New Jersey has become the first state to back away from a pandemic-driven switch to conducting elections almost entirely remotely.
Projections of declining Covid-19 cases by the spring prompted Gov. Phil Murphy's announcement Monday that the state's longtime reliance on in-person voting will resume for school board elections in April, municipal contests in May and probably the gubernatorial and legislative primaries in June.
The decision to conduct last fall's general election mainly by mail created more of a ruckus, but also more of a difference in civic participation, than in any other place that made a similar change.
The switch heralded a blizzard of criticism from voters worried about entrusting their ballots to the Postal Service, many of whom insisted on showing up at local polling stations that were supposed to be used only by the physically didabled — and furious about reports of bureaucratic snafus, including the use of outdated lists to send some ballots to dead people and multiple ballots to living people.
The system also had to endure a lawsuit from the Trump campaign, which argued the Democratic governor exceeded his authority by decreeing the alternate system. But, in the end, it seemed to work best for the Republicans.
Voters crushed the state's turnout record — 77 percent of eligible New Jerseyans cast a ballot, fully 10 points better than the nation as whole — even as the numbers voting in Democratic urban strongholds slipped while the share of people voting in GOP-friendly suburban counties soared. The results were higher-than-usual percentages for some Republican congressional candidates, although no seats changed hands. And President Biden carried the state's 14 electoral votes by 16 points, a similar margin to other recent Democratic nominees.
In the end, 86 percent of New Jersey ballots were cast using envelopes, one of the highest shares in the nation. Four years ago the number was 7 percent, one of the smallest percentages.
The local contests in the spring usually generate minimal turnout. And there is not much suspense ahead of the June primaries, when Murphy's nomination for a second term is assured and so is that of his GOP challenger, former state Rep. Jack Ciatarelli.
Murphy said he was "optimistic" that vaccination rates and declining Covid cases will allow in-person voting in June, but for now his decision only applies to the first two elections.
"As always, voters will have the availability to request a vote-by-mail ballot for any reason," he said. "We will ensure that all in person polling places adhere to safety protocols, including face covering, social distancing and frequent sanitation."
Similar turnout boosts marked the 2020 elections in the other five places that for the first time sent all registered voters an absentee ballot: California, Nevada, Vermont, almost all of Montana and Washington, D.C. None of them has decided for sure what their election systems will be for 2022 or beyond. New Jersey was pressed to make a decision because it and Virginia are the only states with elections for governor and the legislature this year.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.