COVID-19 and the US Election, with Ricardo Hausmann, Eric Posner, and more

As fears of a second wave of COVID-19 intensify in much of the world, the US is fast approaching its most consequential election in modern history. [View this message in a web browser]( [PS Behind the Headlines]( OCTOBER 15, 2020 As fears of a second wave of COVID-19 intensify in much of the world, the US is fast approaching its most consequential election in modern history. This week in Behind the Headlines, PS commentators consider the forces shaping both events – and the potentially catastrophic impacts of mismanaging them. Whitney Arana, Editor [What the US Election Is Really About]( [What the US Election Is Really About]( [Eric Posner]( thinks the long history of American populism explains what Donald Trump and his supporters represent. [Trump’s Helter Skelter]( [Trump’s Helter Skelter]( [Alex Hinton]( warns that the United States exhibits several risk factors for mass atrocities and even acts of genocide. [Policing Truth in the Trump Era]( [Policing Truth in the Trump Era]( [Robert Skidelsky]( doubts that companies that gain users and revenue from fake news will ever be reliable guardians of true news. PS On Point [Overruling the Rule of Law]( [Nicholas Reed Langen]( traces the disturbing rise of “lawless legality” across the Anglo-Saxon world. [Check out the rest of our US election coverage]( [Special Edition: Beyond the Techlash. For a limited time, when you subscribe to Project Syndicate, we will send you a complimentary copy of our newest special-edition magazine.]( [Little England’s Big COVID Problem]( [Mary Fitzgerald]( and [Peter Geoghegan]( highlight the failures of governance and accountability behind the country's spiraling infection and death rates. [The Recovery Needs Development Aid]( [Kevin Rudd]( makes a moral and economic case for boosting foreign-aid spending during the COVID-19 crisis. [Post-COVID Capitalism]( [Klaus Schwab]( thinks that now is the time to start reassessing sacred cows and disposing of defunct ideologies. [The Coming Equity Shortage]( [Ricardo Hausmann]( shows how financial innovation can help to strengthen emerging-market firms’ post-pandemic balance sheets. [Check out the rest of our COVID-19 coverage]( [Don’t worry if you missed The Green Recovery live event. You can still watch all of the discussions. ]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.