Politics
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Here's What Happened In Iowa Last Night and What We Know Now
DES MOINES, IOWA—After a night of technical glitches, lower-than-expected turnout and campaigns decrying the caucus process, Iowans woke up this morning without knowing who won the highly contested Iowa caucuses. So far the app used to report results is targeted as the main culprit. Shadow Inc, which built the app at the center of last…
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The Democratic Candidates, Ranked by Cookoutworthiness
White people are going to vote for Donald Trump. That statement is a fact. According to the Roper Center, the Republican presidential nominee has won the white vote in every election in the last four decades. Even the white progressives who are currently bristling at the inhumanity of Trump cannot deny this statistical truth. To…
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Live Blog: The Root Is at the Iowa Caucuses!
DES MOINES, IOWA—Greetings from the Hawkeye State! The Root will be here in the capital covering the caucuses live and will update this blog with information as it becomes available to us. This is the first time The Root is covering a caucus, but we hear it is basically chaotic in general and a shit…
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DNC Debate Rules Forced Diversity Out of the Democratic Presidential Race—and Then They Changed the Rules for a Really Rich White Man
When the race for president began with Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, it was hailed as the most diverse Democratic presidential field in history. By the end of January, damn near every candidate of color had withdrawn from the race. And all of them…
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Trump Impeachment Trial, Day 11: Only the Winning Team Cares About the Day After the Super Bowl
The day after Super Bowl LIV is just a reliving of all the things that happened the night before. The winning team talks about their awesomeness and what they are going to do next. The losing team sulks about what they should’ve done. No one actively watches this, but those on the winning side are…
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In Iowa City, Sudan and Chicago Take the Lead
IOWA CITY, IOWA—Bruce Teague and Mazahir Salih are two unique representations of Iowa’s political power: a Chicago-born black man who moved here in 1993 and ended up being his adoptive city’s top elected official some 27 years later. And Salih, an immigrant from Sudan who moved to the U.S. to support family back home, but…
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Barbara Smith, Who Helped Coin the Term 'Identity Politics,' Endorses Bernie Sanders
DES MOINES, IOWA—Barbara Smith, founding member of the black feminist Combahee River Collective that coined the term “identity politics,” has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for president, The Root has learned. In an exclusive interview, Smith, who endorsed Sanders in 2016, said her reasons for endorsing him again were clear. “Of all of the people who…
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Trump Asked John Bolton to Help Pressure Ukraine 2 Months Before the July 25 Call
While all of us have heard about the July 25 phone call that Donald Trump had with Ukrainian President Seymour Shutupsky (like you know his name and how to spell it), according to former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s unpublished manuscript, nearly two months before that call, Trump wanted Bolton to help pressure Ukraine and…
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Iowa Becky: The Hawkeye State Is Gentrifying Black People Out of Democratic Primary Relevance
During the 1976 presidential election, Jimmy Carter was a little-known governor from Georgia with faint name recognition who was a long shot to capture the Democratic nomination. Lacking the charm of Bill Clinton, the smooth-operator status of Barack Obama and the Hollywood pizazz of Ronald Reagan—who he would eventually beat in that 1976 general election—Carter…