Story Hinckley/The Christian Science Monitor

Voters listen to former President Donald Trump speak at a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, June 28, 2024.

For former President Donald Trump, it’s been one of the best weeks of his political career. 

First, Thursday’s poor debate performance by President Joe Biden sparked a full-fledged panic among Democrats, with scores of columnists and strategists immediately calling for a new nominee, drowning out concerns over Mr. Trump’s own debate misstatements and falsehoods.

The following day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a defendant who was charged with obstructing an official proceeding when he entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 – throwing into question both ongoing prosecutions and previous convictions of other Jan. 6 defendants. “The Supreme Court ruled that Biden’s Department of Justice has wrongly prosecuted hundreds of Americans for peacefully protesting on Jan. 6,” the former president trumpeted at a Friday rally in in Chesapeake, Virginia, to loud cheers from the crowd.

But Mr. Trump’s biggest windfall came on Monday, when the Supreme Court endorsed an expansive view of presidential immunity. In a 6-3 decision, the highest court ruled that the chief executive has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecutions” for official acts taken as president. The case will go back to the lower courts to determine whether Mr. Trump’s various efforts to overturn the 2020 election constituted official or unofficial acts, but it’s highly unlikely Mr. Trump will stand trial for any of it before the November election, if ever.

To the court’s dissenting justices, the ruling effectively makes the president “a king above the law” – an expansive view that Mr. Trump appears to share. In a fundraising email, he wrote, “I have TOTAL IMMUNITY on official acts.” Hours after the court ruled, Mr. Trump’s legal team filed a motion to overturn his recent Manhattan conviction, citing the immunity case, and on Tuesday the judge announced that his sentencing in that case would be delayed until Sept. 18.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Gary Roush of College Park, Maryland, protests outside the Supreme Court, July 1, 2024, after court decisions were announced in Washington.

All of this has created a one-two punch for Democrats in a matter of days. The presidential debate appeared to increase Mr. Trump’s odds of retaking the White House, just as the U.S. Supreme Court – with the help of three justices Mr. Trump appointed – protected him from accountability, and vastly expanded the powers of the presidency in ways that will allow him to better execute his agenda if he wins. It’s left many Democrats feeling both despondent and resigned to what they say seems like yet another example of Mr. Trump getting to play by a different set of rules.

“Everyone else has to pitch a perfect game – and all Donald Trump has to do is exist. And I can tell you as someone who has worked on a presidential campaign trying to defeat Trump unsuccessfully, that’s really hard,” says Democratic strategist Joel Payne, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “Some of it is luck; some of it is by design. ... The design is having Mitch McConnell hold open an additional Supreme Court seat [until Mr. Trump could fill it]. The luck part is that Joe Biden’s age, for whatever reason, showed on stage at a very inopportune time.” 

Small but significant shifts

In many ways, this week stands in sharp contrast to the preceding few months. At the end of May, a New York jury found Mr. Trump guilty on 34 felony counts in his hush money trial, the first-ever criminal conviction for a former U.S. president. Many independent voters, who are likely to decide this election, said the conviction made them less inclined to support Mr. Trump, who saw a small dip in the polls.

Last Thursday’s presidential debate on CNN, held months earlier than usual, was an opportunity for the Biden campaign to try to capitalize on that momentum. Some Democrats even hoped the president could seize the lead for the first time, after trailing Mr. Trump for much of the year.

Those hopes vanished after Mr. Biden’s halting and feeble performance. The best-case scenario for Mr. Biden, which his campaign was fervently pitching to reporters in the hours after the debate, was that the polls would show little movement.

Initial signs indicate that, at least when it comes to the head-to-head matchup, that prediction may prove correct. On Tuesday, a CNN survey taken after the debate showed Mr. Trump leading by 49% to 43% – the same exact lead he had held over Mr. Biden in April. With voters so polarized, very few appear open to changing their minds, and experts say opinions of the candidates have been largely fixed since Day 1.

“This is the best week Trump’s had in months,” says Republican pollster Whit Ayres. But that doesn’t mean the overall race dynamic has been “flipped on its head,” he adds.  

