New Voter ID Requirement: Platinum AmEx Card

New Voter ID Requirement: Platinum AmEx Card

New Voter ID Requirement: Platinum AmEx Card

What are the new voter ID requirements set by Republicans? “You can vote if you present a Platinum Visa or American Express card; a signed golf scorecard; a yacht license, a $10,000 bill, or a large public building named after you.” That was Samantha Bee’s report on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday night.

The new voter ID requirements were established in Ohio by Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who is African- American. Stewart asked how minority voters were responding to these new requirements. “Minority voters are excited – and proud,” correspondent Aasif Mandvi explained. “It’s a milestone. For the first time in our history, a black man will have the chance to disenfranchise everyone else.”

Blackwell himself is also running for governor. Stewart asked, “doesn’t that give the appearance of conflict of interest?”

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

What are the new voter ID requirements set by Republicans? “You can vote if you present a Platinum Visa or American Express card; a signed golf scorecard; a yacht license, a $10,000 bill, or a large public building named after you.” That was Samantha Bee’s report on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday night.

The new voter ID requirements were established in Ohio by Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who is African- American. Stewart asked how minority voters were responding to these new requirements. “Minority voters are excited – and proud,” correspondent Aasif Mandvi explained. “It’s a milestone. For the first time in our history, a black man will have the chance to disenfranchise everyone else.”

Blackwell himself is also running for governor. Stewart asked, “doesn’t that give the appearance of conflict of interest?”

“No, John,” Mandvi responded. “It’s the definition of conflict of interest.”

If young people are indeed getting their news from Jon Stewart, as many have reported, our future seems to be in good hands.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x