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Protesters gather at the Wisconsin State Capitol, holding signs.

Trump's Water Policies Put America's Drinking Water at Risk

America at 250: A Country in Distress

America at 250: A Country in Distress

I Alone Can (Fix) Destroy It

I Alone Can (Fix) Destroy It

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Leverage: Romney offers GOP plan to stop a Trump candidacy

Leverage is a new column to highlight, in real time, opportunities to put the U.S. electoral and governance systems on a functional track.

Leverage: Romney offers GOP plan to stop a Trump candidacy
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By David L. Nevins,
David L. Nevins
David L. Nevins serves as publisher of The Fulcrum. Additionally, Nevins serves as co-founder and Board Chairman of the Bridge Alliance. Nevins brings business acumen, vision and a tireless this-must-and-can-be-done zeal to the burgeoning movement to bridge divides to transform the political process. As a business leader, Nevins excels at building bridges between people and organizations from the right, left and center for civilized conversation and then action. He co-founded the Bridge Alliance because, as he says, “No matter how well managed and how well funded anyone organization is, significant political reform will not happen without an alliance to further collaborative interactions. Together we can and will raise the collective impact of all.” He is a member of the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows, with a focus on the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, he established and continues to work with The Nevins Democracy Leaders program at Penn State University. Nevins graduated with honors in economics from Penn State in 1969 and received an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
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Debilyn Molineaux
Debilyn Molineaux

Debilyn Molineaux is the catalyst of JEDIfutures.org , a global initiative that helps people imagine and create just, equitable, dignified, and inclusive futures. She is best known for her pioneering work in civic innovation, having co-founded Bridge Alliance, Living Room Conversations, and National Week of Conversation. She formerly acted as co-publisher for The Fulcrum. Across these efforts, Debilyn has brought together unlikely allies to co-create solutions for democracy, governance, and social transformation.

Her work lives at the intersection of strategy, systems change, and spirit. A long-time practitioner of personal and collective growth, she brings a deep commitment to the inner dimensions of change that are often overlooked but essential to transformation. Debilyn speaks of the “interstitial spaces” — the connective tissue between people, institutions, and movements — where new possibilities take root.

She also hosts the podcast Terrified Nation, which helps audiences move from fear and despair into courage and action. Her voice is sought by impact investors, changemakers, and visionary leaders who want to align resources, imagination, and human growth toward a thriving future for all.

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Jul 25, 2023

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund. Molineaux is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and president/CEO of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Recognizing that Trump is adept at sweeping a field of candidates who oppose him (example: 2016 GOP primaries), it was reported yesterday that Senator Mitt Romney has a coherent plan to stop former president Trump from getting elected in 2024.

Reported by CNN and Politico, Romney is calling for a Feb. 26, 2024 deadline for Republicans to coalesce around one alternative candidate to former President Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination. This plan would leverage the GOP’s ability to unite and eliminate Trump’s advantage of a dispersed field. Trump is expert at picking off weaker candidates; less so against a stronger candidate. Romney has called on donors and others with big influence to put pressure on candidates to drop out on or before that date, before the March 5th Super Tuesday primaries. After that date, it would be too late to unify the party around anyone other than Trump. Additionally, this would mitigate some of the GOP rules changes made after the 2016 primary from proportional delegate count to a winner-take-all.

"Donors who are backing someone with a slim chance of winning should seek a commitment from the candidate to drop out and endorse the person with the best chance of defeating Mr. Trump by Feb. 26," Romney wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

The contentious relationship between Romney and Trump is no secret and goes back to the election of 2022. In a speech at the University of Utah at the time Romney called Trump a “phony” and a “fraud.” Romney went on to say:

“Dishonesty is Trump’s hallmark: He claimed that he had spoken clearly and boldly against going into Iraq. Wrong, he spoke in favor of invading Iraq. He said he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11. Wrong, he saw no such thing. He imagined it. His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader. His imagination must not be married to real power.”

Today’s voters must educate themselves to see through disinformation, misinformation, outright lies and deception. Only voters can determine the best leader for our collective well being. We agree with Romney that Trump is not fit to be president of the United States and believe that the election of Donald Trump would be a significant danger to the rule of law and to the defense and protection of our Constitution. One has only to look at the 2025 Project, led by Trump acolytes to see the danger of dismantling our democracy itself.

Voters can signal their power at the ballot box. We need voters to leverage themselves and demand a higher standard from our elected representatives. A new paradigm of politics is needed based on civil political discourse, critical thinking and personal accountability to be demanded by the electorate of its leadership. We believe the most effective solutions to our nation's problems are found through rigorous engagement across differences with a shared result. If you are a GOP voter, we ask you to back Romney’s plan with your support.

The United States is at a crossroads. It is time for us to overcome our complacency, apathy, contempt and disgust of the way things are, politically. We the voters must set things right. This is one opportunity, available now.


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The Façade of the American Dream: Reimagining the next 250 years

Since the birth of the United States, people have been dreaming of the American "Good Life."

This dream accelerated after the Industrial Revolution arrived in the U.S. in the 1800s. Innovative manufacturing practices integrated new technologies, lowering costs and spurring economic growth. As a result, millions of people gained access to affordable consumer goods. These changes improved living standards, making the dream attainable for more people.

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As part of a collaboration between The Fulcrum's NextGen initiative and Made By Us, The Fulcrum is publishing Letters to America, a series created through the Youth250 project that invites Gen Z to reflect on the nation’s past, present, and future as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.

In small towns across the nation, in accordance with ours of Madison New Jersey, we will gather to recognize an anniversary. Though this milestone has been one of many, I ask that it not be a mere nod to the curiosities of the past, but the spark of an ongoing admiration for all that led us here.

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In Texas, People Don’t Kill People, Guns Kill People

It has been said that a good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Apparently, that’s not the case in very red Collin County, Texas, where a self-described recovering alcoholic fatally shot his daughter in the chest, only to be the beneficiary of a particularly lenient grand jury. As a retired justice of the New York State Supreme Court, the case intrigued me and I tried to understand why the prosecutor had failed to obtain an indictment against him.

In January 2025, the victim and her boyfriend traveled from their home in England to visit her father at his home in Collin County where the shooting had occurred. Although the evidence presented to a grand jury cannot be disclosed, it is reasonably assumed that the grand jury heard the statement made by the father to the police at the scene immediately following the shooting. He related how he had taken his daughter, at her request, to see his gun, and that when he brought her to his bedroom and removed the gun from a cabinet in which he kept it, “it went off.” He could not recall if his finger had been on the trigger.

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As America nears its 250th anniversary, learn why schools, mentoring, and leadership development are critical to preparing the next generation of leaders.

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America at 250: A Wake-Up Call for Leadership Development

As America approaches its 250th birthday, we've been reflecting on the leadership that built our nation and sustained it through two and a half centuries of challenge and change. From local communities to national institutions, America's progress has always depended on people who were willing to take initiative, serve others, and help navigate moments of uncertainty and opportunity.

As we celebrate these leaders for the impact they had on history, a critical question surfaces: Where—and how—did they learn to lead?

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