After it launched in the early 1970s, Ms. magazine became a leading voice in the fight for equal rights for women and other issues that came to define feminism. In 2020, equality at the ballot box became one of the leading issues for the media platform's editors.
So it's no surprise that the 2020 list of "top feminists" includes a number of women who played critical roles in the democracy reform movement. Here's a look at some of the women on the list.
Stacey Abrams
"Stacey Abrams was a powerhouse in the fight for fair elections this year. After the 2018 elections in Georgia were marred with controversy, voter suppression and disenfranchisement, Abrams founded Fair Fight, an organization dedicated to mobilizing voters, advocating for election reform, and educating voters about fair elections.
"During the 2020 elections, Abrams and Fair Fight played a pivotal role in grassroots organizing for Joe Biden, and proved to be major factors in Georgia's flipping blue for the first time since 1992. Abrams then presided over Georgia's Electoral College votes, and ... helped to lead a massive get out the vote effort on the ground in Georgia in thel... Senate runoffs on Jan. 5."
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel
"Michigan officials Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel found themselves at the center of an unwanted spotlight this year, after President Trump attacked 'those women from Michigan' after they had the audacity to ask the federal government for the medical supplies they needed to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
"But despite Trump's condescension and belittling, Whitmer, Benson and Nessel made it clear that they would not back down from standing up for their state. They listened to public health experts and enforced COVID-19 safety restrictions, even as the Trump administration attempted to undermine their decisions, and right-wing terrorists attempted to kidnap Whitmer(which Trump refused to condemn).
"And they helped lead the movement for fair and secure elections this year, mailing absentee ballot applications to every registered voter in Michigan, greatly increasing voters' abilities to make their voices heard safely."
Kristen Clarke
"Kristen Clarke is the president and executive director of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She criticized the rushed confirmationof Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and pointed out that Justice Coney Barrett has repeatedly attempted to dismiss and avoid the issues of voter suppression and disenfranchisement, particularly of communities of color.
"In the lead-up to the 2020 election, Clarke raised awareness about voter suppression and fought for policies like absentee ballots that allowed voters to make their voices heard safely during the pandemic."
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Clarke to be assistant attorney general for civil rights.
Vanita Gupta
"Vanita Gupta is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. As a part of her "All Voting is Local" campaign, she worked with state legislators to expand voting options during the pandemic, fought against illegal voter purges, and registered and mobilized new voters.
"On top of fighting for a fair election, she also wrote about the unprecedented attacks on the 2020 census, and pushed for census integrity and accountability for the many communities of color that were missed or underrepresented."
Gupta has been nominated to be an associate attorney general in the Biden administration.
LaTosha Brown
"In 2016, LaTosha Brown recognized the importance of Black votes, particularly in the South, where traditionally red states have been slowly turning blue. She co-founded Black Votes Matter to mobilize Black voters and fight for policieslike early voting and no ID requirements that expand access to voting rights.
"This year, the organization went town to town on a bus tour in several Southern states, partnering with local organizations, helping rural communities access ballots, and reminding Black communities of the power of their votes."
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.