Fault Lines

by Kevin M. Kruse

  8.Henry M. Paulson, On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System (New York: Business Plus, 2010), 290–91.

  9.Liz Halloran, “McCain Suspends Campaign, Shocks Republicans,” US News and World Report, 24 September 2008; Alan S. Blinder, After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response and the Work Ahead (New York: Penguin, 2013), 187–93.

  10.Siri Agrell, “Comfortable Cushion for Obama: Democrats Make Gains in House, Senate,” Globe and Mail, 5 November 2008; Michael Grunwald, The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), 140; Eric Rauchway, “Neither a Depression nor a New Deal: Bailout, Stimulus, and the Economy,” and Paul Starr, “Achievement without Credit: The Obama Presidency and Inequality,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama, ed. Julian E. Zelizer (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018), 30–44, 45–61.

  11.Adam Nagourney, “OBAMA: Racial Barrier Falls in Decisive Victory,” New York Times, 5 November 2008.

  12.Frank Newport, “Americans See Obama Election as Race Relations Milestone,” Gallup News, 7 November 2008.

  13.Jeff Zeleny, “Gregg Ends Bid for Commerce Job,” New York Times, 12 February 2009; John Harwood, “ ‘Partisan’ Seeks a Prefix: Bi- or Post-,” New York Times, 7 December 2008.

  14.Jonathan Weisman, “GOP Doubts, Fears ‘Post-Partisan’ Obama,” Washington Post, 7 January 2008.

  15.Paul Krugman, “The Obama Gap,” New York Times, 8 January 2009.

  16.Grunwald, The New New Deal, 141.

  17.Grunwald, The New New Deal, 141–43.

  18.Grunwald, The New New Deal, 145–46.

  19.“Senate Republicans Square Off Against Stimulus Bill,” Los Angeles Times, 2 February 2009.

  20.Carl Hulse, “Specter Switches Parties,” New York Times, 28 April 2009; Susan Davis, “Maine GOP Senator Olympia Snowe Won’t Seek Re-Election,” USA Today, 12 Feburary 2012.

  21.“Obama Signs Stimulus Plan into Law,” CBS News, 17 February 2009; Farhana Hossain, Amanda Cox, John McGrath, and Stephan Weitberg, “The Stimulus Plan: How to Spend $787 Billion,” New York Times, 5 January 2017.

  22.E. J. Dionne Jr., Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012), 29–31; David Brooks, “Money for Idiots,” New York Times, 20 February 2009; Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Critique of Housing Plan Draws Quick White House Offensive,” New York Times, 21 February 2009; Brian Stelter, “CNBC Replays Its Reporter’s Tirade,” New York Times, 23 February 2009; David Carr, “Cable Wars Are Killing Objectivity,” New York Times, 19 April 2009.

  23.Paul Krugman, “Tea Parties Forever,” New York Times, 13 April 2009; Liz Robbins, “Protesters Air Views on Government Spending at Tax Day Tea Parties Across U.S.,” New York Times, 16 April 2009; Carr, “Cable Wars Are Killing Objectivity,” New York Times, 19 April 2009; Chris Ariens, “CNN Reporter at Chicago Tea Party,” Ad Week, 15 September 2009; Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 130–34; Christopher S. Parker and Matt A. Barreto, Change They Can’t Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 290, 301; Julian E. Zelizer, “Tea-Partied: President Obama’s Encounters with the Conservative-Industrial Complex,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama, 11–29.

  24.“Paul Volcker: The Lion Lets Loose,” Bloomberg Businessweek, 30 December 2009; Meg Jacobs, “Obama’s Fight against Global Warming,” in The Presidency of Barack Obama, 62–77.

  25.Sarah Binder and Steven S. Smith, Politics or Principle: Filibustering in the United States Senate (Washington, DC: Brookings, 2001).

  26.Thomas E. Mann and Norman Ornstein, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism (New York: Basic Books, 2012), 92.

  27.Reid Pillifant, “Architect of Obama’s Health Care Plan Fears a ‘Political’ Decision by the Supreme Court, says Romney’s Lying,” Politico, 16 November 2011; Pam Belluck, “Massachusetts Legislation on Insurance Becomes Law,” New York Times, 13 April 2006.

