<em>The Atlantic </em>Politics Daily: MAGA vs. the Coronavirus

—Saahil Desai

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« IDEAS AND ARGUMENTS »

(STEPHEN LAM / REUTERS)

1. “Indeed, given our national faith and trust in a rule of law no one can subvert, it is not too strong to say that Bill Barr is un-American.”

Attorney General Barr is placing the president above the law, the former deputy attorney general Donald Ayer, who preceded Barr in the George H. W. Bush administration, writes. His argument comes amid a forceful public letter signed by now more than 2,000 former Department of Justice officials (including Ayer) calling on Barr to resign.

Here’s why Ayer argues Bill Barr must step down.

2. “He sparks less opposition—in some cases far less—than his major competitors … So why all the talk of civil war?”

“Nobody likes” him, Hillary Clinton even declared last month of her 2016 primary rival. But that’s true only among a certain stratum of Democrats, Peter Beinart argues: The Democratic elite are afraid of the party schism that a Bernie Sanders victory could cause, but Democratic voters are far less hesitant about the democratic-socialist candidate. In fact, Sanders may be one of the least polarizing among ordinary voters.

+ Our writer David A. Graham attended dueling rallies in North Carolina this weekend—one for the front-runner Sanders, the other for Mike Bloomberg. Those two already seem to be regarding the race as a two-person one, David writes.

3. “If past is prologue, Trump will say absolutely anything necessary to attract and maintain support, including patent untruths …. How can Democrats run against a candidate who will simply deny his unpopular positions and make up nonexistent accomplishments?”

The real electability challenge for the 2020 Democratic nominee is their ability to run against a president “seemingly prepared, and empowered, to lie and cheat his way to reelection,” Sarada Peri, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, argues. So what can the candidates going toe-to-toe with Trump do?

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« EVENING READ »

(LEON NEAL / GETTY / KATIE MARTIN / THE ATLANTIC)

The New Cold War

If the Trump administration is truly going all-in on competition with Beijing, it’s not clear that Trump himself is fully on board. Nor, it’s now clear, are several of America’s closest friends. Uri Friedman writes:

In the contest between the United States and China over who gets to shape the world in the coming century, America seems to be playing to win. But it’s running into a big problem. Despite the global network of alliances Washington has built up, it’s been unable to convince those allies to hop aboard the “great-power-competition” express and leave China behind.

There’s a countermovement against a U.S.-China cold war brewing.

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Today’s newsletter was written by Saahil Desai, an editor on the Politics desk, and edited by Shan Wang, who oversees newsletters.

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Saahil Desai is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he covers politics and policy.