LOS ANGELES — This summer, I walked into an urgent care clinic for a coronavirus test and walked out with stage four metastatic lung cancer. There’s a medical term for an unanticipated finding unrelated to the original medical inquiry; it’s called an “incidentaloma.” I was one of the estimated one-third of Americans who avoided doctor […]

I teach philosophy to college students, and there was no way I was going to give them exams this semester, with our classes being held online. Why not? Simple — cheating. It is nothing personal with these particular students, but I have read enough psychological research to know that it would be very hard for […]

WASHINGTON — Many see a wannabe despot barricaded in the bunker, stubby fingers clinging to the levers of power as words that mean nothing to him — democracy, electoral integrity, peaceful transition, constitutionality — swirl above. One presidential historian sees something different in Donald Trump’s swan song. Michael Beschloss has been tweeting pictures of Hollywood’s […]

We are all Georgians now. Or at least that’s how it feels with the eyes of the nation focused on Georgia and its two U.S. Senate runoff elections on Jan. 5, which will determine party control of the Senate. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, will face off against the Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, and Jon Ossoff, […]

I teach philosophy to college students, and there was no way I was going to give them exams this semester, with our classes being held online. Why not? Simple — cheating. It is nothing personal with these particular students, but I have read enough psychological research to know that it would be very hard for […]

It’s hard to tell whether Donald Trump is attempting a coup or throwing a tantrum. Crying voter fraud, his administration has refused to begin a presidential transition despite his decisive electoral defeat. Some Republicans have floated the idea of getting legislatures in states that Joe Biden won to disregard vote totals and instead appoint pro-Trump […]

Listen and subscribe to “The Argument” from your mobile device: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | RadioPublic | Stitcher | RSS Feed Fill out a survey about how you listen to “The Argument” at nytimes.com/theargumentsurvey. After polling misses in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, Michelle and Ross ask Nate Cohn, domestic correspondent […]

There has hardly ever been a tougher time to be the chief election administrator of a state. In most states, that role is held by the secretary of state, and running an election is just one of the many responsibilities that commands that person’s time and attention. Yet these public servants have ably run an […]

President Trump’s refusal to concede. By Natasha Frost Good morning. We’re covering the latest from the U.S. election, weakness in Egypt’s underfunded health system and how pollsters got it wrong, again. Trump’s unsavory post-election practices When President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus declared an implausible landslide victory in an election in August, the United States and […]

To the Editor: In “What Voters Are Trying to Tell Us” (column, Nov. 6), David Brooks argues, “Election after election, the emerging Democratic majority fails to emerge,” because of a supposed emphasis on political correctness rather than policy. Yet Joe Biden, a good man but not an especially charismatic candidate, will take the presidency by […]