Trump's Distaste for International Institutions, and More

I. Trump's Distaste for International Institutions
"Declaring a policy of nationalism, Trump launched verbal attacks on international institutions, threatening to pull out of many of them, including the more recent Paris Climate Agreement. Underlying the postwar international order was a widespread belief that the spread of democratic institutions was the best way to prevent the recurrence of war, dictatorship, and genocide that caused so much destruction between 1914 and 1945, and Trump has attacked these too. The liberal values that have held sway over the internal and external policies of many countries can no longer be taken for granted." [1]

"Democracy isn't necessarily Western, as the state democratic political systems outside the West -- from Indonesia to Tunisia --surely indicate. The decline of democracy in Europe and America, and the economic crisis that lies at its heart are part of a general crisis of democratic and economic institutions worldwide."

II. Move Impeachment to the Streets
Yale University history professor Samuel Moyn worries that there will be no way for moderate Democrats to join forces with never-Trump Republicans for a 'centrist restoration.' "Anti-Trump passion remains high, but the energy once displayed in street charts is now more likely to be channeled into intermural debates about the  direction of the Democratic Party, and their choice of a 2020 presidential nominee." [2]

"Now that the Democratic Party is finally on board with impeachment, the goal of popular protest should be to force a wholesale indictment of Trump. The goal of impeachment rallies has to be to make clear to Republicans that if they cast their lot with him, they will be held accountable."

III. Baby Food
"Most babies could use a dose of kale: a half cup of it, and more than a day's worth of Vitamin A, C, and K. The only problem is that they [babies] hate it [kale] -- or so parents and baby-food manufacturers seem to agree. On every given day, a quarter of American toddlers eat no vegetables. When they do eat them, the most popular choice is French fries." [2]

"Baby food is in the midst of a golden age. With the rise of two-income families, home delivery, and even pickier eaters, the global market has grown to nine billion dollars a year, sixteen percent of it in the United States. Nine out of ten Americans have eaten commercial food for some periods of time."

"A third of baby food is now homemade, yet the baby-food industry is bigger than ever. Its new products have more vegetables and fewer additives. And sugar is the great override button for infant taste. A few drops can calm a baby's heart, release opiates in her brain, and settle her usual activity into a pleasurable pattern." "The rate of childhood obesity has tripled in thirty years, and one survey confirmed the reasons in sobering detail. American babies were drinking soda as early as seven months. They ate a third too many calories, often from chips and fries. One in five ate no green vegetables daily, and one in three ate no fruit." "American toddlers now eat an average of seven teaspoons of sugar a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- more than the recommended allowance for adults."

"Babies are weaned from jars at twelve months now, sip from powders well into their toddler years. Half of American children under the age of three use them [the powders]. There seems to be this window of opportunity between six and twenty months where they're just interested in food, and that predisposes them to healthy eating."

Footnotes:
[1] Richard J. Evans, "The Breakup," The Nation, December 30, 2019/January 6, 2020.

[2] Jeet Heer, "Impeachment Needs to Move to the Streets," The Nation, December 30, 2019/January 6, 2020.

[3] Burkhard Bilger, "Open Wide," The New Yorker, November 25, 2019.