On Our "Virtual Route 66" As October Dawns

We present the following courtesy of the team at the Economist, the Washington Post and The Bulwark:

Young guns

Meet the world’s new arms dealers

Where to buy drones, fighters and tanks on the cheap

Strike while the engine is hot

America’s big car firms face lengthy strikes

Detroit’s “big three” v the United Auto Workers

Panicky policymaking

Rishi Sunak’s anti-green turn on Britain’s climate targets

It creates uncertainty, will deter investors and probably won’t win voters

Diplomacy in the new cold war

Biden, alone at the top table as the UN withers

Global power shifts to smaller groups

Charlemagne

Europe’s conservative populists pit migrants against babies

Viktor Orban and Giorgia Meloni want their citizens to have more children

(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Embrace Your Destiny

Over the last few weeks I’ve basically talked myself into thinking that Donald Trump is going to be reelected to the presidency. That he’ll lose the popular vote—though by a narrower margin than he did in 2020—and win the Electoral College, fair and square.

This isn’t a prediction—just a premonition. Rationally speaking, I know that 2024 will almost certainly be a coin-flip election. Trump’s chance to win (or lose) won’t ever be appreciably more than 2-in-3 and will probably settle around 50-50 by the time we get to the voting.

Today I want to explain why—thinking aside—I’ve been feeling that Trump’s chances of winning are pretty good.¹ And also why I’m starting to let go of my angst about this prospect.

Warning: This is going to be super extra dark. And you’re not going to like it. At all...