Kevin Frazier will join the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University as an Assistant Professor starting this Fall. He currently is a clerk on the Montana Supreme Court.
America needs a democratic awakening and the 2024 presidential election should provide the forum for that revival. Unfortunately, it seems more likely that the election will provide entertainment rather than fodder for meaningful conversations. That is, of course, unless we demand more from our candidates, our media, and ourselves.
We, the voting public, should demand that candidates provide their assessment on our democratic health and what they plan to do to treat our ailments. In particular, candidates should answer three questions:
First, in response to partisanship and polarization, what programs will you create to provide Americans with meaningful opportunities to meet and work with folks from different regions, backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses? In short, how will you help create a new American story that unites the country and inspires common action?
Second, given that America is a representative democracy in which an unrepresentative fraction of the electorate votes, what steps will you take to make sure your actions by your administration reflect the will of the people?
Third, based on soaring rates of economic inequality, what policies will you advance to help Americans reach their full academic, professional, and personal potential?
These questions are grounded in the fundamentals of a democratic community: Who are we? How do we govern? What do we aspire to? If a candidate doesn’t acknowledge the importance of these questions, then voters will receive a valuable sign that the candidate is not ready to meet this moment.
We should demand that the media follow three rules:
First, refrain from reporting on the “horse race” until a year out from the election. A year will provide voters with more than enough time to evaluate the candidates. So let’s stop spilling ink about potential candidates and analyzing polls weighing hypotheticals until such news is, well, actually news.
Second, focus on the issues. Elections have become a source of entertainment rather than a chance to discuss policy, governing agendas, and visions for the country. Imagine if producers of all major political news asked, “Does this information belong in a tabloid?” before running a segment. My hunch is that we’d cut down on stories that make politicians more like celebrities than policy makers.
Third, do not cover a single poll until a month out from the first primary. Polls suck. Polls get it wrong all the time. Yet, these flawed polls influence who receives attention, donors, and, ultimately, votes.
We should demand one another to take three actions:
First, if you can afford it, buy a local news subscription and gift a subscription to a neighbor. As long as we focus on national news, we will neglect what’s possible in our own backyards. For too long, national outlets have dictated our perceptions of democracy, of the issues, of one another. A revitalization of local news will help ground us and remind us of the people we can help and causes we can further within a few blocks.
Second, unless you absolutely have to stay on a platform, leave all social media behind. A mass exodus is possible and necessary if we’re going to avoid wasting time reading click-bait, arguing over potential candidates and hypothetical polls, and letting the trolls shape our political discourse.
Third, if you’ve got the time, volunteer at a local library and help instill a love of learning within the next generation of voters. The problems we face today are tricky, complex, and getting worse. Our best shot at a better tomorrow is educating young people today. Literacy opens doors, inspires participation, and diminishes the power of mis- and dis-information.
A democratic awakening is possible. These steps will move us in the right direction – away from political hobbyism, away from unthinking partisan loyalty, and away from the nationalization of every issue and race.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.