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In today’s edition:

Napoleon? Complex!

Name the quote! “I wanted to rule the world — who wouldn’t have, in my place?”

Here’s a hint: He’s a world leader about whose dictatorial ambitions we recently published a piece. He’s polarizing. He’s no longer in power but still occupying our minds. … He’s French?

Okay, I’m talking not about former president Donald Trump (though Robert Kagan’s hyper-popular essay about the increasing inevitability of a Trump dictatorship is still worth reading); the quote, rather, is from Napoleon.

Max Boot, too often on the Trump beat for his liking, turned his attention to “the little corporal” in his latest column after watching film director Ridley Scott’s new epic. He writes that the movie overlooks a lot from Napoleon’s life and legacy, including many of the things that made him far more complicated (and far less buffoonish) than Trump.

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Still, Max writes, the film succeeds as “a morality tale that today’s admirers of dictators or budding dictators should keep in mind.”

Of which there are, sadly, many! But maybe not that many. Jen Rubin pokes a hole (or several) in the narrative of Trump’s runaway popularity. Look, she says, I can cherry-pick polls, too!

Her preference, she explains, is to do away with horse-race coverage altogether. But if the media is going to run with commentary dependent on polling, it ought to at least provide a comprehensive picture.

Even if Trump wins, though, Greg Sargent reminds us that a dictatorship is by no means guaranteed — and that becoming fatalistic about its likelihood is counterproductive.

“It remains underappreciated, but our national response to the antidemocratic menace of the Trump years has in some respects been surprisingly good,” Greg writes, “not just electorally but also institutionally.” In other words, there’s a good chance Trump might not win, and a good chance he can be contained if he does.

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It doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t plenty of worries short of an authoritarian United States to fret over should Trump return to the presidency.

Catherine Rampell writes that Trump’s economic track record and his recent signals that he’d strong-arm the Federal Reserve as again-president mean that price hikes under him could make the inflation under President Biden look like a three-day-old birthday balloon.

And Josh Rogin writes that Ukraine and its supporters need to start preparing for the ill effects of a Trump return. Abandoning the aid effort, as Trump has hinted he would do, would hurt not just Ukraine but also “further destabilize Europe and undermine U.S. credibility worldwide,” Josh says. He lays out a plan for insulating Ukraine should the 2024 election turn out not to be Trump’s Waterloo — but his Austerlitz.

Chaser: Lee Hockstader explains why U.S. aid for Ukraine is a bargain. Sure, it’s expensive, but compared with what?

From Leana Wen’s ode to the Dakotas’ commitment to protecting their most vulnerable from covid-19. (South Dakota’s updated shot rate is almost 57 percent.)

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Her column digs into why the deep-red states are so good at nursing home vaccinations; she and the experts she spoke with credit the convenience brought about by strong pharmacy partnerships and doctor integration. South Dakota-based pharmacy chain Lewis Drug, Leana writes, has continued what was once a nationwide practice of bringing vaccines directly to nursing homes.

Note: Leana plans to write more on lagging vaccination rates at nursing homes and would love to hear from you if you have any sort of connection — long-term-care worker, resident, family member, etc. You can reach out to her here.

Less politics

There’s nothing quite like cozying up with your cup of coffee and the newspaper and reading that people don’t actually hate you as much as you think.

This was my morning upon reading journalism researchers Tom Rosenstiel and Mariana Meza Hernandez’s op-ed about public attitudes toward the media. Turns out: not (that) despised! Polling suggests Americans’ trust in reporting, while flagging, is still decent-ish.

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This is important not because of the warm-ish fuzzies it gives me or my colleagues, but because, as Rosenstiel and Meza Hernandez write, the “exaggerated narrative of media disaster is becoming a problem in itself.”

Here’s the money quote: “If journalism is going to rebuild its business model and its connection to the public, we need to understand more clearly what people think of it and what they need from it.”

Smartest, fastest

• Ruy Teixeira explains why abortion is not the silver bullet that Democrats need in 2024.
• Ted Johnson, along with New America senior fellow Autumn McDonald, write that the answer to what this country really needs is in plain sight, standing on the sidelines of kids’ soccer games.
• The Editorial Board charges Congress with four national security measures that can’t wait until next year.

It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.

Comparing strongmen?

How could I ever refuse?

Learn from the likeness

Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!

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