  28.Avik Roy, “The Tortuous History of Conservatives and the Individual Mandate,” Forbes, 7 February 2012.

  29.Mitt Romney, “Mr. President, What’s the Rush?” USA Today, 30 July 2009.

  30.O. Kay Henderson, “Grassley, Conlin Quarrel Over Health Care Mandate,” Radio Iowa, 10 September 2010.

  31.Carl Hulse and Adam Nagourney, “McConnell Strategy Shuns Bipartisanship,” New York Times, 16 March 2010.

  32.Timothy Jost, “Examining the House Republican ACA Repeal and Replace Legislation,” Health Affairs, 7 March 2017.

  33.Joan Walsh, “GOP’s Latest Shutdown Delusion,” Salon.com, 7 October 2013.

  34.Peter Grier, “Three Reasons Why Sarah Palin Joined Fox News,” Christian Science Monitor, 12 January 2010.

  35.Angie Drobnic Holan, “Joe Wilson of South Carolina Said Obama Lied, But He Didn’t,” Politifact, 9 September 2009; Ben Smith, “Wilson Breaks $1 Million,” Politico, 12 September 2009.

  36.Carl Hulse and Robert Pear, “Sweeping Health Care Overhaul Passes the House,” New York Times, 8 November 2009; Robert Pear, “Senate Approves Health Care Bill in Party-Line Vote,” New York Times, 25 December 2009.

  37.Peter Baker and Carl Hulse, “Off Script, Obama and the G.O.P. Vent Politely,” New York Times, 29 January 2010.

  38.Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear, “Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul into Law, With a Flourish,” New York Times, 23 March 2010.

  39.Brady Dennis, “Congress Passes Financial Reform Bill,” Washington Post, 16 July 2010.

  40.Arthur S. Brisbane, “Who Is Occupy Wall Street?” New York Times, 13 November 2011; Paul Sweeney, “Economist Who Inspired Occupy Movement Seeks to Tackle Inequality,” Irish Times, 28 March 2014; Jaime Lalinde, Rebecca Sacks, Mark Guidacci, Elizabeth Nichols, and Max Chafin, “Revolution Number 99,” Vanity Fair, 10 January 2012; Christopher Hayes, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy (New York: Crown, 2012), 230–32.

  41.Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Occupy Wall Street: A Frenzy That Fizzled,” New York Times, 18 September 2012; “What They Don’t Want to Talk About,” New York Times, 15 January 2012.

  42.Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2014); Jeet Heer, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” Toronto Globe and Mail, 3 May 2014.

  43.Jonathan Weisman and Laura Meckler, “Obama Concedes Shellacking,” Wall Street Journal, 4 November 2010.

  44.Tim Alberta, “John Boehner Unchained,” Politico Magazine (November/December 2017); Markus Prior, Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Media Choice Increases Inequality in Political Involvement and Polarizes Elections (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

  45.Alberta, “John Boehner Unchained.”

  46.William Branigin, “Obama Reflects on ‘Shellacking’ in Midterm Elections,” Washington Post, 3 November 2010; Dan Balz and William Branigin, “After Midterm Wins, GOP Vows to Block Obama’s Agenda,” Washington Post, 3 November 2010.

  47.Mann and Ornstein, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, 8–10; Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy, Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).

  48.Mann and Ornstein, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, 5.

  49.Brady Dennis, Alec MacGillis, and Lori Montgomery, “Origins of the Debt Showdown,” Washington Post, 6 August 2011; Steve Benen, “Boehner Wants Congress to Tackle Debt Limit As ‘Adults,’ ” Washington Monthly, 19 November 2010.

  50.Cited in Craig Harrington and Alex Morash, “Will Fox News Finally Take the Debt Ceiling Seriously?” Media Matters, 20 March 2017.

