Why Won’t These Democrats Reject Fossil Fuel Money?
Two days before she officially launched her campaign for president, Kirsten Gillibrand made one of the smartest moves of her political career. “I signed the pledge today,” she told a group of climate...
View ArticleThe Death of Fascist Irony
In the rush of initial reportage that followed the horrific slaughter last week of 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, a document surfaced that purported to be the manifesto of the...
View ArticleDevin Nunes’s Ridiculous Lawsuit Is a Masterpiece of Republican Grievance
It’s no easy feat to be the most thin-skinned man in American politics these days, especially given that the country is run by a short-fingered vulgarian who compulsively tweets about every real and...
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Adventures in Modernism
What was it like to be a queer child in South Carolina during the Great Depression? Guy Davenport, with his incomparable gift for re-creating lost pockets of time, offered one plausible glimpse in his...
View ArticleThe Problem With Trying to Be Like China
For decades, the Republican economic creed has revolved around low taxes and free markets. The sacred dual directives had to be vigorously defended and market regulations of any kind aggressively...
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The Rise and Fall of the New York Wheel
In 2008, Meir Laufer, a small-time New York real estate developer, was taking a spin aboard the London Eye, the 443-foot ferris wheel on the banks of the Thames, when he decided on a scheme: He would...
View ArticleMaking #MeToo Work in Pakistan
In Pakistan, it is all too easy to become discouraged at a seeming lack of progress when it comes to women’s rights. As in America, the rot starts at the top. Shortly before assuming office in 2018,...
View ArticleThe Seductive Stupidity of Andrew Wheeler
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler is not your average climate denier. Unlike President Donald Trump, he’s admitted that global warming is real and caused by humans. And...
View ArticleWho Said It: Beto O’Rourke, Howard Schultz, or a Punk Rock Band?
Much has been made of Beto O’Rourke’s punk rock bona fides, or lack thereof. On the one hand, he used to play in a punk band and cites Ian MacKaye—the Pete Seeger of the American punk movement—as an...
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Mitch McConnell, Young and . . . Moderate?
After a failed attempt to run for the House of Representatives (he was tossed from the ballot for failing residency requirements), Mitch McConnell’s first real campaign was for judge-executive of...
View ArticleBill de Blasio’s Embarrassing Quest for National Fame
It’s rare for The New York Post to understate a story in a headline, but late Sunday, the tabloid posted a piece titled “De Blasio speaks to crowd of only 20 people in New Hampshire.” The reality was...
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Nihilist in Chief
In the midst of this January’s historic, senselessly protracted government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided it was time to put forward his vision of how government should...
View ArticleThe New Republic April Issue: MitchWorld, the GOP’s Unlikely Savior
New York, NY—(March 21, 2019)—The New Republic today published its April 2019 issue with a cover story that details the banal, evil, all-destructive reign of Mitch McConnell. In “Nihilist in Chief”,...
View ArticleBolsonaro Is Betting His Presidency on Trump
During his visit to the United States Monday and Tuesday, Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing extremist sworn in as Brazil’s president in January, appeared visibly giddy at the prospect of meeting Donald...
View ArticleJordan Peele’s “Us” Goes Down the Rabbit Hole of Identity
Jordan Peele loves a rabbit. There is a song that appears in the first scene of Get Out, Peele’s Oscar-winning debut as a movie writer and director, that goes “Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run! Run! Run!”...
View ArticleConservatives’ Disingenuous Attacks on Democratic Reforms
If their presidential candidates are any indication, Democrats may finally be getting serious about structural reforms to American democracy. Some proposals, such as packing the court with additional...
View ArticleJoe Biden’s Half-Baked Political Gimmicks
Joe Biden knows what you’re thinking. He has seen the stories, too.He knows he’s too old: 76 years old today, and 78 on Inauguration Day, 2021. He knows that, as a senator representing Delaware for...
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The Growing Crisis of Guns on Campus
Anthony Bouchard, who often sports a waxed handlebar mustache that recalls the outlaws of the Wild West, has a habit of showing up at public events where everyone is unarmed and explaining that they’re...
View ArticleHow to End Endless War
In 1992, Pentagon officials took stock of America’s fortunes. “Today, there is no global challenger to a peaceful democratic order,” observed the group, led by Under Secretary of Defense Paul...
View ArticleTrump’s Golan Heights Tweet Is a Gift to the Far Right
With a few strokes on his keyboard on Thursday, President Trump undermined one of the fundamental norms of international law. “After 52 years,” he tweeted, “it is time for the United States to fully...
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