Portside

50 Republican national security figures have come out staunchly against Donald Trump and that has been a headline story -- all the Mr. Rights finally take out after Mr. Wrong -- even though many of them bear a responsibility for the very world of war and failure that helped produce the moment of The Donald. Rebecca Gordon who knows a thing or two about the criminal wars of these last years makes some sense of this latest round of expertise and Election 2016.

In Mexico, Trump is solemn and praising; in Arizona, he's back to hysterical horror shows. His return to his old self was swift. Trump's Wednesday night speech was fiery, leaning on his usual depictions of immigrants as murderous, villainous, sexually deviant leeches. And then, he not only pledged every harsh anti-immigration tactic he'd floated for the past year, he expanded on them all - aimed at revving up his conservative base.

Breaking with historic tradition, both Clinton and Trump do no allow reporters to travel with them. This is about something much bigger than eyewitness accounts and plane rides. It's about how much we want to know about each candidate's plans for the White House, and how open and accessible we want them to be as president. And ultimately, it's about whether we truly believe in the premise that transparency is vital for democracy.

Trump's nationalism is absolutely about ethno-purity and an element of populism as well, although it's clearly a misdirection...it's largely about wounded national pride which has been a potent motivating force on the American right for a very long time. The reason Trump is now playing the conservative anthem "Proud To Be An American" at his rallies is: Good old fashioned jingoism - the one thing that brings the old right, the new right and the alt-right together.

Reader Comments: Douglas and Lochte- Tale of Black and White; Temp Organizing Gets Big Boost; New Memorial Will Honor Victims of Lynching; Black Lives Matter; Progressive Groups Demand Clinton Publicly Oppose Lame-Duck TPP Vote; Henry Kissinger; More response to Portside post on Syria; Announcements: Labor Journalism Award-Apply Now; Thirty-six Views of One World Trade Center; Peace in Colombia - What Can I Do?; Faculty Condemn New McCathyite Canary Mission Blacklist

Progressives who supported Clinton in the primary should use their leverage to ensure Clinton makes good on her vow to stop TPP and keep other promises she made on the campaign trail to win progressive votes. Bernie supporters will have your back, but it's up to you to lead on this one. It's serious -and - it can't wait until after the inauguration. From the perspective of progressives who supported Bernie in the primary, this election is a shotgun wedding.

We're under attack from climate change-and our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII. It's not that global warming is like a world war. It is a world war. And we are losing. Defeating the Nazis required more than brave soldiers. It required a wholesale industrial retooling. In this war we're in-the war that physics is fighting hard, and that we aren't-winning slowly is the same as losing.

Reader Comments: #BLM taking the baton from SNCC; More on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - The world did not need this horrendous 'experiment'; Sanders, Clinton, Trump, Stein; Saluting Labor Notes; Growing Racial Wealth Gap - how to unite the multi-racial working class; Readers debate Portside post on Syria; Saluting Fidel Castro at 90; Announcements: New York events - August 31

Demographic shifts mean that, for the first time in half a century, Democrats have a real chance at winning states in the South and Southwest.

As the U.S. election season proceeds, there is contro-versy, confusion, consternation, and sometimes re-crimination. Below, in a question and answer format, we present our views on these matters, hoping to contribute to the discussion.