David Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
Democracy depends on educated voters. Yet too often people don’t vote because they don’t know where candidates stand on various issues and are confused about how to find out. The widespread political cynicism, disinformation, and spin that citizens are bombarded with contributes to the lack of information available to voters so they can make reasoned decisions.
To combat this problem a non-partisan group called guides.vote has created voter guides to provide a concise and credible way to compare where candidates stand on critical issues and to make clear why voting matters.
Earlier this week, we focused on the Virginia legislature races, the Kentucky governor’s race, and Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court race. Today, we focus on Mississippi's race for governor between Democrat Brandon Presley and Republican Tate Reeves.
ISSUES | PRESLEY | REEVES |
ABORTION Ban or legal? | Ban. “There should be exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. I believe being pro-life, as I am, means more than just the abortion issue; it means being pro-hospital, pro-emergency-room, pro-doctor, pro-Medicaid expansion.” | Ban when heartbeat is detected (six weeks), with no exceptions except for medical emergencies. “I believe that life begins at conception.” Won’t “rest until every unborn child has the chance to experience the God-given right to life.” Would ensure that “those babies, once born, have a productive life.” Wouldn’t say if he would ban IUDs or Plan B pills. |
CLIMATE | Yes. Supported a program to incentivize the growth of solar energy in schools and residential areas, “a source that is not dependent upon international energy markets.” | No. Opposed the program to incentivize the growth of solar energy, calling it “a bad deal.” Opposed an SEC rule compelling publicly traded companies to disclose their climate-related risks. Signed bill restricting in-person electric-car sales. |
CRIMINAL JUSTICE How to ensure effectiveness and fairness in law enforcement? | Would “fund the police.” Seeks “meaningful, thoughtful reform to police training and standards” to make police forces stronger. Opposes expanding the authority of the state police in Jackson and having Jackson judges appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court instead of through local elections. Seeks “collaboration with local officials” to address crime in and around Jackson. | “We choose to fund the police. We choose to back the blue.” Signed bills bringing much of Jackson under the jurisdiction of the state-run Capitol Police and mandating state appointment of judges and prosecutors in Jackson, instead of through local elections. |
EDUCATION | No. “Taxpayer dollars should go to public schools.” Private school voucher programs are “justifying diverting funding from our public schools.” | Yes. As Lt. Governor supported adding $2 million to public funding for special needs students to attend private school. As Governor declared “School Choice Week.” |
EDUCATION How to examine issues around racism in the classroom and the community? | “There is no way to ever deal with the issues of race without facing them …. We must confront ourselves and our beliefs…, especially on the issues of race.” “We've taken an important step to keep Emmett (Till's) memory alive, but there's more we have to do to fight for civil rights and equality here in Mississippi.” | “There is not systemic racism in America.” Declared Confederate Heritage Month using a Sons of Confederate Veterans Facebook page, saying “We can all learn from our history.” Signed a bill to limit how race can be discussed in public schools. Proposed a $3 million “Patriotic Education Fund” to focus on “the exceptional achievements of this country.” |
EDUCATION Increase funding for K-12 education? | Yes. “We must fully fund public education.” “We owe it to our local school boards and our local schools to have a constant stream of funds that is predictable. We owe it to the taxpayers.” “Inflation is eating up the cost of a pay raise – and we need to make sure that teacher salaries keep up with the price of inflation so we can recruit and retain educators.” | Mixed. Vetoed a bill in 2020 to shift funds from a teacher incentive program in order to fund teacher salaries statewide. Signed the largest teacher pay raise in state history in 2022. Criticized a 2023 plan to fully fund the state’s public education. |
ISSUES | PRESLEY | REEVES |
