Opinion | Today’s Opinions: Democrats and Republicans Have Two Different Ideas of Fun

Yes, “crush.” Kate describes a “we got this” glee that feels almost foreign after so many years of “if only” nostalgia. As she asks, “When was the last time it was this much fun to be a Democrat?”

Meanwhile, the GOP leadership reportedly wants to prevent Republicans from interfering with the Harris rush in the first place. Alexandra Petri imagines us sitting in the room where politicians got their sensitivity training in ‘don’t say the soft part out loud’:

“(The Chairman carefully writes “RACIST, SEXIST ATTACKS ON VP KAMALA HARRIS.” The audience murmurs knowingly.)

“(The Chair draws a large X through “RACIST, SEXIST ATTACKS ON VP KAMALA HARRIS.” Members gasp.)”

The sitting president may not have provided much joy, but Fareed Zakaria says President Biden has delivered on many other fronts. “It’s too early to write President Biden’s legacy” with all that could change in the next six months, he admits, but as a one-term presidency draws to a close, Fareed assesses Biden’s impressive economic recovery and his strengthening of U.S. alliances.

And what about Trump? “The former president gets angry on his television and sends out random, late-night rants to the world via his social media account,” Dana Milbank writes, just like always.

Dana portrays a Trump who is clearly angry about the opposing team’s switch, and who takes out his frustrations on the golf course. “The world has changed overnight,” he writes, “and Trump needs a mulligan.”

Hunter: George will says that if you think the current political climate is bad, just wait until another Democratic majority in the Senate throws out the filibuster.

The United States is far from alone in its 2024 elections. In a staggering statistic, half the world’s population — spread across 84 countries — will face elections this year.

“The results so far” of what the world has come to call the election year “suggest that democracy, while challenged, is far from defeated,” the Editorial Board writes.

Take a step back and realize that many of these elections took place in countries with relatively poor political rights and freedoms; we can hardly call these elections free and fair. “Yet hypocrisy is the compliment that vice pays to virtue,” the board writes. “And the fact that autocracies feel compelled to hold sham elections demonstrates, in a devious but clear way, that popular consent is the only internationally accepted source of political legitimacy.”

The board assesses the positive and negative outcomes and the promising outcomes of the elections that have taken place so far. It also looks at what we should pay attention to in the elections that are yet to come.

The Olympics have always been about daring. How else would we have seen Kylie Minogue, holding her pink feathered headpiece against a wind storm as she sang “Dancing Queen” at the Sydney 2000 Games?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, Kylie, for all her guts, is nothing compared to the insanely ambitious French woman. Lee Hockstader cites the classic often attributed to Napoleon — “Boldness, more boldness, always boldness!” — as the perfect summary of the Parisian approach to the Summer Games opening ceremony.

The country has added a historian to the spectacle to make it even more spectacularly French. He told Lee in an interview: “What we simply want is to produce images that we will remember, that we can talk about tomorrow morning.”

Monsieur l’historien, if you could see my friends’ group chat where they’re talking about Marie Antoinette’s singing severed head. Kylie Minogue, step aside.

• The director of the Secret Service is gone now, but the Editorial Board says many questions remain about the attempted assassination of Trump.
• A new candidate is a start, but Democrats need a new strategy to defeat Trump, Ramesh Ponnuru writes.
• Gene Robinson writes that Biden has earned a second term, but that does not mean his decision to step down is the wrong one.

It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s… The Bye-Ku.

Do you hear the People Sing?

Plus! A Friday-bye-ku (Fri-ku!) from reader CJ N.:

Joe remains a patriot —

Do you have your own news haiku? Send it to me by emailalong with any questions/comments/ambiguities. Have a nice weekend!