His Legacy December 13, 2020 Trump killed this man and pardoned this one. Granted clemency to this one, protected this one, has never expressed regret for buying a full-page ad urging execution of these five. Yet to tens of millions — including Evangelicals — though he advocates torture, disparages the fallen, and undermines democracy — he is a hero and a role model. One can almost better understand how so many fine, God-fearing Germans and Italians lost their way nearly a century ago, back when people chanted, “Jews will not replace us!” Here is Trump’s legacy: . . . Trump’s lies were different. They belonged to the postmodern era. They were assaults against not this or that fact, but reality itself. They spread beyond public policy to invade private life, clouding the mental faculties of everyone who had to breathe his air, dissolving the very distinction between truth and falsehood. Their purpose was never the conventional desire to conceal something shameful from the public. He was stunningly forthright about things that other presidents would have gone to great lengths to keep secret: his true feelings about Senator John McCain and other war heroes; his eagerness to get rid of disloyal underlings; his desire for law enforcement to protect his friends and hurt his enemies; his effort to extort a foreign leader for dirt on a political adversary; his affection for Kim Jong Un and admiration for Vladimir Putin; his positive view of white nationalists; his hostility toward racial and religious minorities; and his contempt for women. The most mendacious of Trump’s predecessors would have been careful to limit these thoughts to private recording systems. Trump spoke them openly, not because he couldn’t control his impulses, but intentionally, even systematically, in order to demolish the norms that would otherwise have constrained his power. To his supporters, his shamelessness became a badge of honesty and strength. They grasped the message that they, too, could say whatever they wanted without apology. . . . For his opponents, the lies were intended to be profoundly demoralizing. . . . Trump demonstrated again and again that the truth doesn’t matter. In rational people this provoked incredulity, outrage, exhaustion, and finally an impulse to crawl away and abandon the field of politics to the fantasists. For believers, the consequences were worse. They surrendered the ability to make basic judgments about facts, exiling themselves from the common framework of self-government. They became litter swirling in the wind of any preposterous claim that blew from @realDonaldTrump. Truth was whatever made the world whole again by hurting their enemies—the more far-fetched, the more potent and thrilling. . . . The election didn’t end his lies—nothing will—or the deeper conflicts that the lies revealed. But we learned that we still want democracy. This, too, is the legacy of Donald Trump. Totally worth reading in full, by George Packer in the Atlantic. (Nowhere mentioned, but for trivia lovers: Trump is the first president in two lifetimes not to have had a pet in the White House; and the only one, before moving in, to have kept this book by his bedside.) BONUS: FREE POWER TRIP NC WARN highly recommends Jonathan Scott’s Power Trip, an 80-minute case for the clean energy revolution and a riveting depiction of the decade-long conspiracy by fossil fuel corporations to suppress solar power. The story is ultimately hopeful – showing how grassroots efforts across the US are gradually pushing past the polluters. One caveat: the information on energy storage is outdated; pairing renewables with storage is now cheaper and more reliable than building scores of gas-fired power plants. Watch for free until December 16.
And Once He’s Gone? December 11, 2020December 10, 2020 Last month’s Randy Rainbow remains relevant because Trump still says he won. So what do we do once he’s gone? This. Have a great weekend. Jimmy Fallon (who hugged me once!) and Andrew Rannells (“The Book of Mormon”) here reprise 2020 in eight minutes.
Let’s Hear It For God! December 10, 2020December 9, 2020 My pal Mel White, ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Billy Graham, has just published Clobber the Passages: Seven Deadly Verses — yours for 99 cents on Kindle or $8.99 in paperback . . . a must-read for any person of faith struggling with someone’s being gay, whether that someone is a son, a daughter, a grandchild — or themselves. “Uncle Frank,” an affecting new comedy/drama on Amazon Prime, shows how badly a book like Mel’s was needed in decades past — and is still needed. Amazon is also showing “People You May Know,” a documentary about manipulating people of faith. Jesus would have been appalled. Finally, take a few minutes to read Jon Meacham on Three Key Characteristics of the American Revolution, as revealed in the magazine of Westmont College. Meacham is so good. If only all religious institutions were as thoughtful and constructive as Westmont. Can I hear an amen?
