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Some MAGA loyalists have turned on Trump. Why the rest haven’t

Some MAGA loyalists have turned on Trump. Why the rest haven’t

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stands in front of a group of National Guard troops.

Trump's and Hegseth’s Officer Firings Put Pentagon Stability at Risk

Iran’s Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi Believes in Iranian Regime Change — Experts Contradict Him

Iran’s Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi Believes in Iranian Regime Change — Experts Contradict Him

​Passengers are evacuated by small boat.

The Story Behind the Hantavirus Outbreak and Why It Matters

N.C. legislators on course for on-time undoing of their partisan gerrymander

N.C. legislators on course for on-time undoing of their partisan gerrymander

This map, drawn by the state Senate for itself, is expected to win approval from the judges who demanded it.

North Carolina General Assembly
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumSep 17, 2019
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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North Carolina's new state legislative district lines are on pace to be finished by Wednesday's court-imposed deadline after versions of the maps passed both chambers of the General Assembly.

The Senate's bipartisan, 38-9 vote happened Monday night. The House and Senate are now reviewing each other's maps, potentially making additional tweaks to some boundaries before they are forwarded for final approval to the three state judges in Raleigh who ordered the redistricting this month.

The judges said the current maps were gerrymandered to ensure continued Republican control to the point they violated the state constitution. In reviewing the new lines for similar partisan bias, the judges will be assisted by Stanford University law professor Nathaniel Persily, who was appointed on Friday to referee the process.

The court has the ability to tweak the news lines, and House Democrats don't think districts covering Robeson, Columbus and Pender counties will pass the proverbial sniff test, according to WRAL. The state House maps were passed on Friday, but were more controversial, meaning the Senate maps will be the ones most likely passed on to the court.

These new maps will only be used for one election before they are redrawn using data from the 2020 census.


Latest news

America Is at an Impasse. What’s the Breakthrough?
Bridging & Common Ground

America Is at an Impasse. What’s the Breakthrough?

Tourists gather at Mather Point on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, enjoying panoramic views of the iconic natural wonder
Governance & Legislation

They Won’t Close the Parks. They’ll Just Let Them Fail.

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A close up of U.S. Senator Cory Booker speaking.

U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, not pictured, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on oversight of the Department, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 2026.

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Cory Booker Should Be Ashamed of Himself

I wish “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker had asked Sen. Cory Booker if he’s qualified to represent New Jersey given that nearly 9 out of 10 of his constituents are not Black.

I should probably back up.

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The Election-Litigation Complex
person holding white and red box
Photo by Janine Robinson on Unsplash

The Election-Litigation Complex

Since Bush v. Gore in 2000, election litigation has become a routine feature of American democracy. A few months ago, the Supreme Court made our litigious habit easier to indulge.

In Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections, the Court expanded who could sue to challenge election procedures (candidates no longer had to demonstrate individualized harm to bring a case). This ruling, likely to stoke litigation, lands in a country already losing faith in its electoral system and amid increasing pressure on the judiciary.

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Liquid Governance is Casting a Shadow on the American Presidency

President Donald Trump at the White House on Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/TNS)

Liquid Governance is Casting a Shadow on the American Presidency

To understand the current state of the American executive, one must look past the daily headlines and toward a deeper, more structural transformation. We are witnessing a presidency that has moved beyond the traditional "team of rivals" or even the "team of loyalists." Instead, the second Trump administration has become an exercise in "liquid governance," where the formal structures of the state are being hollowed out in favor of a highly personalized, informal power center.

The numbers alone are staggering. So far, the revolving door of the Cabinet has claimed high-profile figures with a frequency that would destabilize a mid-sized corporation, let alone a global superpower. The removal of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the exit of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and the recent resignation of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer represent more than just standard political turnover. They signal a fundamental rejection of the idea that a Cabinet secretary is an institution's steward. In this White House, a Cabinet post is a temporary lease, subject to immediate termination if the occupant’s personal loyalty or public performance deviates even slightly from the president’s internal barometer.

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Why We Can’t Cut Earth Science to Fund the Next Earthrise Shot
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Getty Images/Stock Photo

Why We Can’t Cut Earth Science to Fund the Next Earthrise Shot

We love space, but not as an abstraction. For my twin sons, it is a tradition. Their birthday themes have evolved from “Two the Moon” for their second birthday, featured on NASA.gov, to “From Space to the Farm,” with the boys in those iconic orange astronaut suits, standing in a cornfield. In the year of Inspiration4, we went all in with a full SpaceX mission dress-up. Not long after, one of them picked up the Pioneers and Innovators: Women of Color brochure from NASA Science that I brought home from a meeting at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. He pointed at the brochure and exclaimed, “Mommy!” He truly thought I was in it. With that certainty, he told his friends that his mom had been to Mars. A reasonable conclusion for a four-year-old, considering the NASA swag at home, the launch party watching, and that brochure in his hands, it was a perfect conclusion.

The stunning new photos released after the Artemis voyage have refocused the public’s awe on our journey to the Moon. Yet, this year, I didn't watch Artemis live.

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