M. Gessen, an Opinion columnist, watched Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate with a sense of dread. In their mind, the question was not who would win the debate but, rather: How much did we lose? In this audio essay, Gessen argues that when we put Trump and his acolytes on the same platform as regular politicians and treat them equally, “that normalization degrades our political life and degrades our understanding of politics.”

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Thomas Friedman, an Opinion columnist and Middle East correspondent, is keenly aware of the many red lines that have been crossed in the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. He says, after Iran’s latest attack on Israel, anything is possible — from symbolic retaliation to the bombing of a nuclear facility. Hear why he believes that “this really is the most dangerous moment in the modern Middle East.”

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Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, was indicted last week for soliciting foreign funds for his campaign and for personal use. Casey Michel, director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program at the Human Rights Foundation, argues that to prevent the further degradation of our democracy, officials need to be more aggressive about enforcing existing foreign interference laws.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.