COUP-COUP-KA-CHOO December 9, 2020December 9, 2020 This is the article by Zeynep Tufekci in the Atlantic that everyone is reading. Remember “I Am The Walrus?” This isn’t that.* On the evening of September 11, 1980 [she begins], my mom was approached by a neighbor who held rank in the Turkish military. He told her to stock up on bread and rice. “Oh, another coup,” she immediately groaned. The neighbor was aghast—he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone what was coming. But my mom, of course, had immediately understood what his advice must have meant. Turkey is the land of coups; this was neither the first nor the last coup it would face. . . . . . . When Biden takes the presidential oath in January, many will write articles scolding those who expressed concern about a coup as worrywarts, or as people misusing terminology. But ignoring near misses is how people and societies get in real trouble the next time . . . Alarmism is problematic when it’s sensationalist. Alarmism is essential when conditions make it appropriate. So worth reading the whole thing. WheelTug picked up Royal Brunei Airlines — 9 more planes in queue. That’s tiny, of course, but I dutifully report on each inch . . . by inch . . . by inch. The Best Luxury Beauty Gifts For The Holiday Season. Sure, French Royal is only #16 . . . but look at the company we’re in! Dior! Swarovski! Hermès! Want something cheaper? Try Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience . . . with which (unlike French Royal) I have no connection. I just love it. *Well, and that wasn’t either, but for more than half a century I heard “Koo-koo-ka-choo.” It’s apparently “Goo goo g’joob.” Who-who-ka-knew? But you’re missing the point: read her article.
Trees — Are They Talking About Us? December 8, 2020December 7, 2020 To keep Earth habitable we need to plant trees. This Canadian team is using drones to plant a hoped-for 100,000 a day, as described here. If one little outfit can do this, it’s not entirely crazy to imagine multiplying it 1,000-fold . . . and suddenly you’re planting 100 million a day. Not every day in every climate. But 200 such days around the globe? That would be 20 billion a year. (There are 3 trillion now, but every additional 20 billion have to help.) This charismatic mayor is planting a million in her home town before she leaves office in 2022. Share her TED Talk with your mayor? In addition to planting trees, it builds community. This entrepreneur/philanthropist plants trees to rescue orphans. He is my friend John Noel, and told me of his plan a dozen years ago. Lo and behold, 30,000 of the 300,000 fast-growing hardwood trees he planted are now ready for harvest . . . and look what it’s done for the orphanage . . . and should continue to do in perpetuity. In case you’re rich and want to make a similar investment, I can hook you up. And wait — did you see this, Sunday? Are the trees talking about us?
OMG! OMG! OMG! December 6, 2020December 4, 2020 There’s so much cause for hope! Take three minutes to watch this trailer! OMG! OMG! OMG! What a time to be alive. And since that will take you just three minutes (if you’re too busy to then watch the whole documentary in the comfort of your home) . . . . . . let me take a minute more to re-plug A Promised Land, which the greatest president of my lifetime is reading me aloud, at my convenience, to let me know what life has looked like from his perspective. Even if you dislike Obama, I think you’ll find it engrossing — much as I did Chris Christie’s book a few years back even though I was no fan. The truth is, listening to Christie’s book made me dislike him less. Okay, almost like him. (None of us is all good or bad.*) And I’m glad of that. Listening to Obama, if they give him that chance, I think even Carl and Tom will find things to admire and with which to agree. I would be glad of that as well. *Tom Hanks and Stephen Miller come close, respectively.
Listening to Both Sides December 4, 2020December 3, 2020 There are 118 million people ahead of me to get the vaccine. Find an estimate of your place in line here. OK, are you ready for a challenge? If you’re a progressive, you’ll find it challenging to listen to Tucker Carlson . . . whom I generally can’t abide . . . but who in this clip is thought-provoking at the very least? If you’re a Trumper, you’ll find it challenging to listen to Barack Obama . . . whom you don’t admire as I do . . . but whose engrossing new book you’ll find thought-provoking at the very least? Have a great weekend!