Ross D. Franklin/AP

Roger Strassburg wears a cowboy hat as he watches the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a debate watch party June 27, 2024, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

At the same time, Tuesday’s CNN poll found that Mr. Biden’s approval rating had fallen to just 36%, the lowest of his entire presidency and a bright-red warning sign for an incumbent. And just 43% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they believed Mr. Biden was the candidate with the best chance to win in November; 56% said they’d be better off with someone else.

On Tuesday, the first sitting Democratic member of Congress, Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, publicly called on Mr. Biden to withdraw from the race.

Looking for an opportunity to change the conversation in their favor, the Biden campaign has seized on Monday’s Supreme Court ruling to try to highlight one of the main themes of both Mr. Biden’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns: protecting democracy. 

“Today’s ruling underscores the stakes,” said Quentin Folks, deputy campaign manager for the Biden-Harris campaign, on a call with reporters Monday. “If anything, this can be used as an amplifier, and the American people will see it as an amplifier, to justify what we have been saying – which is the fact that Donald Trump wants to be a dictator.”

But even here, Mr. Biden may be fighting an uphill battle.

Although voters in the six swing states most likely to decide the election rank “threats to U.S. democracy” as a top voting issue, according to a recent poll, they do not see Mr. Biden as the best candidate to protect it. Instead, 44% believe Mr. Trump “would do a better job” handling the issue, compared with 33% who chose Mr. Biden.

“Trump has been very successful changing the narrative around Jan. 6,” says Marjorie Hershey, a political scientist at Indiana University Bloomington. He has relentlessly put forward an alternative view of the events of that day, repeatedly calling those arrested for their actions “patriots” and even “hostages.” The recent Supreme Court rulings will likely only bolster these arguments.

Democracy may always have been a somewhat squishy issue for Mr. Biden to center his campaign on, says Professor Hershey – particularly compared with something like inflation, which Mr. Trump has made a key component of his campaign.

“It’s not easy to make an abstraction – like protecting democracy – a top agenda item,” she says. “Abstractions just aren’t up there with day-to-day concerns.”

The view from voters

At Mr. Trump’s rally in Chesapeake on Friday, many voters said they were supporting Mr. Trump because of the economy and immigration. Democracy didn’t seem to be a top concern.

Story Hinckley/The Christian Science Monitor

“I don’t think that Jan. 6 is the big elephant in the room anymore,” said Heather Connors, a job coach for special education students in Virginia Beach, as she waited in line for refreshments at former President Donald Trump's rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, June 28, 2024.

“I don’t think that Jan. 6 is the big elephant in the room anymore,” said Heather Connors, a job coach for special education students in Virginia Beach, as she waited in line for refreshments. 

“I don’t have issues with democracy. I’m a Black American, and if I want to vote, I vote,” said Giovanni Dolmo, a veteran who is running for mayor of Norfolk. “What I’m having issues with is my groceries, my mortgage, my gas. ... Those are my issues, and Biden is not handling those issues.”  

Still, there is a chance that Monday’s ruling could have the mobilizing effect on Democrats that the Biden campaign hopes it will. 

Stacey Mars, chair of the Greenville County Democratic Black Caucus in South Carolina, admits that she didn’t watch the debate, since she knew nothing could happen in those 90 minutes to change her vote. But after Monday’s court ruling, she says she feels a renewed enthusiasm for Mr. Biden’s campaign.

“The Supreme Court decision just made me want to dig in even more and make sure Trump does not get reelected,” says Ms. Mars. “If people want to get scared, fine. But let that fear motivate you to do something about it.” 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 turns 60 on Tuesday. Its birthday is important because it is a living piece of legislation and a predecessor for laws impacting women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. 

I can’t help but think about this momentous act and its unifying power and be reminded of the time it brought together two of the greatest men of their generation – Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Their presence encapsulated the urgency of the moment, and the youthfulness that constitutes dreams. And yet, it is hard to see a piece of paper turn 60 while these two men were assassinated just before their 40th birthdays. Their blood, like President John F. Kennedy’s, is proverbially mingled in with the ink that codified antidiscrimination rulings and secured voting protections for Black people. When Dr. King met Mr. Kennedy in March of 1962, they spoke of a “second Emancipation Proclamation.” That promise, in some ways, was fulfilled two years later, though Dr. King’s heartbreaking words from 1968 still endure: “I might not get there with you.”