  51.Cited in Thomas M. DeFrank, “GOP Will Nix Bipartisan ‘Gang of Six’ Debt Proposal Because Obama Took Credit for It, Source Says,” New York Daily News, 20 July 2011; Michael Kinsley, “When the Speaker Wouldn’t Speak,” Los Angeles
Times, 29 July 2011; Alan Silverleib and Tom Cohen, “Obama Signs Debt Ceiling Bill, Ends Crisis,” CNN.com, 2 August 2011; Zelizer, “Tea-Partied.”

  52.Thomas Byrne Edsall, The Age of Austerity: How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics (New York: Doubleday, 2012), 5; Mann and Ornstein, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, 4; Brad Plumer, “GAO: Debt Ceiling Fight Cost Taxpayers At Least $1.3 Billion,” Washington Post, 23 July 2012; Brady Dennis, Alec MacGillis, and Lori Montgomery, “Origins of the Debt Showdown,” Washington Post, 6 August 2011.

  53.Konrad Yakabuski, “For Romney, A Delicate Piece of Political Surgery,” Toronto Globe and Mail, 13 May 2011.

  54.Jeff Zeleny, “Justices, By 5–4, Uphold Health Care Law,” New York Times, 29 June 2012.

  55.Peter Lattman and Annie Lowrey, “As Romney Campaign Advances, Private Equity Becomes Part of the Debate,” New York Times, 11 January 2012; Michael Barbaro, “Obama Ad Focuses on Workers Who Lost Jobs When a Mill Acquired By Bain Capital Closed,” New York Times, 15 May 2012; Michael D. Shear and Michael Barbaro, “In Video Clip, Romney Calls 47 percent ‘Dependent’ and Feeling Entitled,” New York Times, 18 September 2012; Maureen Dowd, “Let Them Eat Crab Cake,” New York Times, 19 September 2012; E. J. Dionne Jr., Why The Right Went Wrong: Conservatism—From Goldwater to Trump and Beyond (New York: Simon & Shuster, 2016), 374–76.

  56.Paul Krugman, “Truth About Jobs,” New York Times, 8 October 2012; Eric Benson, “Unskewed Polls Founder Takes Stock of Obama’s Win,” New York Magazine, 9 November 2012.

  57.Will Oremus, “The Five Stages of Fox News Grief,” Slate, 7 November 2012; Chris Ariens, “Here’s What Time the Networks Called the 2012 Election,” TV Newser, 5 November 2016; Elspeth Reeve, “The Whole Romney Ticket Believed in Unskewed Polls?” The Atlantic, 8 November 2012.

  58 “The Success of the Voter Fraud Myth,” New York Times, 19 September 2016; Aaron Blake, “Republicans Keep Admitting That Voter ID Helps Them Win, For Some Reason,” Washington Post, 7 April 2016.

  59 David Stout, “House Votes to Renew Voting Rights Act,” New York Times, 13 July 2006; Carl Hulse, “By a Vote of 98–0, Senate Approves 25 Year Extension of Voting Rights Act,” New York Times, 21 July 2006; Ari Berman, Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), 273–88; Michael Waldman, The Fight to Vote (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017): 230–33; Ed Kilgore, “Throwing Away the Umbrella,” Washington Monthly, 25 June 2013; Ari Berman, “Welcome to the First Presidential Election Since Voting Rights Act Gutted,” Rolling Stone, 23 June 2016.

  Chapter 15: THE TRUMP EFFECT

  1.Alessandra Stanley, “In Debate’s Dance, Romney Has More Missteps,” New York Times, 17 October 2012.

  2.Gail Collins, “Counting Benghazi Blessings,” New York Times, 27 November 2014.

  3.Jennifer Steinhauer and Michael S. Schmidt, “Benghazi Panel’s Leader Under Fire As He Prepares to Face Hillary Clinton,” New York Times, 21 October 2015.

  4.Peter Baker, “After Leaks, Obama Leads Wide Effort at Damage Control,” New York Times, 29 June 2013.

  5.Patrick Graham, “Islamic State: Disease or Cure?” Toronto Globe and Mail, 13 December 2014.

  6.Tom LoBianco, “Obama: ISIS Is Not Growing, But Not ‘Decapitated,” CNN.com, 13 November 2015; Maura Judkis and Griff White, “String of Paris Terrorist Attacks Leaves Over 120 Dead,” Washington Post, 13 November 2015.

