The president overseas, vaccine diplomacy, no simple solutions at border

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The sham audit of Maricopa County, Arizona's 2020 general election is beginning to wrap up, and Republican delegations from around the country are heading to Arizona to take notes. Why? It seems they're testing how to successfully turn over a future election result they don't like, if not simply attempting to corrupt the last one. The facts are: Maricopa County previously authorized two audits by certified independent contractors who found no problems with the count. County election officials, most of whom are Republicans, have defended the integrity of their operations and questioned the competence, shoddy methods, and questionable funding of Cyber Ninjas, the firm conducting the current audit. Cyber Ninjas founder Doug Logan supports unfounded conspiracy theories about rampant election fraud. Unfortunately, facts are easily neutralized among people who desperately want their pre-formed opinions confirmed. And so, the coming Maricopa County audit report will likely serve up a slanted
conclusion that flies in the face of these facts...but keeps the Big Lie alive for those who simply don't want to hear the truth. —Mindy Finn

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** Patrick: Biden's overseas challenge
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"The United States is 'back,' proclaims President Biden, seemingly as often as he can. The coming week will show if the same is true of the West. At successive summits of the G-7, NATO, and the European Union, Biden and fellow leaders will confront a dual task: reviving the community of advanced market democracies and showing that the West is capable of resolving today's complex transnational challenges." —Stewart Patrick in ([link removed]) World Politics Review ([link removed])

Stewart Patrick is the James H. Binger senior fellow in global governance and director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of "The Sovereignty Wars: Reconciling America with the World" and "Weak Links: Fragile States, Global Threats, and International Security."

MORE: Biden meets with G-7 leaders in England, hoping to repair frayed ties —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])


** The Economist: Vaccines could be democracy's savior
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"The United States and its allies displayed great technological mettle by developing several highly effective vaccines and scaling up their production in record time. They therefore have something tangible and urgently needed to offer the rest of the world. President Biden is unlikely to get a better chance to demonstrate the benefits of American leadership, and the power of democracy and free markets to boot. Making sure that the rest of the world is inoculated as quickly as possible would be a shot in the arm for America and its allies, too." —The Economist ([link removed])

MORE: Ed Yong: The fundamental question of the pandemic is shifting —The Atlantic ([link removed])


** Isaacs & Toj: Guatemala is the key to fixing immigration
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"[T]he U.S. needs to break a pattern in which foreign assistance is channeled through government contractors with too little transparency, too much overhead, and scant connection to community priorities. We should seize the opportunity to work directly with local communities to fund sustainable development projects. If the Biden Administration is serious about curbing undocumented immigration, it should insist that the Guatemalan government provide the resources and expertise its rural poor so desperately need. Rather than partnering with the same old cast of business executives, Washington should seek out Guatemalan entrepreneurs who favor greater economic inclusion and are willing to pay taxes, invest capital, lend expertise, and share market access." —Anita Isaacs and Jorge Morales Toj in ([link removed]) The New York Times ([link removed])

Anita Isaacs is a professor of political science at Haverford College and a co-director of migrationencounters.org. Jorge Morales Toj is a Maya K'iche leader, human rights lawyer, and specialist in rural agricultural development.

MORE: Migration at U.S.-Mexico border still high, despite Biden's efforts —Al Jazeera ([link removed])


** Grier: What will 2024 look like?
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"One of the main lessons of the 2020 presidential election was that ordinary officials, partisans themselves, can be among American democracy's most powerful protectors. But to political scientists and many election experts and administrators, the wave of recently passed or proposed state laws sweeping the nation...is deeply concerning. It's not just the provisions in these bills that in some instances would make it harder to vote. It's that many of the bills also target election administration in ways that might make it easier for a losing candidate to jam a stick in the wheels of democratic processes." —Peter Grier in ([link removed]) The Christian Science Monitor ([link removed])

Peter Grier is a staff writer at
The Christian Science Monitor.

MORE: Trump-inspired death threats are terrorizing election workers —Reuters ([link removed])
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** Graham: Are we 'normal' yet? No
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"Squint the right way and things look almost normal. The barriers around the Capitol are gone. People are taking off their masks and going out. ... But this appearance of normalcy is a thin veneer. Just beneath the surface, the U.S. faces a set of perilous, unresolved threats. The former president refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the election he lost. His party's leaders are abandoning their commitment to democratic majority governance, and its voters insist that he won. Domestic terrorism threatens the nation's tranquility, and ordinary violent crime is on the rise too. Relaxing about the state of the country feels irresistible, but doing so would be unwise." —David Graham in ([link removed]) The Atlantic ([link removed])

David Graham is a staff writer at
The Atlantic.

MORE: Online bans, media glare hem extremists, diminish reach, experts say —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ([link removed])


** Comstock: It's long past time for the GOP to move on
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"Republicans need to have more faith in their policies and stop being afraid of a dangerous and diminished man who has divided the country and now divides our party. Reconsider the commission, let the investigation go ahead, and run and win in 2022 on the truth." —Barbara Comstock in ([link removed]) The New York Times ([link removed])

Barbara Comstock represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives.

MORE: Peggy Noonan: Why we can't move on from Jan. 6 —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])


** Boot: Vaccines prove government can work
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"The massive mobilization to defeat COVID-19 has restored some of my faith in the government's ability to solve problems. I hope it will do the same for other Americans. Government isn't always the solution, but it isn't always the problem, either—and corrosive distrust of authority only handicaps our ability to tackle our toughest problems." —Max Boot in The Washington Post ([link removed])

Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

MORE: Bipartisan group of U.S. senators says it has a deal on infrastructure framework —Reuters ([link removed])
"A democracy is inherently self-correcting. Here, the people are sovereign. Inept political leaders can be replaced. Foolish policies can be changed. Disastrous mistakes can be reversed."
—Theodore Sorensen, speechwriter and counselor to former President John F. Kennedy

Jim V. of New York says it all about what a loser Donald Trump is. Well written. That is the way we as Americans take a loss—with dignity and respect. —Donna C., California

Many people, left and right, are saying that Donald Trump should not be investigated or prosecuted because that is what they do in Banana Republics. It would look bad, set a terrible precedent investigating political opponents, and so on. I'd argue the opposite.

If any person in this country commits a crime of any sort and is not held accountable based upon a title they hold or held, or any other factor, then THAT is a Banana Republic. It would show that there are some people who are above the law, and that is fundamentally wrong, regardless of party.

Just because Trump was president should not prevent him from being held accountable. Other elected officials from the beginning of this country have been held accountable, and so should the former president, regardless of party. —Bill T., Arizona
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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