We are here now, in a maelstrom of court cases and ideological wars that are chipping away at the values and rights we hold so dear. But this has always been the case. The promises of the Civil Rights Act were the promises of Reconstruction – being protected from discrimination, and voting without inhibition or intimidation, among other essential freedoms. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation since the law of the same name in 1875. The Brown v. Board of Education decision, which began with a handful of concerned parents from South Carolina, initiated a series of laws that yielded the landmark civil rights legislation of 1964.

Susan Walsh/AP

People associated with the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education listen as others speak to reporters at the White House in Washington, May 16, 2024. Plaintiffs and their family members met with President Joe Biden to mark the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision.

Black activists embraced the urgency of civil rights, which means they represented the best of America. Where even officials such as President Dwight Eisenhower were initially hesitant to push forward on the issue, Malcolm X’s words ring out: “I’m throwing myself into the heart of the civil rights struggle.”

While Malcolm was skeptical of the legislation – he was concerned it would belie how Black folks were treated in America – he was intentional about his fight for freedom. Aside from forming the Organization of Afro-American Unity that same year, he wanted to shift the conversation from “civil rights” to “human rights,” which raised the profile from a domestic viewpoint to an international perspective.

Despite deliberation among advocates, or filibustering from opposing senators, The Civil Rights Act persevered. It wasn’t just a triumph of Dr. King, or Malcolm X, or “Black Cabinet” influencers such as Mary McLeod Bethune. It was a victory for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and activists such as Ella Baker and Stokely Carmichael, who later changed his name to Kwame Ture. It was a victory for past generations of freedom fighters, who witnessed emancipation from chattel slavery, however delayed, only to watch the rise of Jim Crow.

History, for its stories of triumph over oppression, also denotes a cruel reality – those oppressive forces never relent. Even today, the irony of book bans and the dismissal of African American studies in states such as South Carolina is that such restrictive measures are made in the name of “freedom.” But how is it liberating to withhold the stories and legacies of those who fought for a better world?

J. Scott Applewhite/AP/File

Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama (center), flanked by fellow Democrats Steve Cohen of Tennessee (left) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York (right), talks to reporters about the need for the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, at the Capitol in Washington, June 25, 2019.

This is what we are up against in the present hour. Less than a week ago, U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, a Democrat from Alabama, lamented the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision. A press release from Representative Sewell’s office notes this harrowing fact from The Brennan Center For Justice: At least 31 states have passed 103 restrictive voting laws since the Shelby decision.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, along with the Voting Rights Act of the subsequent year, are perhaps the two most important legislative flashpoints of the time period, and in this country’s civil rights history. Conversations about their legacy should include champions as well as opponents. Our failure to tell these stories with accuracy and regularity are part of the reason why battles over fundamental rights wage on.

We should approach them as Malcolm X did – by throwing ourselves into the heart of the struggle. Civil rights, quite simply, are the fulfillment of our independence: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Denying them is to deny America itself. 

According to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, when the civil rights bill passed the Senate in 1964, “King hailed it as one that would ‘bring practical relief to the Negro in the South, and will give the Negro in the North a psychological boost that he sorely needs.’” 

I would contend that a recommitment to civil rights, 60 years later, would be relief and refuge for us all.

Claudia Morales/Reuters

Bolivian soldiers gather next to a military vehicle as President Luis Arce denounced the "irregular mobilization" of some units of the country's army in La Paz, June 26, 2024.

Estela Fernández Arteaga was riding a minibus to a doctor’s appointment in La Paz last week when passengers, gaping at their cellphones, started calling out about a coup.

“I tried to stay calm,” says Ms. Fernández, a butcher who lived through military coups and attempted coups as a child. On Wednesday, as Gen. Juan José Zúñiga led troops and tanks to storm the presidential palace in the country’s mountainous administrative capital, many here ran to markets and ATMs to stock up on food and cash, fearful of what was to come.

Bolivians, like many Latin Americans of a certain age, are no strangers to coups. For most of the 20th century, political upheavals and dictatorships were common features in the region. By 1977, only four Latin American countries were not living under a dictatorship. Near the turn of the last century, though, most of the region had moved toward democracy, and coups began to feel like a thing of the past.