OK, Kids: Back To School December 3, 2020December 2, 2020 Last Spring, I asked you: What’s Wrong With This Logic? Basically, that we should make every effort to protect Covid-vulnerable people while allowing young-ish people without serious health issues — kids, especially — to go on with their lives. Yes, I agreed: kids who can’t avoid close contact with vulnerable adults need to be kept home. But we shouldn’t pretend we’re doing that for their safety, or that it won’t hurt them. It will hurt them, but we’re doing it to protect ourselves. I repeated the theme again and again, but let’s face it, it’s been a scary time. And in scary times, logic and balance and nuance and trade-offs can go out the window. You have people like Andrew Cuomo saying that if shutting down New York saves “a single life” it will have been worth it. That is, of course, absurd — because shutting down New York will cost other lives — but it sounds good and moral, is simple and easy to applaud. Anyway, here we are. Not only are vaccines on the way, the case for opening the schools is gaining strength. “Open the schools,” urges Dr. Fauci. “If you look at the data the spread among children and from children is not really big at all.” I wish he had said that, and louder, in August . . . but even so. Liberal, wonderful Nick Kristof in the liberal, wonderful New York Times: When Trump Was Right and Many Democrats Wrong. “Some things are true even though President Trump says them. Trump has been demanding for months that schools reopen, and on that he seems to have been largely right.” Read Nick’s whole argument, if you disagree. Schools Don’t Spread Covid. Teachers’ Unions Don’t Care, writes Joe Nocera. “Their insistence that classrooms be shut down during the pandemic contrary to the science punishes the kids they are supposed to care about.” It hurts kids to keep the schools closed. Remote School is Leaving Children Sad and Angry reports the Washington Post. Three Feet of Social Distancing Should Be Enough in Schools, argue these professors. “The six-feet requirement is keeping kids out of school. We need more reasonable guidelines.” With cases and hospitalizations and death tolls soaring, it’s very hard to think logically about any of this. But we owe it to the kids to do so. One other thing we should never forget: NONE OF THIS HAD TO HAPPEN. Hundreds of thousands of lives could have been spared if Trump had not eviscerated the CDC “forward” team in China; gutted Obama’s pandemic preparedness systems; ignored more than a dozen urgent warnings. Including Joe Biden’s January 27th in USA Today.
Learning From Germany — The Over-Priced Market — The Latest From Brain HQ December 2, 2020December 2, 2020 BARR AND 1918 You of course saw that even Barr has now put the lie to Trump’s constant assertions of election fraud. But did you read 1918 Germany’s Warning For America? Not to be missed. Dow 30,000 “Trump is bragging about the Dow Jones topping 30,000, which only happened after it was clear he wasn’t going to be president anymore.” — Middle Age Riot I remember when the Dow briefly crossed 1,000 in 1966 before dropping back. It would be 16 years before crossing it again. Not to say it will be 16 years before the Dow again crosses 30,000 — it could be this morning. But don’t think it’s impossible. S&P 31.2 James Scurlock notes that at 31.2, the S&P 500’s price/earnings ratio is now double its historic average of 15.5. GEORGIA To help with money: Vote Tripling gets voters to pledge to persuade three others they know to vote, a cost-effective means of increasing turnout. They are looking to close out their funding needs this week. To help with your time: click here. THE AMAZON This 90-minute event last night featured planetary hero Mark Plotkin, co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team, discussing everything from shamans to mapping 80 million acres of rain forest . . . from wine (a popular plant-based drug) to the time he was bitten by a vampire bat. His ten-part Plants of the Gods podcast launches today, “focusing on the hallucinogenic plants and fungi whose impact on world culture and religion – and healing potential — is only now beginning to be appreciated as never before.” THE BUZZ A celebrity you’d instantly recognize lives upstairs from me. He has a beautiful wife. I gave her a box of French Royal. She left me this note: “As a person who has now smeared myself with the products, I can vouch for them as luscious. Thank you. Luxury feels extra-wonderful this year.” As previously plugged: France’s Biggest Beauty Secret Makes A Splashy Launch In The U.S. Step right up, dear reader, if you’re looking for an extravagant holiday gift, and make me rich. BRAIN HQ New Research Identifies What Works to Improve Older Driver Safety. Independent studies of BrainHQ have shown many positive results for older drivers, including: 38% fewer dangerous driving maneuvers, faster reaction time (equivalent to 22 feet more stopping distance at 55 mph), greater confidence driving in difficult conditions, 48% fewer at-fault crashes, 30% lower overall crash incidence, and maintaining safe driving later in life. Drivers insured by AAA in many states can get Drivesharp training from BrainHQ through their insurer without charge and can receive a discount on their premium. In other words, AAA is so confident in its effectiveness, they will pay you to use BrainHQ. It also reduces the incidence of dementia and makes you a better SuperBowl quarterback. The perfect holiday gift for anyone “of a certain age” (Tom Brady is 43) . . . or who will one day be a certain age.
