in the 2024 election. Though the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-policies-agenda-election-2024-second-term-d656d8f08629a8da14a65c4075545e0f" target=_blank>Associated Press</a> accurately reported on Trump’s agenda, “A mass deportation operation. A new Muslim ban. Tariffs on all imported goods and ‘freedom cities’ built on federal land,” it quickly descended into laughable understatement: “His ideas, and even the issues he focuses on most, are wildly different from <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-second-term-agenda-election-2024-272bb9582df845cf9cd222ff2e9bd2f1" target=_blank>President Joe Biden’s proposals</a>. If implemented, Trump’s plans would represent a dramatic government overhaul arguably more consequential than that of his first term.” Yes, authoritarianism and suspension of civil liberties would be different, all right. (And though the AP presents radical ideas such as stripping out civil service protection, the report oddly omitted Trump’s pledge to weaponize the Justice Department and become the MAGA crowd’s “retribution.”)

Whatever the reason for the long delay in focusing on the MAGA cult leader’s frightful, unabashed vow to create an authoritarian state, responsible media outlets now have an obligation to blanket the airwaves with coverage of Trump’s designs. There is no excuse to treat the two parties as equivalent or to not explain that Trump is a uniquely dangerous figure. Interviewers are obligated to grill Republicans about supporting an antagonist of basic democratic values.

Meanwhile, in perhaps another recognition that coverage has been out of kilter, some coverage now points out that it’s the 77-year-old Trump who sounds confused, incoherent and feeble, not <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">President Biden</a>. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/30/us/politics/trump-biden-age.html" target=_blank>The New York Times</a>, which has elevated poll-obsession and endlessly quizzed voters only about one candidate’s mental acuity, now lets on that “Mr. Trump has had a string of unforced gaffes, garble and general disjointedness that go beyond his usual discursive nature, and that his Republican rivals are pointing to as signs of his declining performance.”

And is not merely that Biden’s team is “increasingly eager to point out that Trump is susceptible to similar missteps, which have sometimes been overlooked amid the other chaos surrounding the former president,” as<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/11/trump-gaffes-age-campaign/" target=_blank> The Post noted</a>. It’s that Trump has had a slew of missteps, which the press has largely overlooked.

The Post provided <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/11/trump-gaffes-age-campaign/" target=_blank>a much-needed accounting</a>:

In recent speeches, Trump has incorrectly described Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as the leader of Turkey and falsely suggested Hungary shares a border with Russia. He has repeatedly referred to the Obama administration when he meant the Biden administration, and at one point he inaccurately suggested he’d beaten Obama — rather than Hillary Clinton — in the 2016 election.

Trump has also mispronounced “on purpose” as “on perfect” and “Marxist” as “markers,” and he has combined the names of Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum and Florida Republican Adam Putnam to get “Pullam.” At the end of one speech, he warned that the world must not slide into World War II.

So why the breakthrough on this topic, as well? Perhaps the criticism of the media’s overly negative take on Biden and the public’s negative reaction to the media’s false equivalencies has finally penetrated newsroom and TV-studio leadership. Maybe the Biden campaign’s persistent complaints about coverage have made a difference. But ultimately, what matters is focusing on the potential for a less-than-cogent, dictatorial-minded candidate’s effort to recapture the government he tried to overturn.

To accurately cover the race, news outlets must keep front and center Trump’s unprecedented threat to end American democracy.

Craig Hudson

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) announced this week that she will not run for reelection but instead <a href="https://twitter.com/spanbergerva07/status/1724033299721433213?s=46&t=AK0WUqE0jqi-QPVx38Oh5A" target=_blank>will run for governor in 2025</a>. Her polished announcement touts her bipartisan record and deplores efforts to “shred” reproductive rights, ban books and create divisions.

The House will be a worse place (if that’s possible) without her. She won her congressional seat in 2018, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/rep-dave-brat-concedes-to-democrat-abigail-spanberger-in-vas-7th-district/2018/11/07/2cb0dd94-e2b1-11e8-b759-3d88a5ce9e19_story.html" target=_blank>beating right-wing Republican incumbent Dave Brat</a> as part of a class filled with women who had impressive national security credentials (e.g., Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan). Throughout her time in the House, Spanberger has drawn on her CIA tenure in formulating smart, effective national security. She has been a consistent voice for center-left policies, the sort of “purple” politics that appeals to voters outside solid Democratic strongholds. And, although not successful, she has vigorously worked to institute a ban on members’ individual stock ownership, a much-needed reform.

In advance of her announcement, she traveled all over the commonwealth to support Democratic candidates for the House of Delegates and the state Senate. She no doubt collected plenty of political chips along the way.

Spanberger’s brand of politics — fiscally responsible, reform-minded, pro-choice, bipartisan — should play well in Virginia, which has never elected a woman as governor. Certainly, a Spanberger governorship would mark a sharp and needed break from GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s program of scaremongering, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/abortion/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">abortion</a> banning and <a href="https://richmond.com/news/local/education/youngkin-administration-posts-new-version-of-k-12-history-standards/article_9e72db72-866b-57bd-aa11-91ac1316d285.html" target=_blank>miseducating Virginia’s kids</a>.

Thanksgiving is less than a week away. After years of holiday celebrations, I’d like to share a few tips (in addition to the cardinal rule: Invite family to come to you. Never travel!).

First, there is no law that says you have to serve turkey. It’s usually dry and always boring. There are plenty of other options: duck, lamb, goose and roasts, to name a few. (For the guests who will be crushed without their turkey, make a simple turkey breast.)

Second, forget the fancy china and stemware. One word: Plastic. It comes in a variety of lovely colors and patterns. (But give your guests real knives; no one wants to saw away with a plastic knife.) It’s sturdy. It will save you hours of cleanup.

Third, the only essential Thanksgiving Day sports event isn’t a football game. It’s the <a href="https://nds.nationaldogshow.com/tv-coverage/" target=_blank>National Dog Show</a>. Because it airs at the really inconvenient time of noon to 2 p.m. in all time zones, record it for after-dinner viewing.) And don’t tell me these magnificent contestants aren’t “athletes.”

Fourth, don’t serve “dinner” at 2 p.m. (What is this fetish with a colonial-era serving schedule?) That forces cooks to get up super early and, worse, leaves you trying to figure out what to do after roughly 4 p.m.

Finally, don’t listen to all that advice about how to talk to your MAGA guests (if any) about politics. For that matter, don’t spend the evening venting your political anxiety even if everyone is politically aligned. Just don’t. It’s a holiday.

Every Wednesday at noon, I host a live Q&amp;A with readers. Read a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/08/jennifer-rubin-live-chat/" target=_blank>transcript of this week’s Q&amp;A</a>, or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/22/jennifer-rubin-live-chat/" target=_blank>submit a question</a> for the next one.

Guest: Hypothetically, how could President Biden improve his reelection chances? If he cared only about winning the next election (glad that’s not the case, though), what would he do differently with respect to the Israel-Palestinian situation?

Jennifer Rubin: He would do exactly what he is doing now: embrace and support Israel, denounce terrorism, emphasize that Palestinians are victims of Hamas as well, support an influx of humanitarian aid and heighten pressure for a two-state solution after the fighting. After the war, his job will likely be somewhat easier if, as expected, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government falls.

University of California at Berkeley, BA in history

University of California at Berkeley, JD

Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post. She is the author of “Resistance: How Women Saved Democracy from Donald Trump” and is host of the podcast Jen Rubin's "Green Room."

Jennifer Rubin

Trump tells us how he’ll destroy democracy

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