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‘Executive Time’ for the Laziest Person in North America

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It’s a big planet, with billions of people, so one cannot account for every last lazybones on every last continent. And yet, and yet, is there anyone on this continent as lazy as Donald J. Trump? Jonathan Swan explains in Scoop: Trump’s secret, shrinking schedule: President Trump is starting his official day much later than he…

Politics, Trump

Conservatism & Trump

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So will Trump fundamentally alter American conservatism, or is he a mere phase in a longer, unchanging tradition? Three American conservatives, and Britain’s George Orwell, have something to interesting say on the matter. 1. Charles C.W. Cooke: Whatever its shortcomings—and they are many—the American Right is too complicated and too interesting a force to be…

America, City, Politics, Trump

Whitewater’s Outlook for 2018

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An explorer comes to a forest, one he’s not seen before. He’s been in forests before, but not one as dense and dark as this one. He could stop, and make predictions about what it might be like, but however long he takes, the forest yet stands before him. Our national outlook is like this,…

America, City, Culture, Local Government, Politics, Religion, School District, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, University

Rabbi Sharon Brous’s Advice for Small Towns (and Everywhere, Really)

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Over at The Atlantic, there’s an interview with Rabbi Sharon Brous, the senior rabbi at IKAR, a non-denominational synagogue in California. See ‘I’ve Spent My Life Studying These Books That Say Decency Actually Matters.’ Rabbi Brous describes religious belief among progressives in contemporary America, and two of her observations are particularly suited even to Whitewater…

Federal Government, Paul Ryan, Trump

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride Winds Down

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Over these eighteen months, Paul Ryan’s gone from opposition, to appeasement, to support of Trump’s key aims. Perhaps Ryan would have done better with Clinton as president, where he might have been a counterweight to a fundamentally rational chief executive. As it is, Ryan is a lightweight in the face of a fundamentally autocratic, ignorant,…

Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Putin, Trump, Trump-Russia

America, Russia…

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It’s true that a well-ordered society would not be governed by (an unrepentent) former KGB agent. It’s just as true that a well-ordered society would not be governed by a bigoted, autocratic, dissolute liar. Yet here we are, and there they are. .@tolokno was imprisoned for speaking out against Vladimir Putin's presidency in Russia. She…

America, History, Trump

‘America the great’

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Shikha Dalmia writes, truly, of America the great: Ever since President Trump sauntered into the White House, America’s image — or “brand,” in marketing parlance — has taken a beating. This month, a Nation Brand Index poll of public opinion in 50 countries found that the “Trump effect” had caused America’s reputation to drop from…

America, Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump

‘Gradually and then suddenly’

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David Frum, to explain inevitable failure, instructively quotes Ernest Hemingway on going broke: A famous line of Ernest Hemingway’s describes how a rich man goes broke: “Two ways … Gradually and then suddenly.” That’s how defeat comes upon a president as well. The live question for Trumpists in 2018 will be whether they can hold…

Mendacity, Press, Television, Trump

‘This is an Apple’

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“Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana.” #FactsFirst pic.twitter.com/LbmRKiGJe9 — CNN (@CNN) October 23, 2017 I haven’t watched CNN in years, to be honest, but their promotional advertisement about Trump’s alternative facts outlook is spot on. It’s more common for me to read than to watch cable news, but my two…

Comedy, Conway, Politics, Trump

Kate McKinnon as Kellyanne Conway

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Over at Saturday Night Live, Kate McKinnon’s in a sketch where she plays Kellyanne Conway as though Conway were the monster Pennywise from Stephen King’s It. She’s portrayed Conway before, but here her especially well. (The full sketch is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlt3rA-oDao – the embed above starts part way in.) In the sketch, Conway, speaking from…

America, Poll, Trump

Rural America Turns Against Trump

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One often reads that it’s rural America that elected – and will always stand by – Donald Trump. In fact, Trump’s support in rural communities is in decline. Chris Kahn and Tim Reid report Trump’s popularity is slipping in rural America: According to the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll, the Republican president’s popularity is eroding in…