ELECTIONS How to restore Mississippians ability to place citizen ballot initiatives? | Would “lead the effort to restore the ballot initiative process.” After the state Supreme Court ended it, he called the legislature’s failure to restore it “a huge setback for the right to vote.” | “Citizens should have access to the ballot, and it ought to be done in a way where it’s challenging to get on the ballot but that it is possible.” |
HEALTH CARE Support expansion of Medicaid? | Yes. “Mississippi faces a healthcare crisis.” Expand “Medicaid to 220,000 working folks.” Mississippi can keep rural hospitals open by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. “By not expanding Medicaid, we’re holding back 16,000 health care jobs.” | No. Opposes expanding Medicaid, which he sees as “socialized medicine.” “I’m opposed to Obamacare expansion in Mississippi.” Would address health care shortages by encouraging “competition in the healthcare area” and “innovative free market solutions that disrupt traditional healthcare delivery models.” |
INFRASTRUCTURE | On Jackson’s water, wants “the state (to) work together…with the city of Jackson” as a “major public works project” to fix “the water issue.” Would use federal money to build the infrastructure to expand high-speed internet service across the state. | Vetoed unanimous 2020 legislation passed to improve Jackson’s water-billing system and solidify the city’s water revenues. As state treasurer, blocked and delayed bond funding for Jackson water improvements. In 2022 declared a state of emergency to repair Jackson’s water system. Proposes a $1.3 billion infrastructure plan, mostly for road repairs and upgrades. |
LABOR Make it easier or harder for unions to organize? | Unclear. Would “strengthen Mississippi’s equal pay law,” which protects workers from pay discrimination. It is currently weaker than federal equal pay laws. | Likely harder. When asked about a lack of a union role in the official COVID recovery, said, “We don’t need union bosses to tell us how to take care of our people.” |
LGBTQ RIGHTS | Mixed. Would not have signed a bill outlawing gender-affirming care for transgender minors such as puberty blockers. “I trust mamas and I trust daddies to deal with the health care of their children first and foremost.” Later he said new restrictions are “settled in Mississippi,” so would not work to reverse them. | Limit. Signed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. Signed a bill banning transgender athletes from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. Supported a Supreme Court decision allowing a woman creating wedding websites to refuse service for same sex weddings. |
MARIJUANA Ban or legal? | Legal on medical. Opposed the Tennessee Valley Authority decision to block local utility companies from providing power to medical cannabis facilities. No position found on recreational marijuana. | Mixed. Signed medical cannabis legalization with reservations. Recreational legalization could lead to “more people smoking and less people working, with all of the societal and family ills that that brings.” |
MISSISSIPPI WELFARE FRAUD SCANDAL Response to Mississippi’s misuse of more than $77 million in federal welfare funds? | Will “declare war on corruption.” Ran a television ad linking Reeves to the scandal. Would create a “Task Force on Public Integrity” and strengthen the Mississippi Ethics Commission. | Is seeking to recover the stolen funds. Fired the state’s investigator into the case, a former U.S. attorney, as too much “focused on the political side of things.” As Lt. Governor, had authority over the state budget during the misuse. |
STUDENT FINANCIAL AID Support lower interest on student loans or forgiving them? | Yes, at least partly. “We need to…expand access to Mississippi’s teacher loan repayment programs.” | No. Opposes federal loans forgiveness programs. When Reeves was President of the State Senate as Lt. Governor, the state cut loan forgiveness programs for teachers. |
TAXES How to handle state taxation? | Would “eliminate the highest grocery tax in the nation” and “cut car tag fees in half.” | Is focused on eliminating the income tax, which “makes more sense economically” than ending the grocery tax. However, is “open to cutting taxes of any sort.” |
VOTING RULES Tighten or ease voting rules? | Ease. “Voting is as much a privilege as a right. Thanks to… those who fought in the struggle to expand those rights to everyone.” On ex-felons voting, “it’s important for nonviolent offenders to have a chance for their voting rights to be restored.” | Tighten. Signed a bill setting tighter restrictions on who can gather and deliver other people’s absentee ballots. “I will also do everything in my power to make sure universal mail-in voting and no-excuse early voting are not allowed in MS.” |
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.