  7.“Why Immigration Reform Died in Congress,” NBC News, 1 July 2014; Eduardo Porter, “Perils in Philosophy of Austerity in the U.S.,” New York Times, 31 October 2013; Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker, “Shutdown Is Over,” New York Times, 17 October 2013; “Political Polarization in the American Public,” Pew Research Center, 12 June 2014.

  8.Libby Nelson, “Republicans Now Have Historic Majorities in State Legislatures. That’s a Really Big Deal,” Vox, 6 November 2014; David Byler, “The Other GOP Wave: State Legislatures,” RealClearPolitics, 11 November 2014; Reid Wilson, “Republican Sweep Extends to State Level,” Washington Post, 5 November 2014; Philip Bump, “David Brat Just Beat Eric Cantor. Who Is He?” Washington Post, 10 June 2014.

  9.“Clinton Prepares for Benghazi Showdown with Republicans,” Time, 21 October 2015.

  10.Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear, “Obama to Put ‘Everything I’ve Got’ into Gun Control,” New York Times, 16 January 2013.

  11.Transcript, Washington Post, 21 December 2012; “States Lead the Way in Extending Open Carry Laws,” Guardian, 15 January 2016; Emily Swanson, “Gun Control Laws: After Sandy Hook, Poll Finds Bump in Support for Greater Restrictions,” Huffington Post, 16 December 2012.

  12.“Zimmerman Is Acquitted in Trayvon Martin Shooting,” New York Times, 13 July 2013; Maggie Clark, “Zimmerman Verdict Renews Focus on ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws,” USA Today, 15 July 2013.

  13.Al Baker, J. David Goodman, and Benjamin Mueller, “Beyond the Chokehold: The Path to Eric Martin’s Death,” New York Times, 14 June 2015; Emily Brown, “Timeline: Michael Brown Shooting,” USA Today, 14 August 2014.

  14.Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Libertation (New York: Haymarket Books, 2016); “Ferguson: Burned Buildings, 61 Arrests,” Los Angeles Times, 25 November 2014; Amanda Terkel, “Police Officer Caught on Video Calling Michael Brown Protesters ‘F***ing Animals,’ ” Huffington Post, 13 August 2014; Justine Hofherr, “Cop Who Told Protesters ‘I will F***ing Kill You’ ‘Suspended Indefinitely,’ ” Boston Globe, 20 August 2014.

  15.Emma G. Fitzsimmons, “ 12-Year-Old Boy Dies After Police in Cleveland Shoot Him,” New York Times, 23 November 2014; Timothy Williams and Mitch Smith, “Cleveland Officer Will Not Face Charges in Tamir Rice Shooting Death,” New York Times, 28 December 2015; Mitch Smith, “Tamir Rice’s Family to Receive $6 Million from Cleveland,” New York Times, 25 April 2016.

  16.“Oklahoma Man Eric Harris Fatally Shot by Deputy Who Meant to Fire Taser,” NBC News, 12 April 2015.

  17.Michael S. Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo, “South Carolina Officer Is Charged with Murder of Walter Scott,” New York Times, 7 April 2015.

  18.Alex Sundby, “Video Shows Key Part of Freddie Gray Ride,” CBS News, 20 May 2015.

  19.Scott Daugherty, “Police Fatally Shot Man in Portsmouth, Handcuffed Him,” Virginian-Pilot, 25 August 2015.

  20.Kevin Rector, “Charges Dropped, Freddie Gray Case Concludes with Zero Convictions Against Officers,” Baltimore Sun, 27 July 2016; Ralph Ellis, Christopher Lett, and Sara Sidner, “Ex-Oklahoma Deputy Robert Bates Guilty of Killing Unarmed Suspect,” CNN, 28 April 2016; Alex Johnson, “Cop Fired After Indictment in Killing of Virginia Teen William Chapman,” NBC News, 3 September 2015; Alan Blinder, “Ex-Officer Who Shot Walter Scott Pleads Guilty in Charleston,” New York Times, 2 May 2017.

