After a New York Times/Siena College poll on Monday showed former President Donald Trump leading President Joe Biden in five battleground states, Republicans might be tempted to congratulate themselves on their standard strategy of trying to persuade enough voters to win at the polls on Election Day. But the lesson the Trump campaign and other Republicans should take from the polling bump is the opposite: Republicans need to care more than ever about chasing ballots from low-propensity voters.

The NYT poll reflected significant gains by Trump among traditionally Democrat, traditionally low-turnout voters such as young people and racial minorities. The poll commissioned by the corporate media outlet showed the former president ahead of Biden among 18-29-year-olds, and just three points behind among Hispanic voters. But both Hispanic voters and voters between the ages of 18-29 are traditionally low-propensity voters, meaning they may be registered to vote but have infrequent turnout compared to other demographics. 

Just 19 percent of Hispanic voters voted in all of the past three even-year elections, compared to 37 percent of Americans overall, according to Pew Research. Voters ages 18-29 accounted for 11 percent of turnout in 2018 despite making up 30 percent of the nonvoting population.

In some states, Trump’s lead over Biden narrowed slightly among likely voters, compared to registered voters — suggesting the existence of voters, many of whom may be from traditionally Democrat blocs, who may not be “likely” to vote but who lean toward Trump. The significance of ballot-collecting operations targeted at such

There’s a wonderful scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Frodo tells Gandalf that he wishes the Ring had never come to him. Gandalf replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” After reading Auron MacIntyre’s recent release, The Total State, I found myself feeling a bit like Frodo.

MacIntyre, who is a BlazeTV host and entertaining tweeter, makes an extended case that our liberal democracies — which we are constantly told are the freest societies in human history — are in fact forms of soft totalitarianism, a “total state.” Like so many, Covid was MacIntyre’s “red pill” moment. He watched as constitutional protections were swept aside under the pretext of “public safety.” This “state of emergency” lasted three years, notwithstanding mounting evidence that Covid was not nearly as dangerous as it initially seemed. After all the lies and excesses, there were no apologies, fines, or charges. Just a desperate attempt by elites to memory-hole it all.

A Different Political Lineage

The Total State makes some familiar, almost indisputable arguments. Our administrative state has become bloated, unaccountable, and self-interested. The revolving door between public and private service can lead to moral hazards and corruption. Tastemakers at elite institutions — Hollywood, Harvard, Yale, The Washington Post, The New York Times — do not engage in Darwinian competition where only the best art and

A recently published inspector general report, paired with newly released transcripts of one FBI official’s 2023 interview with the House Judiciary Committee, shows that the FBI’s strategy for retaliating against whistleblowers involved suspending their security clearances without explanation or warning.

Jennifer Leigh Moore, who served as executive assistant director for the FBI’s human resources branch until her retirement in June 2023, told congressional investigators that she is “adamant for every employee to be treated fairly and accurately” and that her “whole management principle is around ‘be kind.’”

“No matter what we’re doing, if we’re suspending a clearance, if we’re bringing on board an employee, or if we’re at a retirement, we are always kind,” she told the House Judiciary Committee in April 2023.

Moore and her agency’s actions regarding retaliation against whistleblowers, however, suggest otherwise.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan expressed strong concerns that the FBI initiated a targeted “purge” of employees with dissenting views last year. Moore first testified to the committee about the issue in April 2023 but refused to comment any time she was asked about several agents who suffered suspensions.

She claimed she was “not allowed to discuss ongoing security investigations,” prompting the House Judiciary Committee to subpoena her for refusing “to answer questions during her transcribed interview about the FBI’s retaliation against brave whistleblowers who have come forward.”

Special Agent Garret O’Boyle, Special Agent Stephen Friend, Supervisory Intelligence Analyst George Hill, and Staff Operations Specialist Marcus Allen all testified to Congress in