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A Look Back At The Most Popular Stories of 2024

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" water fountainsKamala 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 buildingProject 2025: The Department of Veterans Affairs Air 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 UnionIn 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 TrumpDefense 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 PennsylvaniaThe speech Joe Biden won’t give Anadolu/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.

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 storeLatino-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 "stop" barrier in frontIf 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 TrumpWas 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 stageTracy 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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Jasmine Clark Is Poised To Be the First Black Woman Ph.D. Scientist in Congress

Jasmine Clark first ran for office and flipped a Republican-held state legislative district in 2018.

Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Jasmine Clark Is Poised To Be the First Black Woman Ph.D. Scientist in Congress

LILBURN, GEORGIA — When state Rep. Jasmine Clark launched her campaign for Congress on a mission to enact generational change, she didn’t realize she could also make history.

Now, she’s poised to become the first Black woman Ph.D. scientist to serve in Congress. If she wins, she’ll be representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District.

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Capitalism Without Competition Is Oligarchy
1 U.S.A dollar banknotes

Capitalism Without Competition Is Oligarchy

For decades, Americans were told that globalization and free markets would deliver broadly shared prosperity. Instead, many saw stagnant wages, hollowed-out communities, and a growing concentration of wealth and power. The backlash was inevitable. But the real failure was not capitalism itself. It was the corruption of competition and the establishment’s generations-long indifference to the working class it left behind. That disregard didn’t just crater trust in institutions; it fueled populist backlash across the political spectrum, with anti-establishment anger now reshaping American politics.

Two truths define the American economic dilemma. First: competitive capitalism remains history’s most powerful engine for wealth creation, driving greater aggregate prosperity over the past two centuries than perhaps any other economic system. But averages are dangerous fictions; a man can easily drown in a lake that is, on average, two feet deep.

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Cathy Alderman: Housing Is Healthcare

Cathy Alderman

Cathy Alderman: Housing Is Healthcare

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) is working to address the lack of long-term affordable and supportive housing, which they identify as the only lasting solution to homelessness. Cathy Alderman, the organization’s Chief Communications and Public Policy Officer, emphasizes that the primary challenge is the "high cost not just of housing, but the cost of living" in Colorado, which creates a significant barrier for people trying to access stable housing or find rentals they can afford.

To address these challenges, the Coalition operates under the fundamental belief that "housing is healthcare". "We want to provide access to affordable housing and affordable health care so that people can be successful in the other areas of their life," Alderman said. As both a housing developer and a federally qualified health center, CCH manages approximately 2,000 units across 23 residential properties while providing integrated health services through clinics and street medicine teams.

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My Generation Can Spot the Deepfake. That’s Not Enough.
Smartphone with ai text in jeans pocket
Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

My Generation Can Spot the Deepfake. That’s Not Enough.

Thomas Massie, a seven-term Republican congressman from Kentucky, lost his primary on May 19. The race cost $32.6 million, making it the most expensive congressional primary in U.S. history. Among the weapons deployed against him: an AI-generated video showing him checking into a hotel room with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, with their hands clasped. The narrator called it "worse than adultery." A disclaimer at the bottom of the screen, in small text, read: "This satirical ad was created with artificial intelligence."

I watched the ad. It looks ridiculous. The movements are slightly too smooth, the lighting is off, and the scenario is so cartoonish that I genuinely could not tell at first whether it was meant to be taken seriously. But I'm 17, and I've spent the last four years watching AI-generated content get better in real time. I know what the seams look like. Massie, in his post-loss interview on Meet the Press, was blunt about who the ad actually reached: "It was actually very effective on the boomers."

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