Last week’s attempted coup in Bolivia may have failed (some even believe it was faked in order to boost the president’s popularity), but it underscored an important shift in the military’s role across the region in recent years, experts say. After decades in the background, siloed off from civilian governments, many armies are stepping back into the spotlight at those governments’ invitation.

Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

Bolivian President Luis Arce speaks to reporters after soldiers, apparently attempting a coup, pulled back from the presidential palace. An army general was arrested.

Soldiers have been given tasks normally carried out by the police or emergency services, such as fighting organized crime, responding to natural disasters, enforcing migration policies, or imposing curfews.

This has boosted the power and presence of the armed forces, and their reputations. Trust in the military is high in the region, higher than citizens’ trust in elections and in the three main branches of government, according to a 2023 report by Vanderbilt University’s LAPOP Lab.

“Politicians and presidents are bringing the military in and letting them get more involved in governing,” says Raúl Madrid, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, who is working on a book about the origins of democracy in Latin America. “It’s a worrisome trend.”

A fake coup?

Last week’s coup attempt lasted just three hours, during which soldiers marched into the plaza in front of the government palace and armored vehicles rammed its doors. It ended with the arrest of General Zúñiga, who had been fired by Bolivian President Luis Arce the day before. Mr. Arce was shown on national television at one point, facing down General Zúñiga in a hallway and telling him that “I am your captain and I order you to withdraw your soldiers.”

Bolivia faced months of political infighting and tension in the lead-up to this faceoff. The economy is in shambles, and a presidential vote scheduled for next year is pitting the sitting president against a member of his own party, former President Evo Morales.

Juan Karita/AP/File

Evo Morales, former Bolivian president and now rival of current President Luis Arce, accused the president of faking last week's coup attempt to boost his popularity.

In 2019, when Mr. Morales claimed victory in a presidential election whose results were fiercely contested, the head of Bolivia’s armed forces strongly “suggested” that he should resign, a move that many observers considered a nonviolent coup d’état.

Before his arrest last week, General Zúñiga alleged that Mr. Arce was actually in cahoots with the military to organize Wednesday’s coup in a bid to increase his popularity. Mr. Arce denies the allegations.

Regardless, “it reflects the institutional crises of the country,” says Juan Carlos Salazar, a veteran Bolivian journalist who has covered several coups and flare-ups of political violence during his career. “We’ve had a crisis of the judiciary, a crisis of the legislature – this power struggle is reflected in all the country’s institutions,” Mr. Salazar says.

“With everything that went down in 2019, [Wednesday’s faceoff] really scared me,” says Jessica Arancibia, an English student who found out about the coup attempt from TikTok. “I feel like something really bad is coming and we aren’t paying enough attention,” she says.

Uniforms are back in style

There was a time when Latin America was synonymous with coups. Generals regularly ousted elected leaders, installing military juntas from Guatemala in 1954, to Brazil in 1964, to Chile in 1973. During the Cold War, military officers often seized power in the name of fighting communism.

But, almost across the board, military governments failed to deliver, says Dr. Madrid, the professor of government at UT Austin.

“Why tolerate regimes if they didn’t even bring the economic stability they were supposed to bring?” he asks rhetorically. Many regimes were also discredited by human rights violations, he adds.

As pro-democracy movements strengthened around the world toward the end of the 20th century, regional groups such as the Organization of American States promoted international democratic norms, says Gustavo Flores-Macías, a professor of government at Cornell University.

Claudia Morales/Reuters

Bolivian Gen. Juan José Zúñiga is transferred to maximum security prison, following his arrest by the authorities for a coup attempt, in La Paz, June 29, 2024.

“But there were also institutional changes” intended to push the military back from civilian governments, says Dr. Flores-Macías. “Countries moved away from having a member of the military as the secretary of defense, for example. This creates distance and a healthy understanding among civilians of military affairs.”

But, in recent years, those pressures that kept the military out of politics have been “going in the opposite direction because of the region’s deteriorating public safety,” says Dr. Madrid.

