A. Realist
This Has Always Been Trump’s Character
The attempts to memory-hole Donald Trump's past are a fool's errand. A jury has found him liable for sexual abuse. Dozens of women have accused him. His predatory behavior and contempt for women have been a core, public part of his brand for forty years.
The Tariff Shell Game
The modern GOP's embrace of tariffs is both a cynical shell game played with language, and bad economics. Let's call their 'tariffs' what they actually are. They are an import tax that is passed on to consumers.
A Republic of Fans, Not Citizens
American politics has always had its fans, but the MAGA movement has perfected something different and more dangerous: a cult of personality where fealty replaces citizenship.
The Myth of the Blue-Collar Spokesman
Mike Rowe has built a career as the authentic voice of American labor. But what he's selling isn't necessarily a reality, but a convenient and politically useful fantasy of work.
The Strange Afterlife of P.J. O'Rourke
That P.J. O'Rourke quote about liberalism is making the rounds again on social media. It’s a perfect example of how the modern right uses the ghosts of its intellectual past to fuel a movement that has abandoned intellect entirely.
The Cowardice of the Old Guard
There's a crisis of courage in the GOP. It's not about policy, but a wholesale abandonment of principle by the very people who once claimed to be its guardians.
They Believe Themselves Virtuous
A defining feature of modern right-wing politics is the conviction that cruelty is a moral necessity. This is a deep dive into the self-righteousness that fuels the MAGA movement and its allies.
The Echoes of Nativism: America's Anti-Immigrant Hysteria is a Rerun
The rhetoric used against immigrants today is that they are diseased, criminal, and unable to assimilate. It's not new. It's a direct echo of the nativist playbook from a century ago. This is a deliberate revival of our worst instincts.
Truth as a Convenience
The modern right's relationship with truth is inconsistent, and it's a deliberate strategy. This is an analysis of the epistemic rot that has made good-faith debate impossible.
MAGA and Today’s GOP: A Case Study in Human Empathy
It's not just a policy disagreement. The MAGA movement has weaponized a lack of compassion, turning cruelty into a political virtue. This is an analysis of the empathy deficit at the heart of today's GOP.
The Unbearable Shallowness of Now
We are drowning in a sea of context-free information, and the refusal to do the hard work of thinking is becoming a catastrophic failure of citizenship.