Everywhere you look

A story about the election, but not like that (because everywhere else is like that)

The big debate is tonight. Every four years we hear that this is the most consequential election of our lifetime -- and, as much as I would greatly appreciate the luxury of living in "precedented times," I think this time, most people agree.

I'm going to share two articles, and then I'll ask for your vote and comments (assuming we can all be civil, which I think we can!).

This can be an odd newsletter in that I try not to be too political, but how do you avoid talking at all about the election in a daily/topical email? It's an issue that's plagued me for years -- especially every four years.

We're not going to make any big changes in this regard. I don't have the staff or bandwidth to cover things thoroughly, even if I wanted to.

I read two things over the weekend that I'd like to share.

Note: Neither of these articles advocates for one candidate or the other!

But, they summarize two attitudes about the election in general, and I'm curious which one might better align with our readers:

The first is from Axios, by Zachary Basu, Erin Doherty, and Sophia Cai, and published Sunday:

America Braces for Perfect Storm of Election Chaos

Everywhere you look, signs are mounting of a tinderbox election that will test the outer bounds — and breaking points — of American democracy, honesty and civility.

Why it matters: A perfect storm has been brewing for years now — fueled by extreme polarization, election denial, political violence, historic prosecutions and rampant disinformation. Mayhem is bound to rain down in November.

Axios lays out 5 reasons why this year is different. They go into greater detail, but the subheadlines are (verbatim):

• "A desperate Donald Trump ... in an existential fight not just for his political future — but for his personal freedom"

• "A nail-biter like no other" (closest election since 1964);

• "A battleground legal brawl ... Republicans already have filed more than 100 lawsuits against various voting and election procedures ..."

• "The specter of violence ... In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in May, more than two-thirds of Americans said they were concerned about extremist violence after the election."

• "A cesspool of disinformation ... "

The second article is from The Wall Street Journal, by Clare Ansberry and Kris Maher, also published Sunday:

‘No Politics Allowed’: These Americans Are Avoiding the Conversation at All Costs

Those exhausted by heated discourse and relentless headlines are retreating to apolitical havens

About 62% of U.S. adults say they are worn out by so much coverage of the campaign and candidates, according to the Pew Research Center, which surveyed 8,709 adults in April.

That fatigue was registered before election coverage ramped up even further with President Biden dropping out of the race, two national conventions and an assassination attempt. The onslaught of political news comes at the same time that coverage of escalating global conflicts has intensified, leaving many people overwhelmed.

I haven't done a big reader survey in over two years, but the last time we did, one of the great takeaways was that this is one of the few publications I know of that has readers all over the political map.

Part of me would love to poll our readers on who you support, but I'm going to resist that temptation for now. Instead, maybe with the two articles above as guidance, I'm very interested to know where you fall on the "caring about the election" spectrum.

Are we bracing for chaos? Trying to get away from it all? Somewhere in the middle? Let us know in the anonymous poll and/or comments.

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7 other (non-election) things …

• Catherine, Princess of Wales has said she has completed her chemotherapy treatment and is now focused on staying "cancer free", in a video message released by Kensington Palace. The princess revealed she was undergoing treatment for cancer in March and has been out of sight of the public for much of the year. (BBC)

• James Earl Jones, a commanding presence onscreen who nonetheless gained greater fame off-camera as the sonorous voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader and Mufasa, the benevolent leader in The Lion King, died Monday. He was 93. (Hollywood Reporter)

• A Miami-Dade police officer has been placed on administrative duty after Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was handcuffed and detained by police Sunday, hours before the team played against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hill was pulled over about one block from the Hard Rock Stadium, where the Dolphins play, according to the team. He received a citation for reckless driving and driving without a license, according to Hill's agent. (NPR)

• It seems the recent spate of bad airplane passenger etiquette hasn’t deterred flight attendant hopefuls from attempting to enter their ranks. Delta Airline’s website epically crashed after becoming overloaded with a deluge of applications for flight attendant positions for the first time in over a year. (NY Post)

• Going to community college and then transferring to a four-year school is often considered one of the best ways to get a degree for significantly less money; community college enrollment last year rose 2.6%. However, only about 1/3 of students who start at community colleges ultimately transfer to four-year schools, according to a new study. (CNBC)

• Do animals know that they will not live forever? (The Atlantic)

• Apple unveiled a quartet of iPhones on Monday, including the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. As expected, the updates are largely iterative. The most notable hardware change across the board might be a new touch-sensitive "Camera Control" button that makes capturing photos and video a little more DSLR-like. Mostly, though, Apple's sales pitch will come down to how helpful its "Apple Intelligence" AI tools are out in the wild. (Yahoo News)

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Thanks for reading. Fair use screenshot from the classic 1999 movie, Election. (Did you know there’s a sequel coming?) See you in the comments.