John Cassidy's Blog, page 31

Can Bernie Sanders Really Win the Nomination?

“Don’t let anyone tell you we can’t win the nomination, or win the general election,” Bernie Sanders told a huge crowd in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday evening. “We’re going to do both of those things.” The Vermont senator’s optimism was understandable, as was the enthusiasm of his supporters, who repeatedly interrupted him with chants of “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!,” and “We believe that we can win!”

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 27, 2016 10:57

Postscript: Johan Cruyff, Total Footballer

On April 9, 1975, Leeds United, then the best football team in England, hosted a match against Barcelona, the famous Spanish club, in the semifinal of the European Cup—the precursor to the Champions League, in which Europe’s top clubs compete. That drizzly evening, my father took me to Elland Road, Leeds’s home ground, where Johan Cruyff, the greatest player in the world, led Barca onto the pitch in their famous blue-and-purple-striped jerseys.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 24, 2016 16:57

Jeb Bush Endorses Ted Cruz, but Donald Trump Marches On

After spending much of Tuesday on television—where he bemoaned the state of Europe (Brussels, in particular), called for the legalization of torture, and pledged to eliminate the visa-waiver program that allows residents of certain foreign countries to visit the United States without going through a lengthy application process—come evening, Donald Trump switched media platforms.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 23, 2016 11:08

Brussels: An Attack on All of Europe

Paris is the tourist capital of Europe, but Brussels is its real capital. A famously unglamorous city, it is home to many of the key institutions of the European Union—the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, and the European Parliament (which also meets in Strasbourg, France). It is known mostly for its high concentration of Eurocrats and postwar Brutalist architecture (outside the Old Town), and, lately, for the Islamic extremists who inhabit its drab suburb of Molenbeek, which lies to the west of the city center.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 22, 2016 14:07

What Bernie Sanders Has Achieved

As he has been for most of the past year, Bernie Sanders is on the road. On Thursday, he was scheduled to hold a town-hall meeting at the Twin Arrows Casino, east of Flagstaff, Arizona. You read that right: the seventy-four-year-old Vermont senator was set to issue his trademark call for a “political revolution” and to demand more income and wealth redistribution at a capitalist mecca in one of the most conservative states in the Union.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 17, 2016 16:00

Did the Violence at a Trump Rally Help Hillary Clinton?

In the wake of Hillary Clinton’s big wins on Tuesday—she finished ahead of Bernie Sanders in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio—I’ve heard several people suggest that the violence at a Donald Trump rally in Chicago, last Friday, may have helped her.* “I think some Democrats got scared,” a Sanders supporter told me. “They saw what could happen if Trump is elected, and they said we need someone mainstream and reliable to stop him.”

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 16, 2016 16:21

How Hillary Clinton Triumphed on Tuesday

In the wake of Hillary Clinton’s big wins on Tuesday—she finished ahead of Bernie Sanders in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio—I’ve heard several people suggest that the violence at a Donald Trump rally in Chicago, last Friday, may have helped her. “I think some Democrats got scared,” a Sanders supporter told me. “They saw what could happen if Trump is elected, and they said we need someone mainstream and reliable to stop him.”

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 16, 2016 16:21

Hillary Clinton Versus Donald Trump: The Battle Ahead

At about eight-thirty last night, after the news came in that Donald Trump had trounced Marco Rubio in Florida, and that Hillary Clinton had won big victories over Bernie Sanders in Florida and North Carolina, Tony Fratto, who was a White House spokesman for George W. Bush’s Administration, tweeted, “What essentially happened today is @HillaryClinton was elected president. We have 8 months of hyperventilating before its official.”

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 16, 2016 00:01

Mega-Tuesday: Can Anyone Stop Trump? Can Sanders Surprise Again?

Another Tuesday in March; another crucial set of primaries. After the violent clashes in Chicago on Friday night, it’s back to the nitty-gritty of votes and delegate counts. By Tuesday night, Donald Trump could be well on his way to wrapping up the Republican nomination, or he could be facing the prospect of a fight all the way to the Convention. On the Democratic side, we will find out whether Bernie Sanders can build on his surprise victory in Michigan last week and deliver another blow to Hillary Clinton.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 14, 2016 13:50

The Chicago Anti-Trump Protest Was Only the Beginning

For the past eight months, Donald Trump’s divisive, racially tinged Presidential campaign has been tearing apart the Republican Party. Over the next eight months, if Trump wraps up the G.O.P. nomination, it could well have a similar impact on the country at large.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

View more on John Cassidy's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 13, 2016 07:50