  21.Jay Caspian Kang, “Our Demand Is Simple: Stop Killing Us,” New York Times Magazine, 4 May 2015.

  22.Jessica Hersher, “What Happened When Dylann Roof Asked Google for Information About Race?” NPR, 10 January 2007; Aaron Morrison, “The Google Search That Launched Dylann Roof’s Journey from Casual Racist to Mass Murderer,” Mic, https://mic.com/articles/164193/dylann-roof-how-to-make-a-racist-radicalization-white-nationalism#.36zJnHI0k; Anti-Defamation League, “With Hate in Their Hearts: The State of White Supremacy in the United States,” July 2015.

  23.David A. Graham, “What Does the Planned Parenthood Video Show?” The Atlantic, 15 July 2015; “Activist Behind Anti–Planned Parenthood Videos Turns Himself In,” Washington Post, 4 February 2016.

  24.Alan Rappeport, “Questions on Speeches to Goldman Sachs Vex Hillary Clinton,” New York Times, 4 February 2016; Charles M. Blow, “Clinton’s Specter of Illegitimacy,” New York Times, 24 October 2016.

  25.David Weigel, “Why So Many Sanders Supporters Don’t Want to Be Democrats,” Washington Post, 25 May 2016.

  26.Tessa Stuart, “Donald Trump’s 13 Biggest Business Failures,” Rolling Stone, 14 March 2016.

  27.Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher, “The Insi
de Story of How ‘The Apprentice’ Rescued Donald Trump,” Fortune, 8 September 2016; Michael Kranish, “A Fierce Will to Win Pushed Donald Trump to the Top,” Washington Post, 19 January 2017.

  28.Ashley Parker and Steve Eder, “Inside the Six Weeks Donald Trump was a Nonstop ‘Birther,’ ” New York Times, 2 July 2016; Michael D. Shear, “Obama Releases Long-Form Birth Certificate,” New York Times, 27 April 2011.

  29.http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/.

  30.Michael Barbaro, “Donald Trump Clung to ‘Birther’ Lie for Years, and Still Isn’t Apologetic,” New York Times, 16 September 2016; Gregory Krieg, “ 14 of Trump’s Most Outrageous ‘Birther’ Claims—Half From After 2011,” CNN, 16 September 2016.

  31.“Donald Trump’s Announcement Speech,” Time, 16 July 2015.

  32.David A. Graham, “What the Press Got Right About Trump’s Candidacy,” The Atlantic, 16 June 2016.

  33.Ben Schreckinger, “Trump Rallies Get Rough,” Politico, 24 November 2015; Ben Mathis-Lilley, “A Continually Growing List of Violent Incidents at Trump Events,” Slate, 25 April 2016.

  34.Eric Alterman, “How False Equivalence Is Distorting the 2016 Election Coverage,” The Nation, 20 June 2016; Derek Thompson, “The ‘Trump Effect’ on Cable News,” The Atlantic, 17 June 2016.

  35.Eric Bradner, “Trump Returns to ‘Lyin’ Ted’ Moniker,” CNN, 20 April 2016; Paul Solotaroff, “Trump Seriously: On the Trail With the GOP’s Tough Guy,” Rolling Stone, 9 September 2015; Gregory Krieg, “Trump Likens Carson’s ‘Pathology’ to That of a Child Molester,” CNN, 12 November 2015; Alexandra Jaffe, “Donald Trump Has ‘Small Hands,’ Marco Rubio Says,” NBC News, 29 February 2016; Eliza Collins, “Les Moonves: Trump’s Run is ‘Damn Good for CBS,” Politico, 29 February 2016; E. J. Dionne Jr., Why The Right Went Wrong: Conservatism—From Goldwater to Trump and Beyond (New York: Simon & Shuster, 2016), 434–39.

  36.Ben Schreckinger, “Trump Taunts Rivals and Predicts a Quick End to GOP Race,” Politico, 24 February 2016.

  37.J. C. Derrick, “Trump Improves in New World Survey,” World, 25 August 2016; Justin McCarthy, “Record High 60 percent of Americans Support Same Sex Marriage,” Gallup News, 19 May 2015. More generally, see John Fea, Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017).