Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Donald Trump is an erratic man with poor impulse control, a temperament that belong nowhere near the White House, and self-centered to a degree unusual even among politicians. He lies routinely. But does he lie pathologically? Are his lies related to a mental health condition which makes it difficult for him to tell the truth? …
Yesterday, this New York Times story went around on Trump’s plans to empower his Vice-President. ‘One day this past May, Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., reached out to a senior adviser to Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who left the presidential race just a few weeks before. As a candidate, Kasich declared in March …
By now you’ve heard about Melania Trump plagiarizing Michelle Obama. Omissions are as telling as inclusions. Consider the following: Here’s Michelle Obama. Absences highlighted, instead of copying. “Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond …
This all started because noted cranky scold Stanley Fish wrote a New York Times piece chiding historians for having opinions about Donald Trump as historians. Here, read Erik Loomis take it apart over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Honestly, the original essay makes no coherent argument about why it’s not ok to use one’s expertise to …
This is the new Priorities USA ad – Dante. It features a young disabled African-American boy speaking directly to the camera about Donald Trump. A few weeks ago, Priorities USA released the ad Grace, which features who nice white parents of a disabled child criticizing Donald Trump for making fun of people with disabilities. I …
Yesterday, The Atlantic published my essay on “Grace,” the new anti-Trump ad put out by Priorities USA, a pro-left Super PAC. On another Sunday, I would have spent a lot of the day publicizing it, but given the massacre in Orlando, it felt inappropriate. Still, I think there are important themes here. “Grace” uses the moment …
When Donald Trump mocked a New York Times reporter who has a physical disability, he was instantly and roundly criticized from across the political spectrum. In a campaign marred by his sexism, racism, Islamophobia, and other hate speech, the disability insult picked up condemnation from people less concerned about Trump’s other remarks. Trump, of course, denied …
Rick Perstein, a foremost historian on the rise of the American right, has a long piece on Donald Trump and fascism, comparing his emergence to the politics of other demagogues and fascists throughout the 20th century. It’s a thoughtful, detailed, assessment of the risks and the process. When Trump emerged, many folks started to compare …