Recommended Reading: Donald Trump's Authoritarian Dinner Theater
This Week's Recommended Reading on Substack: Parker Molloy, Justin Ling, Jill Filipovic, Don Moynihan, Diana Butler Bass, Jared Yates Sexton, and Sarah Kendzior
This Week's Recommended Reading on Substack:
Parker Molloy writes that what Donald Trump wanted was “the chance to stand in front of a profession he’s spent a year and a half suing, subpoenaing, banning, and defunding, insult it to its face for an hour on live television, and watch it hold still. He was there specifically for the silence.”
Justin Ling writes that “Trump’s takeover of American democracy is not complete. This November will be the ultimate test of whether his power expands or contracts. If he wants to ensure victory, he needs to find a way to extend his system of patronage and clientage to the voting masses.”
Jill Filipovic writes that “the lesson is a clear one: Men will not protect you. An ideology that enforces male power and female submission will be one that enforces male power and female submission — and that breaks whatever promises of protection it makes to women the second that protection would require challenging the power of its men.”
Don Moynihan writes that “Fauci became the face of the pandemic response because he was uniquely credible compared to the rest of Trump’s team. And for that service, he has been threatened and harassed into his retirement. An esteemed medical scientist, he was lectured to by cranks, forced to testify to a group of Senators hoping to send him to jail.”
Diana Butler Bass writes that “it isn’t scary or threatening to center the story of slavery as it was. Or the stories of women’s rights. Or the resilience of the LGBTQ people and communities. These stories open the doors of our minds and hearts a little wider; they invite us into historical empathy (which, of course, is a bad word in Trump world).”
Jared Yates Sexton writes that “a growing number of Americans rightfully feel unrepresented by the major parties. This is not limited to the Democratic Party as the GOP is going through its own changes even while many continue to believe it is a homogeneous body. This has created a class of voters that is going largely unseen and misunderstood. I call them the Radicalized Orphans.”
Sarah Kendzior writes that “in the 20th century, we grew up surrounded by small things designed by human hands left in public places: posters, packaging, paraphernalia. We could hold them, which meant we could hold them in disdain. We thought the great sin was materialism. But materialism still had material. You could trace its roots.”
That was wild when Wolf Blitzer gave that detailed presentation of that award. The look on Trumps face.