Published in BillMoyers.com Reince Priebus’ fall is a sad metaphor for Trump’s America. Must They Have So Little Dignity? Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon is considered one of the great political novels of the last century, but it is also very puzzling. Why does Rubashov, the loyal old Bolshevik, confess to capital crimes he did not commit?…
The Trump Era: No One Can Stay Above the Fray
shed in Moyers & Company (link to article) Trump debases the country, and we will all have to get our hands dirty. Shape without form, shade without color, paralyzed force, gesture without motion. — T.S. ELIOT, THE HOLLOW MEN (1925) It has been six years since I last saw Capitol Hill and the Republican Party in the rearview…
Hobby Lobby Meets Indiana Jones
Published July 7, 2017 in Washington Monthly ( link to article) How stolen art fuels Middle Eastern terrorism. By now, everyone has heard of Hobby Lobby and its founder, Dave Green. Green is a fake Christian who uses his business as a vehicle to bully women and generally make a public nuisance of himself. Aside from lending credence…
Mitch McConnell’s Sinister Role in the Russian Hacks
Published June 28, 2017 in Washington Monthly ( link to article) With the normalization of Trump’s antics, it is unfortunately all too easy to overlook the sheer rottenness of Mitch McConnell. Gage Skidmore/Flickr Recently, I broached the “T” word (treason) with respect to Donald Trump’s actions. Strange and wonderful to relate, the heavens did not fall and lightning did…
When Should We Use the ‘T’ Word?
Published in Washington Monthly ( link to article) The mainstream media is skittish about invoking treason. The presidency of Donald J. Trump, with its ludicrous inauguration crowd estimates, 4 AM tweets, and non-stop gaffes, is sometimes difficult for grownups to take seriously in any sort of sustained way. But with the allegation that Jared Kushner,…
How the Chattering Class Bully-Worships Trump
Published in Moyers & Company (link to article) ‘I, for One, Welcome Our New Insect Overlords!’ How the Chattering Class Bully-Worships Trump Claiming the media doesn’t “get” Trump is just another sorry excuse for his dangerous disregard of truth and democracy. Newsman Kent Brockman welcomes his new insect overlords in the “Deep Space Homer” episode…
The Media’s Latest Campaign to Normalize Trump
Published in Washington Monthly ( link to article) After the Syria strikes, the press has mistakenly found new respect for Trump. One of the more annoying features of the most annoying presidential campaign in history was the mainstream media’s attempts to normalize candidate Donald Trump. Possibly this treatment arose because the press didn’t initially take…