Do the work, ceasefire, words of advice: Weekend reads for January 18, 2025

What we're reading this week

Happy Saturday, readers!

We find ourselves at the end of an era, looking back, this week on a country and world preparing for the impending chaos of the incoming administration and the policy threats exposed in the ongoing rounds of Congressional confirmation hearings. But we also saw a potentially lasting ceasefire agreement in Gaza and Biden’s last-minute proclamation that the Equal Rights Amendment is indeed the law of the land. There’s reason to look ahead with both realism and hope at the world past Monday — there’s work to do, and you’ll need both.

As we do each week for our supporting subscribers, we’ve pulled together some of the best writing we’ve found as we’ve researched these issues and more for our posts. Today, we’ve got a fascinating and harrowing retrospective of American failures of diplomacy in the Israel-Gaza conflict, reflections on the Los Angeles fires, pragmatic advice on life under authoritarianism, deep dives into the missteps of the Democratic Party that got us here (and lessons from state-level Democrats that might get us a brighter future), and more. We hope you’ll read along with us.

But first, don’t miss this inspiring conversation with Florida Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani, who’s in her fourth term winning real gains for constituents in her red state, and has some great advice for her fellow Democrats and progressives nationwide.

The other part of it is that we're willing to go into the mud on tough situations, whether they're local or state-based. So you have to take a stand on something, which is scary for some politicians, ironically. You know, a lot of politicians will always take a stand on the issues that are easy, not the issues that are hard. And don't be surprised if people don't know who you are because you're being passive on everything. So when you're passive, you know, floating through public service, then people are not gonna know who you are. They're not going to remember you. You kinda have to take tough stances, right, and be yourself. But there's many moments where I was like, “Oh God, this is gonna be a hard one,” or this is gonna be a tough vote to explain. But, again, when you're most afraid to speak is when you must speak. So you have to be brave. And I think Democrats in particular need to be more brave.

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Where was the red line in Gaza?

Time and again, Israel crossed the Biden administration’s red lines without changing course in a meaningful way, according to interviews with government officials and outside experts. Each time, the U.S. yielded and continued to send Israel’s military deadly weapons of war, approving more than $17.9 billion in military assistance since late 2023, by some estimates. The State Department recently told Congress about another $8 billion proposed deal to sell Israel munitions and artillery shells.

“It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the red lines have all just been a smokescreen,” said Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard Kennedy School and a preeminent authority on U.S. policy in the region. “The Biden administration decided to be all in and merely pretended that it was trying to do something about it.” [ProPublica]