If You’re One of the 77% of Republicans Who Think Trump Won . . . December 1, 2020December 1, 2020 . . . please listen to this 60 Minutes interview with Trump appointee Chris Krebs, lifelong Republican, and let me know whether it affects your thinking at all. Conservative columnist David Brooks decries The Rotting of the Republican Mind, which can only serve to make Trump-Republicans ever more dug-in . . . (as will this parody website for The Trump Presidential Library — don’t miss the Grift Shop on your way out) . . . yet bares airing anyway: In a recent Monmouth University survey, 77 percent of Trump backers said Joe Biden had won the presidential election because of fraud. Many of these same people think climate change is not real. Many of these same people believe they don’t need to listen to scientific experts on how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. . . . [M]uch of the Republican Party has become detached from reality. . . . [Millions] have come to detest those who populate the epistemic regime, who are so distant, who appear to have it so easy, who have such different values, who can be so condescending. [Who use words like “epistemic” — A.T.] . . . People in this precarious state are going to demand stories that will both explain their distrust back to them and also enclose them within a safe community of believers. The evangelists of distrust, from Donald Trump to Alex Jones to the followers of QAnon, rose up to give them those stories and provide that community. . . . For those awash in anxiety and alienation, who feel that everything is spinning out of control, conspiracy theories are extremely effective emotional tools. For those in low status groups, they provide a sense of superiority: I possess important information most people do not have. For those who feel powerless, they provide agency: I have the power to reject “experts” and expose hidden cabals. As Cass Sunstein of Harvard Law School points out, they provide liberation: If I imagine my foes are completely malevolent, then I can use any tactic I want. Under Trump, the Republican identity is defined not by a set of policy beliefs but by a paranoid mind-set. . . . The internet is an ideal medium for untested information to get around traditional gatekeepers, but it is an accelerant of the paranoia, not its source. Distrust and precarity, caused by economic, cultural and spiritual threat, are the source. What to do? You can’t argue people out of paranoia. If you try to point out factual errors, you only entrench false belief. The only solution is to reduce the distrust and anxiety that is the seedbed of this thinking. That can only be done first by contact, reducing the social chasm between the members of the epistemic regime and those who feel so alienated from it. And second, it can be done by policy, by making life more secure for those without a college degree. Rebuilding trust is, obviously, the work of a generation. John Seiffer: “Yesterday you said ‘And then President Biden (or the applicable governor) should commute that sentence.’ Are you saying just because someone was in a position of power, if found to be guilty they should be spared jail time? If you’re saying something else please clarify.” → I was suggesting it only for the leader of the opposition party (whoever he or she may be at any give time). No one else. I was suggesting it to emphasize to the world that we are not a country who locks up (or poisons) the opposition. (But senators? CEO’s? attorneys general? Mike Flynn? — have at it!) My thought is that exposing the full truth and gaining conviction (if indeed a jury convicts) may be enough — in powerful contrast to the “lock her up” and “lock them up” (Obama and Biden) vision that animates today’s Republicans. GEORGIA Vote Tripling gets voters to pledge to persuade three other people they know to vote, a cost-effective means of increasing turnout. They are looking to close out their funding needs this week. To help with your time: click here.