At a certain point in the life cycle of every civilisation, intellectuals become entranced with the idea that there must be a rational order underlying the blooming, buzzing confusion of the universe. At this stage, most people hail the triumph …
How Miami turned red
For the first time since 2002, Miami-Dade County, 70% Hispanic and once considered a Democratic stronghold, went for the Republicans. In a year when Republicans underperformed across most of the country, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won his reelection bid in …
Will Herschel Walker win Georgia?
The actor and inveterate gambler Omar Sharif threw away his career for the pleasures of the casino. Asked how he felt after a particularly disastrous binge in which he lost almost everything to his name, the star of Dr Zhivago …
America has an Oedipus complex
As in Sophocles’s tragedy Oedipus Rex, we are witnessing a generational drama in which inheritors kill their proverbial father to marry their mother, in this case Mother Earth. The psychology behind this pattern is above my pay grade, but many …
Clowns have captured the GOP
Only a few short months ago, the Democratic Party looked to be doomed. Joe Biden’s approval rating was scraping historic lows in the mid-30s, Republicans were building a solid lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot, and story after story detailed …
America will always fear Caesar
In my own unreliable cultural memory, the age of Hamilton enthusiasm in American life belongs emphatically to Barack Obama’s presidency in its optimistic phase — to the last period of unabashed liberal patriotism and confidence.
In reality, though, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s …
The last American aristocrat
Not long after the Trump election I was invited to a dinner party of the sort I’d only recently learned existed. Here’s how it goes. The host is wealthy, as are half the guests, and the other half are intellectuals …
The cruelty of Biden’s border policy
When it comes to “open borders”, Joe Biden has gone as far as a President can go without actually abolishing them. This June alone, US Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 200,000 people at the southern border, leading Republican …
How dangerous are the MAGA mavericks?
The Republican House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, is a political lifer who has represented the most conservative district in California for the past 15 years. He has every reason to feel confident about his party’s future. According to most polls, …
What the media gets wrong about Watergate
The media misremembers the Watergate scandal of 50 years ago in two significant respects: the first for an understandable reason, although one that ultimately is unflattering to the media. But the second misrepresentation defies explanation. Let’s take the puzzling one …
What I saw during Watergate
Fifty years ago this Friday, the police of Washington, DC discovered a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office complex. When the news first broke, I, like most people, gave it no notice. Within …
Corporations aren’t greedy enough
American political debates over inflation have settled into predictable — and mostly unhelpful — patterns. On one side, “neoliberal” Democrats such as Lawrence Summers and Jason Furman argue that President Biden’s Covid stimulus bill was too aggressive, causing the economy …
The fall of Seattle
This February, Bruce Harrell, newly installed as mayor of Seattle, made it official that his city has gone into decline. “The truth is the status quo is unacceptable,” he said in his first state of the city address. “It seems …
Why Putin is no Hitler
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a barbarity. It is also an act of futility. That is not how many in Washington see it, and even Republicans who have become sceptical of foreign intervention may be shocked into thinking that …