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As Pressures Mount, Trump Faces the Most Precarious Moment of His Presidency

As Pressures Mount, Trump Faces the Most Precarious Moment of His Presidency

People voting at voting booths.

The Quiet Campaign That Could Rewrite the 2028 Election

The Minneapolis Shooting Is Not an Aberration — It’s a Warning of What Comes Next

The Minneapolis Shooting Is Not an Aberration — It’s a Warning of What Comes Next

Vance’s Claims on ICE Shooting Don’t Match the Evidence

Vance’s Claims on ICE Shooting Don’t Match the Evidence

Can Things Get Even Worse for Mike Johnson?

Can Things Get Even Worse for Mike Johnson?

Meet the Change Leaders: Tim Shriver

Tim Shriver on the Braver Angels podcast
Podcast: The call the unite
Youtube
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsJan 07, 2025
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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Tim Shriver leads the International Board of Directors of the Special Olympics and serves together with 6 million Special Olympics athletes in 200 countries to promote health, education, and a more unified world through the joy of sports.

Shriver joined the Special Olympics in 1996. He is a leading educator who focuses on the social and emotional factors in learning. He co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading school reform organization in the field of social and emotional learning.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Co-Chairman of the National Commission on Social and Emotional Learning, President of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, Member of the Board of Directors for the WPP Group, LLC, and a co-founder of Lovin’ Scoopful Ice Cream Company.

Shriver earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University, a Master’s degree from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut.

Shriver is the founder of “The Call to Unite and The Dignity Index." The dignity index was created to help us learn about the principles of dignity and how they can be applied in our families, communities, workplaces, and country.

He has produced four films, is the author of the New York Times Best Selling book Fully Alive—Discovering What Matters Most, has written for dozens of newspapers and magazines and has been rewarded with degrees and honors, which he happily accepted on behalf of others. Shriver and his wife, Linda Potter, reside in the Washington, D.C. area and have five adult children.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Tim Shriver for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series.

Watch to learn the full extent of the important work he does to bring us together as a country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgfJifvbp74&t=3s



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Zohran Mamdani’s call for warm ‘collectivism’ is dead on arrival

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji wave after his ceremonial inauguration as mayor at City Hall on Jan. 1, 2026, in New York.

(Spencer Platt/Getty Images/TNS)

Zohran Mamdani’s call for warm ‘collectivism’ is dead on arrival

The day before the Trump administration captured and extradited Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, many on the right (including yours truly) had a field day mocking something the newly minted mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, said during his inaugural address.

The proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America proclaimed: “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”

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The Lie of “Safe” State Violence in America: Montgomery Then, Minneapolis Now

Police tape surrounds a vehicle suspected to be involved in a shooting by an ICE agent during federal law enforcement operations on January 07, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

The Lie of “Safe” State Violence in America: Montgomery Then, Minneapolis Now

Once again, the nation watched in horror as a 37-year-old woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. The incident was caught on video. Neighbors saw it happen, their disbelief clear. The story has been widely reported, but hearing it again does not make it any less violent. Video suggest, there was a confrontation. The woman tried to drive away. An agent stepped in front of her car. Multiple shots went through the windshield. Witnesses told reporters that a physician at the scene attempted to provide aid but was prevented from approaching the vehicle, a claim that federal authorities have not publicly addressed. That fact, if accurate, should trouble us most.

What happened on that street was more than just a tragic mistake. It was a moral challenge to our society, asking for more than just shock or sadness. This moment makes us ask: what kind of nation have we created, and what violence have we come to see as normal? We need to admit our shared responsibility, knowing that our daily choices and silence help create a culture where this violence is accepted. Including ourselves in this 'we' makes us care more deeply and pushes us to act, not just reflect.

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Two groups of glass figures. One red, one blue.

Congressional paralysis is no longer accidental. Polarization has reshaped incentives, hollowed out Congress, and shifted power to the executive.

Getty Images, Andrii Yalanskyi

How Congress Lost Its Capacity to Act and How to Get It Back

In late 2025, Congress fumbled the Affordable Care Act, failing to move a modest stabilization bill through its own procedures and leaving insurers and families facing renewed uncertainty. As the Congressional Budget Office has warned in multiple analyses over the past decade, policy uncertainty increases premiums and reduces insurer participation (see, for example: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61734). I examined this episode in an earlier Fulcrum article, “Governing by Breakdown: The Cost of Congressional Paralysis,” as a case study in congressional paralysis and leadership failure. The deeper problem, however, runs beyond any single deadline or decision and into the incentives and procedures that now structure congressional authority. Polarization has become so embedded in America’s governing institutions themselves that it shapes how power is exercised and why even routine governance now breaks down.

From Episode to System

The ACA episode wasn’t an anomaly but a symptom. Recent scholarship suggests it reflects a broader structural shift in how Congress operates. In a 2025 academic article available on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), political scientist Dmitrii Lebedev reaches a stark conclusion about the current Congress, noting that the 118th Congress enacted fewer major laws than any in the modern era despite facing multiple time-sensitive policy deadlines (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5346916). Drawing on legislative data, he finds that dysfunction is no longer best understood as partisan gridlock alone. Instead, Congress increasingly exhibits a breakdown of institutional capacity within the governing majority itself. Leadership avoidance, procedural delay, and the erosion of governing norms have become routine features of legislative life rather than temporary responses to crisis.

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America’s Two Economies - Soaring Stocks and Slashed Food Stamps

As 2026 begins, the U.S. economy is splitting in two—booming corporate profits and stock gains for the wealthy, deepening hardship for working families.

America’s Two Economies - Soaring Stocks and Slashed Food Stamps

The close of the 2025 holiday season has revealed a stark divide in the U.S. economy. As 2026 begins, the United States appears to be operating in two financial realities: record corporate profits and soaring stock values for the wealthy, alongside deepening hardship for millions of ordinary households. For many Americans, Christmas was overshadowed not by celebration but by economic strain, compounded by the rollback of key federal assistance programs.

The year’s economic data offered mixed signals. Online sales surged to $11.8 billion on Black Friday, and overall holiday spending is projected to exceed $1 trillion for the first time. Yet nearly half of all national consumption now comes from high-income households, whose spending on luxury goods and premium travel masks the growing struggles of families at the lower end of the income scale.

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