The Damnable Senators of the Republican Party
When Trump was impeached for the first time, I wrote article after article about the various defenses that his allies had employed and why they didn’t hold up to scrutiny. The Ukraine scandal, after...
View ArticleThe Entire Republican Party Is on Trial
The choice ahead for the 50 Senate Republicans is stark. In the words of that old labor song, “Which side are you on?”In their masterful and, at times, heartbreaking presentation, the House impeachment...
View ArticleMachiavellian Moments
Niccolò Machiavelli is viewed in the popular imagination as a sinister figure who dispensed cynical advice to ambitious politicians on how to achieve and exercise power. His reputation among scholars...
View ArticleMardi Gras Is an Environmental Disaster
Residents and businesses along the Gulf Coast may be missing the Mardi Gras festivities canceled due to the pandemic this year. The planet probably isn’t.Shiny Mardi Gras beads used to be few in number...
View ArticleLauren Oyler Is a Tough Critic of Contemporary Fiction. Can Her Novel Do Better?
We all know the story. Boy meets girl. Boy tells girl about his life. Girl goes home and cyberstalks boy. Girl discovers boy lied about his life. Girl confronts boy. Boy comes clean. Boy and girl start...
View ArticleThe Press’s Strange Memory-Holing of Trump’s First Impeachment
No piece of Covid-era filmmaking has been praised quite as much as the 13-minute montage that opened the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. CNN’s Chris Cillizza argued that it was “unfathomable...
View ArticleHow the Democratic Party Can Create a Majoritarian Coalition
The Saturday afternoon following Election Day 2020 felt like a holiday Democratic voters feared would never happen. In cities across the country, interracial crowds, united in masked joy, rushed out of...
View ArticleTrump’s Guilt Is Far Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Watching the House managers present their case in Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial reminded me less of an actual criminal trial and more of the conclusion of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. In the...
View ArticleFire Louis DeJoy
If you’ve sent or received any mail over the last few months, you may have noticed that the United States Postal Service is not in great shape. After Louis DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser, took over as...
View ArticleCancel Valentine’s Day Consumerism
Back in the early 1990s, Baptist pastor Gary Chapman released a book about human relationships. In its first year, the book barely made a splash, but the following year sales doubled. The year after...
View ArticleMitt Romney’s Party of One
Little has changed in the year or so spanning the two impeachments of Donald Trump. His second trial, which began Tuesday, will likely be swiftly decided, this time to spare legislative bandwidth...
View ArticleThe Darker Story Just Outside the Lens of Framing Britney Spears
Britney Spears can’t spend her own money without permission or decide where she lives. She doesn’t have the right to choose who she spends time with, and can’t enter into contracts. Despite being an...
View ArticleDeath to the Inspirational News Story
Earlier this month, Alondra Carmona, a high school student in Houston, learned that her mother had been laid off from her job at the Port of Houston. Her mother had kept the layoff a secret from her...
View ArticleThe Spectacular Fall of the Lincoln Project
In the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election, the Lincoln Project, the viral ad-making Never Trump group, was riding high. Over the previous 11 months, the group’s videos and tweets had...
View ArticleWould Everyone Please Have Some Pity for Poor Donald Trump?
Five people died when Trump supporters besieged the Capitol last month, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick. Two other Capitol Police officers have since died by suicide. Others suffered a...
View ArticleThe Ambiguous End of “Remain in Mexico”
In a much-anticipated move, the Biden administration on Friday announced it would start allowing some asylum-seekers, forced to stay in Mexico under a 2019 Trump-era policy, to come to the United...
View ArticleCall Kyrsten Sinema’s Bluff
As perhaps the second-most conservative member of a Democratic Senate caucus that can’t afford to lose a single vote to pass its agenda, Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema has a great deal of leverage. Despite...
View ArticleThe Botched Democratic Effort to Convict Donald Trump
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump ended with a whimper Saturday afternoon, leaving time for the long weekend in honor of, yes, presidents. And like a veteran mob boss who sneers at justice,...
View ArticleWhy Aren’t Masks Free Yet?
Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of its testing of masks for preventing the spread of Covid-19: Any mask is better than none, and the tighter the fit,...
View ArticleArizona’s Democratic Senators Are Already Angering the Left
Last week, during a series of votes on amendments to the Senate’s budget resolution, eight Democrats signed onto an amendment aimed at prohibiting undocumented immigrants from receiving Covid-19...
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