Abbreviated Pundit RoundupĀ is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.
UK general election 2024 results live: Labour wins in landslide
With nearly all of the 650 seats declared, Keir Starmer is expected to be the new prime minister as the Labour party secures a majority. Follow the final results and find out how your constituency voted
As of this morning, Reform (Nigel Farage populists) has won 4 seats and Farage is in Parliament for the first time. Thatās less than the 13 projected in exit polls but a new high for that party, which is basically the Leave contingent from Brexit.
EJ Dionne/Washington Post:
How Keir Starmer overwhelmed Britainās Conservatives
People looking for āchangeā would do well to follow the Labour leaderās example.
It says a lot about incoming British prime minister Keir Starmer: After running through various possible slogans for his Labour Party,Ā projected to have wonĀ a historic landslide in Thursdayās elections, StarmerĀ boiled it down to one word: āChange.ā
His parsimonious choice befitted a man for whom discipline in pursuit of victory is no vice and who jettisoned cargo-loads of ideological baggage to make his party an acceptable vehicle of protest. He understood that prevailing would depend far more on voter rage against 14 years of Conservative government (and five Tory prime ministers) than on any affection for him. He was fine with that.
Warning: The comedian uses offensive language to make a point or three, meant to be shocking from a ānewsā presenter (British humor). But his list is spot on, and as good a summary of 14 years of Tory rule as youāll find in the high minded press.
The UKās Brexit dream is dead
Sorry Boris, your Euroskeptic vision has failed in so many ways.
LONDON ā British voters head to the polls Thursday for their first general election outside the European Union. But in so many ways, the Brexit dream has already died.
All the key Vote Leave characters have left the stage. Five years after winning a landslide election Boris Johnson is out of parliament, making millions from speeches and newspaper columns. Michael Gove hasĀ quit politicsĀ rather than suffer life in opposition. Dominic Cummings spends his timeĀ writing blogsĀ about Dostoevsky, TikTok and the CIA.
As the architects of Britainās departure from the EU contemplate a decade out of power, the country they envisaged during the 2016 referendum campaign looks further away than ever.
Bolts magazine:
How Voting Works in the U.K. and France: Your Questions Answered
On the eve of the French and British elections,Ā BoltsĀ responds to 10 reader questions on how they differ from the U.S. on voter registration, disenfranchisement, proxy voting, and more.
Weāve organized your questions under five themesāexplore at your leisure:
Read on to learn how people vote in France and the U.K., why snap elections are a thing, what constraints exist on gerrymandering, and much more.
Ron Brownstein/The Atlantic:
Democrats Begin Their Shift From Anxiety to Action
Amid deep concern about Bidenās capacity to continue as the nominee, party leaders are confronting the options and obstacles.
That reticence about going public was symptomatic. A general reluctance to publicly express those concerns, or to urge Biden to step aside, has been obviousāparticularly because the White House has pushed back fiercely against critics, and many senior Democrats have issued supportive, if not ironclad, statements.Ā And even some of those Democrats who considered Bidenās performance calamitous continue to believe that replacing him with Vice President Kamala Harris or another candidate would endanger the partyās chances more than staying the course.
āUniversally weāre in this state of suspended animation,ā the leader of a prominent Democratic advocacy group told me.
But the first signs that this paralysis may be lifting are appearing.Ā Representative Mike QuigleyĀ of Illinois suggested yesterday that Biden may need to consider leaving the race; Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas alsoĀ called on him to do soĀ yesterday, as didĀ former Representative Tim Ryan, the partyās 2022 Senate candidate in Ohio, and JuliĆ”n Castro, a rival for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. A senior House Democrat told me that many colleagues who are running in competitive districts express similar views and concerns in private. āThe frontliners are melting down,ā this high-ranking representative told me.
