Fascism or Genocide

Fascism or Genocide is New York Times Magazine writer Ross Barkan’s sweeping report on the 2024 US election and the decade of political upheaval that led up to it. From the primary season that set up Biden and Trump to face off for the second time, to the dramatic replacement of Biden by Harris, to Trump's total victory, Barkan tells a riveting story of epochal political disenchantment and chaos.

The spectre of two elderly men waging a retread campaign has alienated large swathes of the electorate. During the Democratic primary season, more than half a million Americans across the country cast votes for “Uncommitted” ballot options to send the Democrats a message about the urgent need to end the killing in Gaza. These voters contrast with the sentiments of mainstream liberals, who believe Trump poses an existential threat to democracy and that the Democrats must be saved despite their failure to respond to vast swathes of the electorate's demands.

And yet millions of Democratic voters stayed home and sat the election out. As the director of an influential Palestinian advocacy group told Barkan, “It’s a choice between genocide or fascism.”