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Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss

The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen.

Has this series made it easier to talk to people on the other side of the aisle? Tell us your story. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com.

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President Trump signing an executive order in the Oval Office in February.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Byron York in The Washington Examiner:

“The bottom line is that Trump has been a 100 day success when it comes to exercising the executive powers of the presidency.”

The first-hundred-days metric is notoriously difficult to quantify: By which standards should a president be judged? Byron York decides to assess President Trump’s first 100 days against the promises he made in his “Contract With the American Voter.” By this measure, Mr. York argues, President Trump has successfully kept half of his pledges to his voters — those enacted by executive order. Read more »

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Ramesh Ponnuru in National Review:

“Conservatives lost touch with their nationalism in part because of an exaggerated philosophical discomfort with it.”

The writers at National Review have held a protracted debate about the role of nationalism in contemporary conservative thought, particularly the way the term is compared with the notion of “patriotism.” Ramesh Ponnuru, who wrote a defense of nationalism for the magazine’s cover story, explains the rift among his colleagues and explores the word’s semantic nuances. Read more »

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Pro-Trump protesters at a free speech rally in Berkeley, Calif., this month.Credit...Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

• John Daniel Davidson in The Federalist:

“For the sake of campus protesters and their professors across the country, it’s time to make something clear: there’s no such thing as hate speech.”

John Daniel Davidson explains the difference between “hate speech,” “fighting words” and “incitement,” within the context of the First Amendment. He then uses this distinction to criticize some groups on college campuses who violently protest speakers with whom they disagree. Read more »

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George D. O’Neill Jr. in The American Conservative:

“For me and many others on the right, Russia is not the main focus, but a component of years of effort to advance a more realistic and restrained U.S. foreign policy.”

If this series on partisan writing has made one thing clear, it’s that not all conservatives are comfortable with an interventionist foreign policy. Within this context, George D. O’Neill Jr. explains why he and other conservatives are optimistic about a cooperative relationship with Russia. “The Cold War ended nearly 30 years ago,” he writes, and a “realistic and restrained” relationship with Russia will foster global peace and prevent “destructive interventions.” Read more »

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David Scharfenberg in The Boston Globe:

“It’s ‘ism’ as game-changer, as once-in-a-generation challenge to political orthodoxy.”

David Scharfenberg explains how the “genius of Trumpism” can survive even without President Trump himself. Comparing the power of this movement to that of Juan Perón and Ronald Reagan, Mr. Scharfenberg explains how the idea of a new nationalism will prevail even if the president reneges on his campaign rhetoric. Read more »

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David Remnick in The New Yorker:

“During his first hundred days in office, Trump has not done away with populist rhetoric, but he has acted almost entirely as a plutocrat.”

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, reviews the first 100 days of the Trump administration with a scathing takedown of the president’s actions and style. He exhorts “younger politicians to gather themselves for the 2018 midterms and the 2020 Presidential race,” and urges those who oppose President Trump not merely to resist but to “organize.” Read more »

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Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, leader of the Democrats in the Senate, in February.Credit...Al Drago/The New York Times

Cornel West in The Guardian:

“Even as we forge a united front against Trump’s neofascist efforts, we must admit the Democratic Party has failed us and we have to move on.”

The president isn’t the only one subject to a 100-day review. In a column for The Guardian, Cornel West offers a strong rebuke to the Democratic Party. It has failed to lead on progressive causes, Dr. West argues, and “lacks imagination, courage and gusto.” He goes on to urge progressives to abandon the party and to forge a new coalition in this “time of transition.” Read more »

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Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont at a rally for Heath Mello, a Democratic candidate for mayor of Omaha, last week.Credit...Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Rebecca Traister in New York Magazine:

“Sanders is wrong that reproductive rights [...] are separate from economic issues.”

What does it mean to be a progressive? Rebecca Traister takes issue with the two figure heads of the Democratic Party — Senator Bernie Sanders and Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee — for their willingness to privilege economic populism over reproductive rights. The two issues, she writes, are inextricably linked. Read more »

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• Tom Heberlein in Vox:

“Swedish taxes are easy to pay, rational, and efficient. Best of all, rather than take away opportunities, Swedish taxes expand them.”

Tom Heberlein divides his time between Sweden and Wisconsin and he is here to tell you that Americans should not be afraid of Swedish taxes. In a short piece for Vox, Mr. Heberlein outlines six reasons he prefers the European tax system. Read more »

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Former President Barack Obama made his first public appearance since leaving the White House at the University of Chicago on Monday.Credit...Joshua Lott for The New York Times

Robert L. Borosage in The Nation:

“Obama didn’t lose the argument with the right; he chose, for the most part, not to wage it.”

Robert L. Borosage reviews Jonathan Chait’s laudatory book about the Obama presidency, “Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail.”

While Mr. Borosage concedes that President Obama’s “stature will grow ever more impressive in the rearview mirror,” he takes issue with Mr. Chait’s characterization of the former president’s “greatness.” Because President Obama chose to stay above the ideological and partisan fray, he created a vacuum “too often filled by his opponents’ distortions, hysteria, and racial backlash.” Read more »

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Carl M. Cannon in the The Orange County Register:

“Overcoming the entrenched duopoly is daunting, and that’s putting it mildly.”

In a time when the left and right rarely find any common ground, one organization is launching a campaign — the Centrist Project — to field independent candidates with a shot at winning in the 2018 midterm elections. “If this sounds too good to be true,” writes Carl M. Cannon, “it probably is.” But that’s not stopping some from trying. Read more »

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The Cummins Unit in Lincoln County, Ark., houses the state’s execution chamber.Credit...Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

Anthony L. Fisher in The Week:

“Arkansas’ flurry of death warrants is not a matter of justice. It’s a matter of expedience. And that is an injustice that should worry us all.”

No matter where you stand on the death penalty, Anthony Fisher explains why Arkansas’s recent execution of an inmate should worry you. Read more »

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Have thoughts about this collection? Email feedback to ourpicks@nytimes.com.

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