President Palpatine

<div class="c-message_kit__gutter"> <div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" role="presentation" data-qa="message_content"> <div class= "c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text"> <div class= "c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text" data-qa="message-text"> <div class="p-block_kit_renderer" data-qa="block-kit-renderer"> <div class= "p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first"> <div class="p-rich_text_block" dir="auto"> <div class="p-rich_text_section">President Biden gave a speech before a blood-red background in front of Liberty Hall late last week, explicitly identifying a large chunk of the GOP as threats to democracy. How large? Biden won’t say--or what he does say, he walks back. Will this message really play with a significant portion of the electorate, or have Biden and his team confused Twitter for real life? Meanwhile, in real life itself, everything seems to be getting worse: school test scores have taken a twenty-year drop in the wake of COVID shutdowns, and life expectancy continues to tick downward as well. Plus: California is raising alarms about potential power grid failures in the midst of a summer heatwave. How can we avoid despair, and what are the opportunities amid all this decline? Our editors discuss.</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>