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A Look Back At The Most Popular Stories of 2024

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The Fulcrum is a trusted platform where insiders and outsiders to politics are informed, meet, talk, and act to repair our democracy.

We amplify marginalized perspectives through news articles, opinion pieces, and investigative reports. Thanks to our contributors, we foster an inclusive dialogue vital for a thriving democracy.


Here are the most popular stores published on The Fulcrum:

white and colored sinks Kamala Harris is Black & Asian and Why Does Trump Care?kickstand/Getty Images

Kamala Harris is Black & Asian and Why Does Trump Care?

In 2024, 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, it is unfortunate that, because of statements made by a candidate for the presidency, we need to remind Americans that the color of one’s skin is a terribly unreliable indicator of one’s so-called racial heritage.

Department of Veterans Affairs building Project 2025: The Department of Veterans AffairsAir Force Reserve Command

Project 2025: The Department of Veterans Affairs

Project 2025, a conservative plan for a second Trump administration, aims to make the Department of Veterans Affairs more efficient and responsive, which is a commendable objective. But the focus on conservative political goals and extensive outsourcing risks politicizing the VA and potentially undermining its ability to serve veterans effectively.

John Roberts at the State of the Union In Trump v. United States, Chief Justice John Roberts produced an astonishing and convoluted treatise that denigrates a key principle of our jurisprudence championed by the founders, writes Toscano.Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Images

Conservatives will rue the day they compromised the rule of law

Defenders of democracy had hoped the Supreme Court decision in Trump v. United States would begin with the words “No man is above the law.” But Chief Justice John Roberts avoided the phrase entirely in his opinion. Instead, he produced an astonishing treatise that denigrates a key principle of our jurisprudence championed by the founders.

Mark Esper sitting next to Donald Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper (left) and other leaders stood up to Donald Trump when he was president. Trump would likely face similar resistance if he wins another term.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

What would really happen if Trump wins?

If Donald Trump wins, American democracy will undergo a severe stress test. Yet again. But it won’t plunge into dictatorship, authoritarianism or fascism. Instead, if Trump wins, America will have an incoherent and volatile mix of some government institutions that function democratically and some that don’t.

Joe Biden speaking in Pennsylvania The speech Joe Biden won’t giveAnadolu/Getty Images

The speech Joe Biden won’t give

If President Joe Biden reached out to independent voters in a way that legitimized their concerns about the self-serving nature of the Democratic and Republican parties, he could probably win with 60 percent of the vote. But he won’t. And neither will Donald Trump.

donald trump holds up a fist If Donald Trump implements the Heritage Foundation's policy plan, he'll take us down the path of authoritarianism, writes Corbin.Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Project 2025 is a threat to democracy

On Jan. 20, 2025, will the duly elected and inaugurated president of the United States keep America as a democracy that dates back to the 1630s or will the commander-in-chief start changing the country to authoritarian-fascism? That depends on whether Trump wins and he follows the Project 2025 playbook.

People working in a grocery store Latino-owned businesses, such as the Aztec Farmers Market in Houston, contribute billions of dollars to the economy each year.Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Trump's right! A massive invasion is happening at the southern border

Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed an invasion is taking place on the southern U.S. border. He is absolutely right. But it's not an invasion of people taking over cities and jobs, it's an invasion of communities playing a significant role in shaping the cultural, social and economic landscape of the United States.

White House with a stop sign If Trump wins, should Democrats turn over the keys to the White House?Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

If Trump wins, should Democrats turn over the keys to the White House?

The Democrats, believing Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, have few options if he wins, and none of them are good. A Trump victory will force our leaders and all of us to confront a series of tragic choices.

Donald Trump Was Trump right when he said he could ‘shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters’?MEGA/Getty Images

Has 'just about every law enforcement agency in the country' endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024?

Former President Donald Trump claims he is “supported by just about every law enforcement agency in the country; I think, maybe every one.” But police unions — not law enforcement agencies such as police or sheriff’s departments — endorse candidates.

Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs on stage Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs perform "Fast Car" at the Grammys.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Luke Combs, politics and healing our nation's divide

Today's pop artists can have tremendous influence on politics and poltiical divide, if only more of them were willing to speak out.


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Democratic Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) holds his first presidential campaign rally at Brooklyn College on March 02, 2019 in Brooklyn, New York.

A lobbyist who worked for both Bernie Sanders and Fortune 500 clients explains what democratic socialist wins mean for business, and how to prepare.

VIEW press/Getty Images

I Campaigned for Bernie Sanders Then Lobbied for Amazon

In 2016, my political outreach company, Firehouse Phones, worked on the presidential campaign of a democratic socialist. It was one of many campaigns my firm touched, but that one stays on my resume for a reason: it taught me more about how persuasion actually works than any client engagement before or since.

Today I run Ohio River South, a government affairs firm focused on the nation's fastest-growing region — the American South. Over the past decade we've advocated for nearly two dozen Fortune 500 companies — Amazon in my earlier lobbying years, and later growing a client roster that included Alphabet, Microsoft, General Motors, United Healthcare, and Capital One.

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Hand placing VOTE sticker on shirt

Hand placing VOTE sticker on shirt

Photo provided

The Latino Vote Keeps Changing. Why Do We Keep Calling It a Realignment?

After the 2024 presidential election, the headlines suggested that Latino voters were moving toward the Republican Party. Donald Trump’s gains were interpreted as evidence of a possible political realignment, particularly among working-class Latino voters and younger men.

Two years later, the story has reversed. Latino voters, we are told, are returning to the Democrats.

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Voters in Alaska

Voters cast their ballots at a polling station at Midtown Mall on October 31, 2026 in Anchorage, Alaska.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

What To Know About Alaska’s Election System

This year’s midterm elections have put a spotlight on Alaska’s “top-four” election system – which includes an open, all-candidate primary and a ranked-choice voting (RCV) general election.

Alaskans voted to adopt this system in 2020 and again to keep it in 2024. It was on the ballot again this November; voters in my home state will likely vote for reform for the third time in six years.

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economics graph on blackboard

economics graph on blackboard

Getty Images

What Post-1971 Supply-side Economics Has Done to Veterans

Post-1971 supply-side economics—often referred to as "trickle-down economics" or "Reaganomics” fundamentally transformed the relationship between the federal government and military veterans. The year 1971 marked the end of the Bretton Woods system, the closing of the gold window, and a pivot toward neoliberal economic frameworks that prioritized deregulation, sweeping tax cuts, and aggressive federal deficit reduction via domestic spending cuts.

For veterans, who had previously benefited from the expansive, New Deal-style social investments of the original G.I. Bill, this macroeconomic paradigm shift led to four distinct structural consequences:

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