Trump and Racial Healing

Since co-founding the Prospect in 1989, I’ve witnessed two periods of great hope followed by great disappointment and worse. We cheered when Bill Clinton ended 12 years of Republican rule, but he turned out to be the epitome of a corporate Democrat, setting up the financial collapse. And the hopeful Obama years, signaling new racial inclusion and healing, were of course followed by Donald Trump.

But history behaves in weird ways. Who would have thought that Trump’s aspiring dictatorship, plus the COVID-19 pandemic, would yield this stunning moment of greater racial awareness and greater appreciation for the necessary role of activist government?

Through these three decades, this magazine has been a prophetic voice, exposing abuses of public and private power, pointing to a politics that can produce a better America, and lifting up new voices. I’m taking a breather, so to speak, from the On TAP column that I usually write in this space, to ask for your help.

If you are reading these words, you value what we do. We just can’t make it on ads, print subscriptions, and foundation grants. This is the closing week of our fiscal year and the start of our annual drive for reader support.

Please enroll in our reader-sustainer program, for as little as $3 a month, or as much as you can afford. Just click the button included with this email.

I’ll be back next week with more On TAP commentary. I can do this only because this magazine exists—with your help.