More and more governments, from Ecuador to Mexico, Peru to El Salvador, are turning to the armed forces to help resolve public security problems ranging from organized crime to anti-government protests.

“For younger generations that didn’t grow up under military rule, the [failures] of military leadership feel very distant,” says Dr. Flores-Macías.

Latin Americans’ support for democracy has shown a decline over the past 13 years, according to the polling project Latinobarómetro. As of 2023, only 48% of them preferred democracy to any other form of government.

“I don’t expect the military is going to seize power in Latin America,” says Dr. Madrid. “My hunch is that those days are mostly gone. It’s something the international community wouldn’t find acceptable.

“But we will likely see the creeping militarization of politics,” he suggests. “Perhaps a military will get rid of a leader, but won’t stay in power themselves. But that’s problematic, too.”

At the heart of the military’s return to prominence, Dr. Flores-Macías adds, “is the perception that civilians are unable to solve society’s problems, that elected governments aren’t delivering results.”

“Every day that democracy prevails we should celebrate.”

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is pushing forward what he casts as an ambitious blueprint for reshaping the world order, urging developing countries to join Beijing in leading an overhaul of the international system.

Over the past year, Beijing’s authoritarian leadership has grown increasingly bold in challenging the U.S.-led, post-World War II international order and the liberal values that underpin it. Depicting the United States and its allies as defending an unfair and exclusive status quo, it asserts that the Chinese Communist Party has the vision to remake the world system, with China at the center.

In his latest pitch, Mr. Xi called on the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America to rally around China to become the “construction team” of a new, multipolar order.

“We should actively participate in reforming and developing the global governance system” to make it “more balanced and effective,” Mr. Xi told a conference of hundreds of foreign dignitaries, Chinese officials, and scholars gathered Friday in Beijing’s imposing Great Hall of the People. “International rules should be made and observed by all countries ... not dictated by those with more muscles.”

Without naming the U.S. or Europe, Mr. Xi criticized what he called “bloc confrontation, creating small circles, and forcing others to pick sides” – references to Washington’s network of security alliances, which China opposes. As an alternative model, he upheld his own plan to create “a community with a shared future for mankind,” first announced in 2013. Since then, China has expanded its international influence through a series of sweeping, global development programs, including the infrastructure-focused Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor

A worker arranges flowers at the podium in preparation for a speech by Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing June 18, 2024.

China’s long-range goal is a system, with the rights of sovereign states at the center, that better comports with Beijing’s economic interests, authoritarian political values, and national security priorities. Yet while welcomed by some countries, Mr. Xi’s blueprint also faces pushback from a world that, on the whole, remains wary of China’s rise and intentions, public opinion polls show.

“What we are talking about really is not China’s vision for how the world should work better; it’s a vision for China at the center of the world,” says Nadège Rolland, distinguished fellow in China Studies at the National Bureau of Asian Research. “All the global initiatives are really about supporting China” and propelling its rise.

Spotty leadership record 

Under Mr. Xi, China has invested and loaned an estimated $1 trillion throughout the Global South, mainly via the BRI but also via the Global Development Initiative (started in 2021), the Global Security Initiative (2022), and the Global Civilization Initiative (2023). These four programs now involve about 150 countries, in varying capacities.

China, which has the world’s second-largest economy and a rapidly growing military, is the best country to lead the charge for global governance reform, Mr. Xi asserted Friday. “Among the world’s major countries, China has the best track record with respect to peace and security,” he said. “Every increase of China’s strength is an increase of the prospects of world peace.”

Mr. Xi announced that China will deepen ties with the Global South by creating a Global South research center and offering 1,000 scholarships and 100,000 training opportunities over the next five years. China will seek more free-trade arrangements with developing countries, as China’s imports from the Global South are expected to exceed $8 trillion between now and 2030.

“China has answered the call of the times,” Mr. Xi told the audience from a podium decked with roses.

Yet the appeal of China’s overseas programs has been mixed.

While the BRI and development initiatives have helped meet massive infrastructure needs and advanced connectivity in poorer countries, some have generated criticism for worsening debt burdens and environmental pollution, and lax labor protections.

Also controversial are China’s efforts to promote an international system in which each state defines human rights as it sees fit. This undermines the United Nations’ concept of universal human rights, as well as the U.N.’s “responsibility to protect,” which justifies outside intervention in the case of mass atrocities and rights abuses.

