Linchpin and Cornerstone

[T]here’s no clear indication that Iran is gaining the upper hand.

[T]he specter of war will inevitably hover over the meeting.

A few burning cars and garbage cans aside, the real act of violence begins with criminalizing and vilifying entire groups of the population.

It's about ... intercultural relationship, not about romanticizing nationalism.

[A] battle to the death is in neither side’s interest.

[C]ivil war-like conditions are prevailing in America’s second-largest metropolis.

Unless the country ... takes a resolute stand against Trump now, there may not be another democratically elected president in three and a half years.

[P]eople did not expect this when they voted for Trump even though he repeatedly promised he would do so.