The Preamble

The Preamble

The Theater of Control

From Berlin to Arizona: five democracies script their versions of power

Elise Labott's avatar
Elise Labott
Oct 23, 2025
∙ Paid
U.S. Border Patrol members gather in downtown Los Angeles while Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a news conference at the Japanese American National Museum in August 2025. (Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

In Arizona, floodlights cut through the dark as masked agents in body armor march a line of suspected migrants toward waiting unmarked vans. Cell phone cameras…

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Elise Labott's avatar
A guest post by
Elise Labott
Global affairs journalist. I write Cosmopolitics on Substack.
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