Eloisa Lopez/Reuters/File

An aerial view shows the Philippines' BRP Sierra Madre on the contested Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 9, 2023. Escalating tensions in the South China Sea and elsewhere have cast doubt on China's ability to navigate international conflict.

“China emphasizes development and security but not the human rights pillar of the U.N.,” says Rosemary Foot, author of “China, the UN, and Human Protection: Beliefs, Power, Image.”

For example, in September, China released a white paper in which it attacked “the exclusive rules of bloc politics, the notion of might makes right, and the ‘universal values’ defined by a handful of Western countries.” Yet Dr. Foot calls this “a big distortion,” noting that a Chinese representative was involved at the creation of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and that China has signed a number of core human rights treaties.

Navigating conflict

On the topic of security, China’s stress on sovereign states also raises questions about how to handle disputes. 

“If a state breaches an international treaty ... China emphasizes dialogue – which is great but it doesn’t deal with the hard questions,” says Dr. Foot, professor and senior research fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. China’s decision not to condemn Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, while advocating talks, illustrates the limits to Beijing’s approach, she says.

Indeed, as Mr. Xi pledged that China would remain peaceful and never seek hegemony, tensions simmered closer to home over China’s territorial disputes with India, the Philippines, and other Asian neighbors, leading some conference participants to appeal for restraint by Beijing.

After the morning meeting, Rommel Banlaoi, president of the Philippine Society for International Security Studies, told a government-organized forum that “peaceful coexistence is all the more relevant in the context of Philippines-China relations.” The escalation of tensions between Chinese and Filipino forces in the South China Sea is “regrettable,” he added.

“It’s imperative for China and the Philippines to explore ways to meet halfway ... to avoid violent conflict at sea,” he said at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Friday’s conference – including Mr. Xi’s speech and the subsequent expert panels – was held to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the “five principles of peaceful coexistence,” a concept adopted by India, China, and other countries. The broad guidelines for relations between nations emphasize state sovereignty, nonaggression, and noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, and were later adopted by the nonaligned movement.

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor

Cui Hongjian, a former Chinese diplomat, attends Xi Jinping's speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing June 18, 2024.

At the same afternoon forum, Indian scholar Avijit Banerjee, a professor of Chinese language at Visva-Bharati University, also raised concern over territorial disputes in Asia, including the border conflict between India and China that has led to deadly clashes in recent years. “All disputes should be settled peacefully, without the use of force,” he said.

Need for cooperation

Ultimately, experts stress, reforming global governance will require greater cooperation between China, the U.S., and other major powers, as well as from smaller countries. 

“China is trying to showcase some more ambitious goals on global governance,” says Cui Hongjian, professor at Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University and a former Chinese diplomat, who attended Mr. Xi’s speech. But overcoming intense mistrust and competition between the U.S. and China is “a very, very important precondition” for reform at the U.N., he adds. 

Both countries consider themselves “exceptional,” and as a result “it’s going to be difficult within one system to put these two countries together and have them cohabit,” says Susan Thornton, a retired senior U.S. diplomat and senior fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. “But,” she says, “we don’t have a choice.”

For some time, she predicts, the U.S. is likely to remain the de facto leader of the international system, given what she described as China’s reluctance to dive into resolving crises. 

“We’ve worked really hard ... to get China to answer the fire alarm in the past on some issues and [have] not gotten a lot of response,“ she says. “China tends to not want to stick its neck out and get involved in mediating disputes that are very thorny and risky,” she says. “I don’t think China’s ready to be a leader of the international system.”

The characters from four fantastic children’s books featured here are the unlikely heroes of their stories who, when confronted with challenges, discover their courage. But they’re not superheroes. They are a timid bear cub, a skeptical chicken, a young ninja with a secret, and a nonverbal boy who surprises everyone. They’re flawed and vulnerable, just like the rest of us. But with persistence, they push through their respective obstacles – a snowstorm, a marathon, an injury, a lack of speech – to claim their own bravery. Reading these heartwarming, hilarious, and uplifting stories, the little ones in your life may be inspired to claim theirs, too. 

Slow and steady wins the race

“Chicken Little and the Very Long Race,” written and illustrated by Sam Wedelich, is a fun cross between “The Tortoise and the Hare,” and “Chicken Little.” This entertaining read with a witty lesson delighted my kids and me – enough that we ordered the other books in this plucky little series.

When a marathon featuring local record holder Hare is announced, the entire chicken coop goes gaga. Except Chicken Little. She watches, mystified, as the flock ditches its workout routine and instead buys Hare’s book, drinks Hare-approved smoothies, and wears rabbit-ear sweatbands (for the grown-ups, an amusing commentary on influencer culture). When no one heeds Chicken Little’s warnings that there are no shortcuts to success, she hesitantly decides to enter the race herself. 

With its expressive, cartoonlike illustrations;  hilarious thought and speech balloons (“Are you chicken? Bok Bok!” says one hen to Chicken Little before she enters the race.); and hand-lettered prose, this book reads like a giant comic strip and delivers equal delight. Wedelich’s genius is in giving a classic fable a witty, modern spin and presenting a quintessential lesson (“Slow and steady wins the race.”) with humor.

Chicken Little and the Very Long Race, written and illustrated by Sam Wedelich. Scholastic Press, 40 pp.

I hope the takeaway for my kids from this little tale is the value of courage: The courage it took Chicken Little to speak up to her peers; the courage it took her to enter the race; and the courage it took her to finish the race the old-fashioned way, with hard work and perseverance. 

As Chicken Little tells the flock at the end of the race, “A very long race is about more than winning! It’s about daring to do hard things.” 

Bravery even when afraid

“Brave Little Bear,” written and illustrated by Steve Small, is a tender tale for the timid ones who find comfort curled up at home. Arlo has always been the cub who likes familiarity, comfort, and the cozy warmth of his den, while his sister Eva is the one who seeks adventure. When it’s time for the bear family to rouse from their winter hibernation and journey to Spring Valley, Arlo is reluctant to leave the only home he has ever known. But when a blinding snowstorm strikes, separating the family, he learns what it means to be brave.

BRAVE LITTLE BEAR, Written and illustrated by Steve Small, Paula Wiseman Books. 32 pp.

From the soulful illustrations to the sweet, simple prose, everything about “Brave Little Bear” will tug at your heartstrings. Small has worked in animation for more than 30 years and it shows. His soft, painterly illustrations are worthy of framing: the bear family staring at their ascent up a snowy mountain, a forest of tall, feathery pines behind; the bears plowing through a fierce storm, heads down against the swirling snow; the cubs curled up in their mother’s embrace. 

It’s no surprise my brother ordered this book for his kids after he saw it in our home. The illustrations complement Arlo’s (literal and figurative) journey, one many readers will find familiar and instructive: the safety of home, the uncomfortable nudge of a challenge, the hard work of pushing through, and the sweet relief of emerging on the other side, a little older and wiser. As his mother tells Arlo when they are reunited after the storm, “Being brave when you feel afraid is the very bravest brave of all.” 

Excerpted from “Brave Little Bear”; written and illustrated by Steve Small

Courage and kindness as superpowers

When we meet Ninja Nate, a 10-year-old ninja master, he rocks his ninja suit, sword, and moves all day – on the playground, at the dinner table, even in bed. In “Ninja Nate,” written by Markette Sheppard and illustrated by Robert Paul Jr., we follow Nate’s escapades with wonder. Until one night he falls out of bed with a thud. He – and we – wake up with a start: Ninja Nate is Nathaniel Brown. After an injury, he has a new robotic leg that he covers with his ninja suit. His sword? A walking cane. The truth is that Nathaniel is worried about returning to school with a robotic leg. 

Ninja Nate, written by Markette Sheppard, illustrated by Robert Paul Jr. Denene Millner Books, 32 pp.

With simple candor, Sheppard shows readers Nathaniel in all his “costumes”: playful, yes, but also vulnerable, sad, and scared. With the help of his mother and brother, Nathaniel faces his fears and finds out he’s still loved – as Ninja Nate with his cool moves, and also as Nathaniel Brown. It turns out his real superpowers are his courage and kindness. 

