A Post-Inauguration Reassessment of U.S. Democracy: A Talk by Jamelle Bouie

The 2024 election results call into question the robustness and longevity of U.S. democracy and the rule of law. On the one hand, the present moment echoes U.S. history, namely the Reconstruction counterrevolution. On the other hand, the Trumpification of the GOP is incomparable in U.S. history. To help assess the perils and possibilities of the moment is the nation’s leading columnist, who has consistently provided clear-eyed, trenchant, and historically informed insights into U.S. politics.

Jamelle Bouie is a columnist for The New York Times. He covers U.S. history, politics, and constitutional history. Previously, Bouie was chief political correspondent for Slate magazine. He has also contributed essays to volumes such as Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019 and The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. In 2021, he received the Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism and in 2024 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Presented by the Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights, the Daniel M. Lyons Chair in History, the Frederic Ewen Lecture on Academic Freedom and Civil Liberties, and the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute.