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As Pressures Mount, Trump Faces the Most Precarious Moment of His Presidency

As Pressures Mount, Trump Faces the Most Precarious Moment of His Presidency

How do you solve a problem like Candace Owens?

How do you solve a problem like Candace Owens?

The Minneapolis Shooting Is Not an Aberration — It’s a Warning of What Comes Next

The Minneapolis Shooting Is Not an Aberration — It’s a Warning of What Comes Next

People voting at voting booths.

The Quiet Campaign That Could Rewrite the 2028 Election

The Fulcrum Opens Applications for 2026 Summer Journalism Fellowship

The Fulcrum Opens Applications for 2026 Summer Journalism Fellowship

Video: SNF Agora Symposium on Civic Health Highlights

Video: SNF Agora Symposium on Civic Health Highlightsplay icon
SNF Agora Symposium on Civic Health Highlights
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The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumJul 11, 2022
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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For democracies around the globe, COVID-19 has brought into stark relief the ways that citizens’ health and very lives can depend on how their government functions. But the reverse is also true: the health of democracy – and its ability to safeguard our health – depends on how we as citizens participate. SNF Agora's symposium brought together scholars, innovators, and health officials who, in their own work, are showing how health and democracy are linked in unexpected ways, and who are developing tools that can help us change the trajectory of health in our own communities. Through the discussions, participants saw how they can use their voice in civic and democratic processes to improve the well-being of global democracy, and the planet itself.


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The Failure of the International Community to Confront Trump
Ethics & Leadership

The Failure of the International Community to Confront Trump

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Democracy

The Antisemitic Campaign Against Mamdani

The Common Cause North Carolina, Not Trump, Triggered the Mid-Decade Redistricting Battle
Governance & Legislation

The Common Cause North Carolina, Not Trump, Triggered the Mid-Decade Redistricting Battle

Voters Shrug Off Scandals, Paying a Price in Lost Trust
Ethics & Leadership

Voters Shrug Off Scandals, Paying a Price in Lost Trust

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Trump’s Venezuela Agenda Isn’t Justice — It’s Profit

Venezuela flag and oil tanker

AI generated image

Trump’s Venezuela Agenda Isn’t Justice — It’s Profit

President Donald Trump convened more than a dozen major oil executives at the White House on Friday afternoon to explore potential investment opportunities in Venezuela, coming just days after the United States removed President Nicolás Maduro from power.

Trump invoked a national emergency to protect Venezuelan oil revenues controlled by the U.S. government from being seized by private creditors, casting the move as essential to safeguarding American national security and preserving stability across the region.

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Trump and Kamala Harris debating for the first time during the presidential election campaign.

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris debate for the first time during the presidential election campaign at The National Constitution Center on September 10, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Getty Images, Win McNamee

Trump’s Rhetoric of Exaggeration Hurts Democracy

One of the most telling aspects of Donald Trump’s political style isn’t a specific policy but how he talks about the world. His speeches and social media posts overflow with superlatives: “The likes of which nobody’s ever seen before,” “Numbers we’ve never seen,” and “Like nobody ever thought possible.” This constant "unprecedented" language does more than add emphasis—it triggers fear-based thinking.

Reporters have found that he uses these phrases hundreds of times each year, on almost any topic. Whether the subject is the economy, immigration, crime, or even weather, the message is always the same: everything is either an unprecedented success or failure. There’s no middle ground, nuance, or room for finding common ground.

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Nicolas Maduro’s Capture: Sovereignty Only Matters When It’s Convenient

US Capitol and South America. Nicolas Maduro’s capture is not the end of an era. It marks the opening act of a turbulent transition

AI generated

Nicolas Maduro’s Capture: Sovereignty Only Matters When It’s Convenient

The U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro will be remembered as one of the most dramatic American interventions in Latin America in a generation. But the real story isn’t the raid itself. It’s what the raid reveals about the political imagination of the hemisphere—how quickly governments abandon the language of sovereignty when it becomes inconvenient, and how easily Washington slips back into the posture of regional enforcer.

The operation was months in the making, driven by a mix of narcotrafficking allegations, geopolitical anxiety, and the belief that Maduro’s security perimeter had finally cracked. The Justice Department’s $50 million bounty—an extraordinary price tag for a sitting head of state—signaled that the U.S. no longer viewed Maduro as a political problem to be negotiated with, but as a criminal target to be hunted.

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Money and the American flag
Half of Americans want participatory budgeting at the local level. What's standing in the way?
SimpleImages/Getty Images

For the People, By the People — Or By the Wealthy?

When did America replace “for the people, by the people” with “for the wealthy, by the wealthy”? Wealthy donors are increasingly shaping our policies, institutions, and even the balance of power, while the American people are left as spectators, watching democracy erode before their eyes. The question is not why billionaires need wealth — they already have it. The question is why they insist on owning and controlling government — and the people.

Back in 1968, my Government teacher never spoke of powerful think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, now funded by billionaires determined to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Yet here in 2025, these forces openly work to control the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court through Project 2025. The corruption is visible everywhere. Quid pro quo and pay for play are not abstractions — they are evident in the gifts showered on Supreme Court justices.

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