My kids loved the experience of reading this book – from enjoying Nate’s ninja moves, to the realization of his injury and prosthesis, to seeing him steel his strength and kick on. Sheppard handles what could be a heavy subject with a light touch, teaching readers young and old how to approach life’s curveballs with resilience and grace. As his mom says, “One step at a time.” 

Excerpted from “Ninja Nate”; written by Markette Sheppard, illustrated by Robert Paul Jr.

Music unlocks the power of speech

“The Boy Who Said Wow,” written by Todd Boss and illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh, is a simple story with a big heart. In a noisy world, Ronan is a quiet boy who doesn’t speak much. In fact, he hardly says a word. When his grandfather takes Ronan for a drive, he is quiet. When Grandfather talks and talks, Ronan is quiet. When they arrive in the loud city, Ronan is quiet. And when they enter the grand concert hall, Ronan is quiet. When the symphony begins, Ronan’s mind begins to dance with the music, lifting, flying, soaring. And when the music is done, and the entire auditorium is silent, Ronan finally speaks: “Wow!” 

It was the “Wow” heard round the world. And it actually happened. On May 5, 2019, a nonverbal boy named Ronan Mattin traveled to Boston’s Symphony Hall to hear Mozart’s “Masonic Funeral Music” performed by the Handel and Haydn Society. Ronan’s “Wow!” broke the silence – his own and the audience’s – and his enthusiasm so delighted concertgoers that Ronan’s story went viral. 

The Boy Who Said Wow, written by Todd Boss, illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh. Beach Lane Books, 40 pp.

The book’s author worked closely with Ronan’s family, and wisely keeps the story simple, which allows Kheiriyeh’s drawings to shine. Composed mostly in shades of gray and turquoise with pops of poppy red, her illustrations offer a nostalgic nod to a Boston past: Grandfather sports a dapper tux with tails and drives a classic car; Ronan wears suspenders, a beret, and a bow tie.

Kheiriyeh charts the change that comes over Ronan in her illustrations. 

Excerpted from “The Boy Who Said Wow”; written by Todd Boss, illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh

At first, he is depicted with his nose in a book, staring out the window, or down into his lap. After the concert and his big “Wow!” he’s seen laughing, clapping, leaning on his grandfather. His body language tells a story of its own. 

“The Boy Who Said Wow” shows the quiet courage of a nonverbal boy – or anyone who doesn’t conform to the norm – going out into the world, engaging with others, and expressing himself clearly, honestly, and wholeheartedly.

Reuters

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands before a July 2 meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine.

On July 1, Viktor Orbán went beyond being merely the president of Hungary with its nearly 10 million people. He took over the rotating presidency of the European Union with its 448 million people. A day later, his moment of greater power led him to take on greater responsibility: Mr. Orbán visited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine.

The trip was a symbol of inclusion, dignity, and respect for Ukrainians. Again and again since the Russian invasion, Mr. Orbán has opposed EU support for the embattled country, often siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On July 2, one day into his six-month role as EU leader, Mr. Orbán took his first trip to Ukraine since the war started.

He promised to report to other EU leaders about his talks “so that the necessary European decisions can be taken.” For his part, Mr. Zelenskyy said the visit was “a clear indication of our common European priorities, of how important it is to bring a just peace to Ukraine.”

Mr. Orbán has defied the EU on many issues other than Ukraine, but his assent to the bloc’s presidency helped change his tune. The job requires that a country taking on the role must be an “honest broker” among the 27 member states to facilitate agreements.

The European Council’s website compares the president to “someone hosting a dinner, making sure their guests all gather in harmony – able to express differences during the meal but leaving on good terms and with a common purpose.”

For the next six months, Mr. Orbán will be setting the broad agenda for the EU – but with the need to seek consensus. His stated top priority is to increase the competitiveness of EU businesses.

The EU’s democratic procedures, based on shared principles, have a way of reducing polarization. “This is an extraordinary situation, with a war in the neighbourhood, when we have to provide stability,” János Bóka, Hungary’s European affairs minister, told reporters in June.  With his visit to Kyiv, one of Mr. Orbán’s first acts as EU president was to stabilize his country’s ties with a country on track to becoming an EU member.