Plus: Trump's unexpected climate whisperer
I can almost smell it: The faintest whiff of warm apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme. Wool sweaters and the sound of Target cash register at 1 a.m. slashing 50% off the price of a food processor. Yes, Thanksgiving and the holiday (shopping) season is upon us. Officially, we still have a couple of weeks before we can wrap our mouths around juicy honey-baked ham, mac and cheese, greens and sweet potato pie, but it's never too early to think about gratitude. If you haven't been following Reckon over the past week, the team has been busy highlighting some of the other historic developments from the recent election. For those of us always pushing towards a better version of America and ourselves, these are just a few reasons to be thankful right now. Let's talk about it. |
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Abortion won in the states |
Though the future of federal abortion policy remains to be determined, Annabel Rocha writes that Americans in 10 states voted on reproductive rights initiatives that could eradicate their current abortion bans or further protect less restrictive policies by enshrining them in states’ constitutions. Of 10 initiatives, 7 passed. Polling by Pew Research Center published in May suggested that abortion isn’t as polarizing an issue as we’ve been led to believe. While they found that 85% of Democrats believed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, so did 41% of Republicans. The numbers are closer between men and women, with 61% of men supporting abortion, compared to 64% of women. “Our country is very divided around candidates and political parties, but we’re actually not very divided on the issue of abortion. We are actually in a moment of overwhelming public support for keeping abortion safe and legal and despite the candidate outcomes of last night, we cannot lose that thread that the American people have issued a clear mandate that the crisis of abortion access has got to stop. Too many people have suffered,” Kimberly Inez McGuire, the executive director of United for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE) told Reckon. URGE is a state-driven national reproductive justice organization powered by and for young people in the South and Midwest. |
According to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ people, there was a 14.1% increase in LGBTQ candidates on ballots, writes Reckon's Denny. “LGBTQ+ candidates for office bring critical values and perspectives to their work in leadership,” said LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President and CEO Annise Parker in a press release from last month. “These candidates represent our nation’s future, reflect our nation’s diversity and show that LGBTQ+ people are vital, instrumental voices in our halls of power.” Beyond electoral victories, the damage from anti-LGBTQ sentiments has already taken its toll—from the surge in trans and nonbinary youth’s consideration of suicide to struggling to access proper healthcare in vulnerable states and homicides against trans and nonbinary youth. Following Vice President Harris’ last-minute entry into the presidential ticket after President Biden’s withdrawal in July, Democrats remained hopeful to win the majority votes this election. While she did not secure substantial electoral votes to win the presidency, the LGBTQ demographic’s votes didn’t align with the results, with Harris leading the queer and trans vote at 86% to Trump’s 12%, according to NBC News Exit Polls. White LGBTQ people voted for Harris over Trump by 82% to 16%, with Harris’s margin even greater for voters of color at 91% to 5%. |
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Elon Musk: An unexpected voice of climate reason? |
Under Trump, Chris Harress reports, the United States will again take a step back from its position as a leader on global climate policy to embrace the murky and economically lucrative world of oil and gas. Trump will likely withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement for a second time. At the same time, domestic issues around environmental justice, water, and air pollution will also fall in the list of priorities if the Heritage Foundations’ extreme-right Project 2025 governance playbook is enacted. But even with such an undeniable mandate from the electorate, there are more than a few encouraging environmental gifts nestled among the many piles of coal. There could be a major ecological reprieve in the unlikely shape of Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, who endorsed Trump in July. While Musk started his entrepreneurial life as a gung-ho climate change believer and environmental guardian, even stepping down from Trump’s advisory council in 2017 after the Paris climate withdrawal, he has since changed his views somewhat. Not least when he became a major donor for climate deniers Trump and his VP pick J.D. Vance, but don’t be fooled, Musk is still very much in favor of the environment, climate change mitigation and clean energy. Trump seems to be listening. |
As always, thank you for subscribing to the Reckon Report. Feel free to reach out with questions, concerns, tips or ideas for topics you'd like to read more about here or in other Reckon newsletters. Peace, R.L. |
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