Opinion | The Secret of Trump’s Appeal Isn’t Authoritarianism | A Magical Tour of Christmas Markets Along the Rhine | How to Comfort Someone When They’re in the Hospital | I Live in California. What Do I Owe Climate-Denying Kentuckians?

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Opinion | The Secret of Trump’s Appeal Isn’t Authoritarianism -

If the presidential election were held today, Donald Trump could very well win it. Polling from several organizations shows him gaining ground on Joe Biden, winning five of six swing states and drawing the support of about 20 percent of Black and roughly 40 percent of Hispanic voters in those states.

For some liberal observers, Mr. Trump’s resilience confirms that many Americans aren’t wedded to democracy and are tempted by extreme ideologies. Hillary Clinton has described Mr. Trump as a “threat” to democracy, and Mr. Biden has called him “one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history.”

In a different spirit, some on the right also take Mr. Trump’s success as a sign that Americans are open to more radical forms of politics. After Mr. Trump’s win in 2016, the Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin crowed that the American people had “started the revolution” against political liberalism itself. Richard Spencer declared himself and his fellow white nationalists “the new Trumpian vanguard.”

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A Magical Tour of Christmas Markets Along the Rhine -

It’s that time of year when holiday markets pop up across Europe. Relying on trains and a “Christmas bus,” we explore eight towns and cities in France and Switzerland, sipping mulled wine along the way.

In Strasbourg, France, throughout the holiday season, Santa-capped teddy bears festoon a restaurant’s facade. Stuffed polar bears adorn another. In a Yuletide arms race, buildings are affixed with giant, gift-wrapped packages, glittering white deer and oversize gingerbread men. Turning the central medieval quarter into a Christmas maze, curtains of lights glow above cobblestone lanes lined with food and gift stalls. And in the central Place Kléber, lights on a nearly 100-foot-tall Christmas tree flash and glow, synchronized to carols.

Across Europe, Christmas markets pop up like fairy-dusted street fairs, with temporary chalet-style shops selling everything from handmade ceramics to warmed wine and abundant food. Visitors shuffle among the merry warrens, holding their cellphone cameras high.

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How to Comfort Someone When They’re in the Hospital -

My mother recently spent a week in a hospital near my house, after experiencing complications from an ongoing illness. Thankfully, I could visit her every day.

I tried to make her feel cared for — and even build a little excitement — by doing small things. My mom loves to eat so, every morning, I texted her three menu options for dinner. I put fancy toiletries in her bathroom and sent her podcast recommendations. (Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s podcast, “Wiser Than Me” was “a hoot,” Mom said; “Marry Me Chicken” was her favorite dish.)

Being in the hospital can be scary. Even the nicest ones have bright lights, beeping machines, and well-meaning doctors and nurses who poke and prod you. My goal was to make my mom’s stay a little more homey. And research suggests that a more comfortable environment, like one with reduced noise and homelike touches, can affect a patient’s sense of well-being.

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I Live in California. What Do I Owe Climate-Denying Kentuckians? -

We have special responsibilities toward our fellow citizens — call them civic obligations — that we don’t have toward just anyone. Those civic obligations include a particular duty of aid when our fellows face emergencies.

It’s true that in a democracy we can charge people extra if they choose to impose burdens on the rest of us, as smokers do by raising the costs of health care. We can fine people for polluting air, land and waters. This penalizes and discourages behavior worth discouraging. There are sensible measures, in turn, that we could take to reduce FEMA’s costs, such as improving the maps that specify where flood insurance is required or even forbidding the building of housing in floodplains or vulnerable coastal areas. We could decide that while we will continue to help individuals who chose to live in those zones get to safety, we won’t give them money to rebuild and that they’ll have to pay extra to cover the predictably high costs of protecting them when flooding occurs. But our civic obligations must still be honored when disaster strikes.

Let’s consider your health care analogy. When an injured motorist arrives at the emergency room, doctors don’t withhold care on the ground that he was drunk and therefore a menace to others. In fact, what you have in mind looks like collective punishment. Kentucky is, as it happens, almost evenly divided between registered Republicans and Democrats — only last year did Republican voters outnumber Democratic ones. Also, more than one-fifth of the state’s residents are under 18. A majority of Kentuckians might not have supported the policies you object to.

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