John Light

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John Light is TPM's managing editor, based in New York. He previously worked as a producer for Bill Moyers and WNYC and has written for The Atlantic, Slate, Reuters and Grist.

What To Expect On Election Day In Seven States: AK, HI, NM, OR, UT, WA, And WY
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The Growing Power Imbalance

Last spring, TPM published a series of essays on structural reforms to American democracy that Democrats could consider should they win the Senate and the White House in November. Now, with weeks to go until Election Day, the fight over the future of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat has thrust conversations about such reforms back to the fore. With the Senate and Supreme Court tilted to the right, and Republicans willing to toss aside norms and precedent to further strengthen their position, there’s too much at stake, the argument goes, for Democrats to declare any particular lever of power off limits.

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Where Things Stand: So Why Are We Here? Prime Badge

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court knocked down the idea, advanced by President Trump’s lawyers, that their client was immune from criminal investigations. Today, that case came back before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, where lawyers for the President advanced new arguments for why Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance cannot subpoena Trump’s financial records.

Except, not really.

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INFOGRAPHIC: The Apportionment Power Grab

Among the various ways the Trump administration is seeking to bend and rework the rules of government this year is a policy, announced by the President in July, to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment count.

This has been a long-time goal for some on the political right. But what would the policy mean in practice?

Our design team has a snazzy new graphic explaining the Trump policy and its potential impact:

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Where Things Stand: A Swing And A Miss Prime Badge
This is your TPM afternoon briefing.

Allies of the president have been murmuring ominously about potential October surprises all year. There’s the Durham investigation, Giuliani’s conspiracy theories, and Senator Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) investigation into Ukraine-related Biden allegations, to name a few.

We got the results of that last one this morning. But, alas! There is no surprise.

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LA Draws Up Plan To File Criminal Charges Over Hollywood Hills Parties
The Post-Policy Party

Today, we learn that the GOP is done with the whole party platform thing. The party and Trump are one and the same, like Louis XIV and France.

Back in June, Steve Benen wrote for TPM Cafe on how the GOP came to be a post-policy party, with an exclusive focus on winning.

Read that here.

Jerry Falwell Jr. Agrees To Take ‘Indefinite Leave of Absence’ From Liberty University
White Supremacy In The White House

“Woodrow Wilson was in wide company in being a white supremacist at the turn of the 20th century, but he stands apart in having overseen the triumph of this ideology at home and abroad,” writes journalist and author Colin Woodard for Cafe.

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