Michael Cohen (the pundit, not the ex-Trump aide) speaks of the NYT/CNN āleakā that an āallyā acknowledges Biden is aware of the situation and ponders next moves. Cohen suspects close ally Chris Coons as the leak source:
Biden bought himself needed short term time, and the ABC George Stephanopoulos interview has been moved up to Friday night from Sunday (theyāll replay it). Meanwhile, as the press continues their feeding frenzy, thereās moreĀ analysis of whatās going on:
Jennifer Schulze/WCPT820 RADIO:
The Biden news coverage requires less hysteria, more journalism
Media critic Jamison FoserĀ nails it: āA lot of things are newsworthy; media companies do not āmerely report the news,ā they *decide what the news is.* And when it comes to Trump & Biden, the lack of proportionality speaks volumes.ā
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York TimesĀ adds this: āAs media, we consistently proclaim that we are just reporting the news when in fact we are driving it. What we cover, how we cover it, determines often what Americans thinks is important and *how* they perceive these issues, yet we keep pretending it is not so. If Americans donāt recognize the crisis our democracy is facing, thatās not their fault, it is ours.ā
Whatās happened to journalism since the last debate is entirely out of proportion and not in keeping with the responsibilities of a free press. āFeeding frenzyā doesnāt even come close to describing the news media coverage about Joe Bidenās debate performance.
Josh Marshall/TPM:
Times Gonna Times
Whatever else happens in the coming days with the presidential election, the whole saga will permanently affect my understanding of the culture of The New York Times. It is not the first time that in the midst of a presidential contest the Times has deployed and leveraged all its editorial resources to achieve a desired goal. We saw it in 2016 on a couple occasionsā¦
I actually like crusading journalism, flooding the zone with stories on the question of the day you find most important. But is the Times normally that crusading paper? Not usually and actually on very few topics. In this case I feel like itās clearly doing that while hiding behind itās cloak of all the news thatās fit to print. Not crusading just covering the story. I can only say, will only say again that it is not the first time the Times has, in a presidential campaign, leveraged all its institutional and editorial muscle to engineer a desired goal.
Aaron Fritschner/X via Threadreader app:
Something important, subtle, and largely un-discussed is shaping the way all of us perceive what’s happening now. Shifts in editorial standards and a series of biases in reporting and especially amplification are herding the news in one direction.
I’ll explain with examples
There are reasons why pretty much everything you see now describes panic, chaos, and backbiting. Reporters are looking for those things, they are getting print and headlines, and the other stuff is getting twisted, downplayed or cut. This works many ways in practice
Take the case of the secret letter and the 25 mysterious Democrats. Last night this appeared part way down a wire flash from Reuters. The source was a lone “House Democratic aide” described neither as senior nor as leadership. They didn’t have the letter or know its provenance
Jon Ralston/Nevada Independent fro March 2024, which he reaffirmed this week:
OPINION: Democracy at stake and the reality of our coverage
But the most distressing phenomenon, in my view, is how many elected officials and candidates have given sustenance to Trumpās false claims of fraud by either echoing them or ignoring them, a form of cancerous neglect that must be illuminated by journalists.
This is the epitome of cowardice, where fear trumps integrity, ambition trumps honesty. Spines disappear as character is revealedā¦
You can call out Bidenās rhetoric and his misrepresentations and report the truth that Americans are understandably worried about his age without putting any of that on par with Trumpās pathological lying and delusional effusions. That doesnāt mean we are rooting for Biden to win and we will point out Democratic depredations when they occur. But we will also be sensitive to proportionality and, yes, fairness.
More, please.
Jill Lawrence/The Atlantic:
When Assessing Presidential Fitness, Consider Racism
An excavation of Trumpās āBlack jobsā claim
It will take years, and probably some history books, to fully deconstruct CNNās Debate From Hell and its consequences. People are (understandably) focused on President Joe Bidenās alarming performance, but that preoccupation has gotten in the way of crucial analysis of the debateās substance. So letās excavate a short phrase thatās disturbingly illuminating: āBlack jobs.ā
āThe fact is that [Bidenās] big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that heās allowed to come in through the border,ā Donald Trump said in response to a question first posed to Biden about Black Americans who are dissatisfied with him. āTheyāre takingĀ Black jobsĀ now. And it could be 18, it could be 19 and even 20 million people. Theyāre taking Black jobs, and theyāre taking Hispanic jobs. And you havenāt seen it yet, but youāre going to see something thatās going to be the worst in our history.ā
What exactly is a āBlack job,ā you may wonder? Trump did not say. But the archaic implication that there are some jobs that are just for Black people, or just for Hispanic people, certainly stood out to many Americans who were listening. (āIt is the most racist statement that heās made in the last three days,ā Al SharptonĀ said in an interviewĀ after the debate.)
Tony Michaels and Cliff Schecter on Trumpās VP choice:
And for dessert:
