“I’ve changed my perception of the lingering severity of race problems in this country,” French said. “I’ve absolutely changed on that, and a lot of that is due to a very, very distinct and personal experience. We adopted a child from Ethiopia. This might sound super naive, but when we adopted our youngest daughter, I did not have in my mind that she was going to come to my community and have a substantially different experience than our two older (white) kids. But by golly, did she have a substantially different experience. There was not a school that she went to where she wasn’t called the n-word.” (Watch below.)

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French claims he was “super naive,” but that suggests innocence, a lack of experience and wisdom. French’s insistence that his dark-complexioned daughter from Ethiopia would have the same experience in a far-right conservative Tennessee community as his very white daughters is willful ignorance, and his daughter paid the price for his adult education courses in remedial racism.

French’s daughter’s experiences are terrible but nothing novel for the average Black person in America. Anonymous thugs driving by in a truck and shouting the “n-word” at you is first day Racism 101. It’s not even exclusive to the South. It’s happened to me as an adult in Seattle.

David French is 57, and he was over 40 when he adopted his daughter in 2010. There’s no reason he wouldn’t know about the “lingering severity of race problems” in America. He just refused to believe and instead embraced the cherished conservative myth that racism ended after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech about his dreams. French wasn’t merely “naive” about race. He deliberately chose to ignore the work of prominent Black academics, journalists, stand-up comics, and hip-hop artists who documented ongoing racial issues, even after white people graciously let Barack Obama play with the presidency for a while.

French was snotty about it, as well: In 2015, Ta-Nehisi Coates published Between the World and Me, a collection of essays written as letters to his teenage son. French dismissed the work as “full of rage and even hate.” He responded in the National Review with “my own letter, written to my seven-year-old African-American daughter.” He recalls visiting New York with his daughter, who quickly noticed that cabs wouldn’t always stop for Black people.

You asked why the cab wouldn’t stop, and we told you that some cab drivers won’t stop for black people. Your response touched my heart. “Why won’t they stop for black people? I’m black!” It wasn’t the words, it was the look on your face — incredulous that someone wouldn’t want you in their cab. After all, you live in a world of love and warmth and kindness. In your deep-South home, the kids yell out your name when you walk down the hall at school. Your tutors greet you with undisguised delight each time they see you. Your day at home begins and ends with love. You are a delight, and the vast majority of people can’t help but smile when they see you.

French tells his daughter, with all the unwarranted confidence of a privileged white man, that she shouldn’t “give in” to racial anger, like Coates apparently has.

That self-serving treacle in the National Review pushed the standard conservative narratives about racism in America, as something that was definitively overcome and that exists squarely in the past. Sure, there are occasional glitches in the racial matrix but certainly nothing systemic, and anyone who argues otherwise, who draws a line from the institutional racism of the distant past to “minor” issues today are racial agitators.

Like far too many white people who adopt children of color, French promotes what I call the “Superman adoption theory.” Clark Kent from Smallville, Kansas, is morally superior to who “Kal-El” might have been on Krypton. The comics (and the most recent movie) hammer the point that Superman is the man and hero he his entirely because of his human upbringing. In the TV series Smallville, Jonathan Kent is openly bigoted toward Kryptonians, who he considers innately destructive. He insists what sets Clark apart is that “human beings with strong values” raised him.

Similarly, French doesn’t think his daughter has anything truly to gain from her “non-white” heritage. He always describes her race in superficial, cosmetic terms — her “beautiful brown skin” — that hold no deeper meaning. He rejects the notion that she’s part of a larger Black community or culture. “Good” people will ignore or see past her skin color. Of course, French’s daughter can’t wear “hypno-glasses” and fool people into thinking she’s white. She’s Black for every moment of her life.

French told NPR in 2018 that he and his wife loved the idea of adopting a child from a different country, of a different race … and then apparently raising her as if neither of those facts about her identity mattered. (Unlike Krypton, Ethiopia still exists and the nation’s excellent cuisine is readily available.) After publicly boasting about her daughter’s adoption, French chafed at the criticism he received.

FRENCH: The one that I think hit us a little harder was this sort of notion that you cannot be a good parent to an African-American child.

MARTIN: Because you’re white.

FRENCH: Exactly. And particularly if you’re politically conservative. You just cannot be a good parent. And we know and understand there are difficult identity issues in this country, but we reject utterly the notion that we cannot be good parents to our child because of those issues.

French denounced the “thoroughly unbiblical identity group-based world view that is in its own way as vile and race-based as its skinhead alternative — only it gets a respectful hearing in the academy and other leftist bastions.”

I do think the unsolicited messages French and his wife received from disapproving liberals went too far. No one should feel entitled to criticize a stranger’s family — even if they are relatively public figures. However, what’s interesting is that the Frenches obviously had never previously encountered any gentle push back from friends — most likely because they don’t have close liberal or Black friends. They live in an exclusive world of whiteness and privilege, which led to a restrictive “identity group-based world view.”

It’s not as if French and his wife don’t genuinely want what was best for their adopted daughter, but they were so attached to their own political and religious dogma, that they refused to consider that her identity might factor into what was best for her. Tennessee has a significant Black population, but it’s likely that there are very few Black people in French’s wealthy conservative community. There’s also a difference between, say, Vermont, where few Black people live, and a former Confederate state with a history of mandated racial segregation. You are setting up a child to feel constantly “othered,” and without the respite of a thriving Black community where she’d feel welcome. (French was a member of theocratic white nationalist George Grant’s church for years, which I don’t think is great for a Black child’s personal development.)

French is also a hypocrite on this issue. He thinks it’s racist to oppose transracial adoption, but he’s supported Christian adoption agencies rejecting gay couples. Apparently, that “identity-based world view” is biblical. He claims that gay couples suffer no real harm as they can adopt from a secular agency. Obviously, the Frenches could have adopted a white child who would have seamlessly fit into their lives. (I can’t imagine where the poor girl has her hair cut.)

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I experienced racism growing up in the rural South, but I knew my parents understood and had been through much worse. I’m sure French feels terrible for his daughter but he can’t empathize. There is likely no one in his intimate circle who can. That’s different from a gay or lesbian couple raising children of an opposite sex. If a gay couple’s daughter was sexually harassed on the street, there’s a reasonable chance someone in her life is a woman who can personally identify with what she endured.

I don’t question David French’s love for his daughter, but he might want to consider listening to some of those “angry” Black voices rather than lecturing them. He should try to see his daughter — not simply as an unfair world might — but as she truly is.

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Even many Trump voters believe the shooting was staged so he could finagle his big dumb ballroom, but it’s not a surprise that Trump voters believe dumb things. What is surprising are the number of otherwise normal liberals who have jumped on this conspiracy bandwagon.

It turns out that the WHCD shooting suspect reportedly shared social media posts that claimed the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, rally attempt on Trump’s life was also staged. He’s not alone in that delusion. A Manhattan Institute Survey revealed that 46 percent of the Democratic coalition believes “the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in July 2024 was orchestrated by his supporters to increase sympathy for him.”

Whenever someone offers an outlandish conspiracy theory, almost always without evidence, I find myself quoting the Robot Devil from Futurama: “Ah, my ridiculously circuitous plan is now one-quarter complete!” (Watch below.)

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Look, I can understand the allure of Trump-related conspiracies. No one should trust anything Trump says because he’s a liar who lies. However, Trump is also a coward who would never knowingly put his own life at risk, even for a self-serving purpose. Trump had already tried to steal the election once. He was fully prepared to try again, but he didn’t really have to even consider that contingency. Trump was consistently clobbering Joe Biden in the polls in July 2024. He was ahead in every swing state. Biden was the one who should’ve faked a sympathy-generating assassination attempt. Obviously, Biden would have never entertained this gross idea because he’s not evil or insane. Trump is both, but he’s also incredibly stupid and lacks the self-discipline to keep a surprise party secret, let alone a hoax of that level.

Yet, some liberal conspiracy theorists have an explanation for all this, as well. Someone commented on ’s piece about this subject: “Or, the secret service could find out about someone about to do something stupid and let them get *just* far enough to cause a stir. Trump is too fucking stupid to come up with anything that complex, but [Stephen] Miller is probably capable enough, and there’s no shortage of professional grifters and [conmen] in the regime.”

Ah, yes, the Secret Service — working in concert — would let a potential assassination advance just far enough for fun but stop in time before there were permanent consequences. This is apparently the Rhythm Method of assassination attempts.

Like Trump, Stephen Miller is also evil, insane, and stupid. He just has less visible hair. If he did mastermind the WHCD assassination attempt, he probably would have staged it so he didn’t look like a scared weasel hiding behind his pregnant wife and clinging to her breasts like they’re his personal flotation devices in case of an emergency.

It’s disappointing that 46 percent of Democrats believe the Butler Pennsylvania rally was staged. Let’s not forget — as Trump probably has — that an actual human being died at that rally. His family has to live with people suggesting he was a plant, who’s now in witness protection on the moon with Elvis. This nonsense makes liberals sound like Alex Jones ranting about Sandy Hook. It’s a “horseshoe theory” where everyone ends up a horse’s ass.

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Life is not an X-Files episode where convoluted conspiracies are actually real, and federal agents waste taxpayer funds investigating alien abductions and invisible elephants. Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) even consulted a trio of conspiracy theory “experts” known as the Lone Gunmen (a reference to conspiracies surrounding John F. Kennedy’s assassination). Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), my personal hero, correctly pegged these men as unstable cranks. (Watch below.)

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“Those were the most paranoid people I have ever met,” Scully later tells Mulder. “I don’t know how you could think that what they say is even remotely plausible … Did you see the way they answered the telephone? They probably think that every call that they get is monitored and they’re followed wherever they go. It’s a form of self-delusion. It makes them think that what they’re doing is important enough that somebody would.”

This speaks to the heart of what motivates most conspiracy theories — the idea that someone is special and clever enough to see through the false reality surrounding them. While that might make them an ideal candidate for release from the Matrix, in the real (?) world, it makes them susceptible to the most wackadoodle theories imaginable.

Scully points out a key irony about the Lone Gunmen — their anti-government posture promotes the myth that the U.S. government is actually competent.

“You give the government too much credit,” Scully patiently says. “The government can’t control a deficit. What makes you think they can plan an elaborate conspiracy?”

Ah, but the Lone Gunmen have an equally complex answer for this: “We’re not talking about a bunch of idiots up on the hill. We’re talking about a government within a government, controlling our every move.”

This “secret” government — much like advanced alien visitors — are somehow content to remain in the shadows, undetectable except for random clues that ultimately lead nowhere. It’s a variation of religious faith, and thus, logic can never counter these outlandish beliefs. The Lone Gunmen insist that a thin magnetic strip hidden within Scully’s $20 bill is a covert method for constant government surveillance. Scully responds that it’s an anti-counterfeiting measure, but her “theory” is too straightforward, too reasonable, for the Lone Gunmen to take seriously.

I admit that as a theatre person, I am somewhat flattered that people think paid actors could successfully stage these “false flag” operations. They are apparently well-rehearsed with significant room for improv. These actors are so committed to the work that they keep quiet about their “fake assassination/fake school shooting/fake moon landing” gigs. They’re delivering Meryl Streep-level performances but are never eligible for any critical acclaim, unless they are secret award shows for “false flag” productions: “I’d like to thank the CIA for believing in me and offering this rare opportunity to defraud the public.”

Years ago, I would have directly compared the Lone Gunman to QAnon conspiracy theorists but now the belief in elaborate conspiracies cross party lines. The consistent ideology here is “trust no one,” not even the facts.

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Conway was among the first generation of “fans turned pro.” When he was 13, he had a letter published in 1966’s Fantastic Four No. 50, the climax of the first Galactus story. Three years later, his first professional comic book script was published in DC Comics’s House of Secrets No. 81.

He was not yet 21 when he wrote the revolutionary 1973 Amazing Spider-Man story arc in which the Green Goblin murders Peter Parker’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy. It’s impossible to even imagine a Superman comic from the same month where Lex Luthor kills Lois Lane … permanently, no hoax or imaginary story.

The Goblin, who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man, has kidnapped Gwen and taken her to the George Washington Bridge (though it’s drawn like the Brooklyn Bridge). When the Goblin knocks her off the bridge, Spidey catches her with a web line but the sudden stop snaps her neck, killing her instantly. Obviously, that’s what would have happened in real life but normally, comic book physics would prevail. Not this time.

The Goblin taunts a grief-stricken Spider-Man, while simultaneously exonerating him: “Romantic idiot! She was dead before your webbing reached her. A fall from that height would kill anyone before they struck the ground.” Of course, the sneaky “SNAP!” sound effect on the preceding page tells a grimmer story.

Holding Gwen’s lifeless body, Spider-Man vows revenge in the final page of issue No. 121, “Turning Point.” Readers at the time might’ve thought he’d actually cross that line. All bets were off. The Goblin would meet his well-deserved end in the next issue, but it’s not at the hands of our hero but the Goblin’s own glider, which impales him through the chest when Spider-Man avoids Goblin’s final sinister move.

I dare say that “The Death of Gwen Stacy” is how the Green Goblin became Spider-Man’s greatest enemy. It’s probably why Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man faced the Goblin before Doctor Octopus. The first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie in 2002 adapted the final showdown with the Goblin but replaced Gwen Stacy with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) who survives the experience. The Goblin, however, is still hoist by his own petard. (Watch below.)

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Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) from the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies doesn’t avoid her comic-book fate. Discount Green Goblin shoves her off a clock tower in Amazing Spider-Man 2, and when Spider-Man tries to catch her with a web line, comic-book physics once again fails him.

Garfield’s Peter will later have a chance to redeem himself for this failure when he saves MJ (Zendaya) in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

If Gwen Stacy’s (permanent) death and the Goblin’s (alas, temporary) extinction were all Gerry Conway had contributed to comics, it would still be a significant legacy, but Conway also co-created the Punisher, Firestorm, Power Girl, Jason Todd (the second Robin), Ms. Marvel (the first one), and the villain Killer Croc. At the age of 23, he wrote the equally revolutionary Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man crossover special.

Conway is also credited with “Marvelizing” Batman — introducing ongoing subplots, more complex characters, and gritty realism long before Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Conway’s Batman run with artist Gene Colan is moody and noir-ish. We even get vampire Batman!

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Spring has fully arrived. If you haven’t already, please consider taking advantage of my “Spring Fling” subscription sale — 40 percent off the usual annual paid subscriber rate. That’s just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently.

I wrote about Cory Booker and his fire-and-brimstone politics.

People keep trying to kill Trump. I unpack why.

Do Democrats need to run on an “all-anger” platform?

I explore how Trump lost control of the mob that was never actually in his control in the first place.

The absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley turns 80 today.

That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.

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Democrats have consistently overperformed in almost every election held after Trump returned to the White House. They’ve flipped 30 legislative seats since 2025, while Republicans have flipped exactly zero. This month, Wisconsin liberals expanded their majority on the state Supreme Court, and Democrat Alicia Halvensleben won an upset mayoral victory in Waukesha, a GOP stronghold.

Trump is not someone who deserves or even rewards loyalty, as Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi can tell you from underneath the nearest bus. He’s unhinged and unstable. His overall approval during his second term have been in free fall. He’s currently sitting at 38 percent with little potential for improvement.

Republicans could end this nightmare tomorrow and remove Trump from office, which would be in their own self-interest. But Republicans facing tough elections in November aren’t even distancing themselves from an unpopular president, as Republicans did 20 years ago with George W. Bush. They are doubling down in their attachment to Trump, as if his approval ratings matched Bill Clinton’s in the late 1990s.

The common explanation is that Trump maintains an iron-clad grip on the party’s base. Although Trump’s support has shrunk to just his most devoted followers, the MAGA mob exists in its own reality, and while small in number, their might is felt most in GOP primaries.

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There is also the not-so-subtle threat of violence against anyone who strays from the MAGA path. Former Rep. Peter Meijer revealed in The Atlantic that a fellow Republican House member claimed he couldn’t vote to certify Joe Biden’s victory because he literally feared for this life. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowsi admitted last year that “we are all afraid … I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real.”

The MAGA mob has repeatedly saved Trump from political ruin. Most notably, weeks before the 2016 election, the Washington Post released audio of Trump bragging to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush about how his fame and power let him do whatever he wanted to women, specifically “grab ‘em by the pussy.” Republicans swiftly denounced and abandoned Trump — a stark difference from how they respond now to his latest scandal. Yet, they just as quickly returned to the fold when it was clear that Trump’s diehard supporters — including women! — were sticking with him.

After January 6, Trump was personally radioactive, but within a few weeks, then-GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss his ring. Trump maintained the MAGA mob’s support and McCarthy felt he needed Trump’s backing to become speaker.

This is why many Democrats and disaffected former Republicans insist Trump is the primary driver of the GOP’s seeming madness, but a closer examination reveals that while Trump might appear at the head of this dangerous mob, that doesn’t mean he fully controls it. For instance, although McCarthy surrendered his dignity to Trump for the speaker’s gavel, Trump’s endorsement alone wasn’t enough to pacify the mob. Many MAGA hardliners openly resisted Trump’s appeals on McCarthy’s behalf, and McCarthy endured 15 rounds of failed votes before making humiliating concessions to them. When the mob later turned on McCarthy, Trump was unable to protect him and McCarthy’s speaker tenure ended after a historically brief nine months.

Trump’s limited influence over the MAGA mob was most obvious when it came to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump spent months demanding that his supporters forget the deceased pedophile ever existed, but the MAGA cult wouldn’t budge. Trump posted a flop-sweat-drenched Truth Social message defending his since-discarded attorney general, who’d tried to bury the case for him.

What’s going on with my “boys” and, in some cases, “gals?” They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and “selfish people” are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again.

The Epstein scandal also delivered what amounts to Trump’s biggest political loss. He’d actively pressured Republicans to vote against releasing the Epstein files, but MAGA hardliners, including Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene andNancy Mace, rejected his increasingly desperate personal appeals. Facing a humiliating defeat from his own party, Trump suddenly announced that he was “urging” Republicans to vote for the release of the Epstein files. It had the same energy as a misbehaving child “ordering” his parents to send him to bed without dessert.

Trump posted on social media, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.” (He’d literally just yelled at Greene that his “friends would get hurt” if the files were released.) “And it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’.”

Greene’s rebellion greatly wounded Trump’s massive ego, and he repeatedly denounced the former congresswoman as a “traitor.” Greene is hardly a good actor, but her defiance of Trump shows that she considers herself loyal to a larger cause (albeit a terrible one) but she’s not blindly loyal to the president. This clearly confuses a malignant narcissist like Trump.

The Epstein debacle is particularly revealing because, for obvious personal reasons, it’s a rare instance of Trump digging in his heels on a position that’s clearly in opposition to what MAGA loudly demands. He usually has a talent for barking loudly enough so that no one immediately notices that the base’s tail is wagging the top dog. Another example is the covid pandemic. By April 2020, MAGA had started to revolt against most covid mitigation measures as unendurable restrictions on their freedom. Soon, Trump was egging them on, at great risk to public health. When right-wing protesters railed against Democratic governors’ stay-at-home orders, Trump tweeted on April 17: “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA.”

He even resisted wearing a mask publicly, where his supporters could see him. He also played coy about receiving the life-saving covid vaccine — perhaps the one objectively good achievement from his entire first term. Trump admitted to Fox News’s Bret Baier in 2023 that he doesn’t like to talk about the vaccine “because, as a Republican, it’s not a great thing to talk about.” Trump probably still bore the psychic scars from when he was booed at a 2021 rally in Alabama when he suggested that supporters get vaccinated.

The Republican Senate runoff in Texas has also highlighted Trump’s fecklessness. After Democrat James Talarico decisively beat Rep. Jasmine Crockett, thus avoiding a runoff, Trump demanded an immediate end to the Republican Senate primary. He said he’d ask whichever candidate he didn’t endorse to drop out of the race. At the time, it was speculated he would endorse John Cornyn, throwing the incumbent senator a much-neeed lifeline. However, Ken Paxton made it clear that he wouldn’t drop out. Worse, polls showed that Trump’s endorsement held little sway, and there was a very good chance Cornyn would lose the runoff even with Trump’s endorsement. Trump’s ego apparently couldn’t take that risk, so he declined to endorse anyone. Now, Paxton’s lead continues to grow. Despite Trump’s face-saving comments to the contrary, Talarico is not an easy opponent to beat, and Texas Republicans are sweating the possibility that Talarico could flip the seat.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, “I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.” The audience applauded, but Trump might not have fully appreciated that such “retribution” was one-sided. Trump is MAGA’s tool, through the awesome powers of the presidency, to inflict harm upon everyone MAGA fears and resents. That doesn’t necessarily mean Trump can successfully weaponize MAGA against anyone he feels has wronged him.

For a while, it did seem otherwise. Only two of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after January 6 survived their next primaries. Yet, lately Trump’s had mixed results directing the mob’s rage toward his perceived enemies. Trump never forgave Sen. Bill Cassidy for supporting his 2021 impeachment, so even after Cassidy, an actual doctor, shamelessly cast the deciding vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services, Trump enthusiastically endorsed his primary challenger Rep. Julia Letlow. That didn’t prove a knock out blow, though, and Cassidy could still make it to the runoff.

Trump has made it his business to oust Rep. Thomas Massie, who led the Epstein rebellion, but the base isn’t listening. Recent polls show Massie leading his Trump-backed primary opponent. This further shows that the MAGA base isn’t Trump’s personal weapon of mass destruction but simply a mob whose passions he can inflame. He appears in control but only when their interests align, as they did after January 6.

The more Trump seems to lose whatever illusory hold he has over MAGA, the more he publicly crashes out. It’s almost amusing to watch. He’s spending his days before midterms bashing once-loyal allies who dare question his disastrous and unpopular Iran war. He’s posted bonkers rants on social media:

I know why Tucker, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, & Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon — bc they have one thing in common, Low IQs. They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too! Look at their past, look at their record. They don’t have what it takes, and they never did!

Yes, this is the president of the United States. You can imagine the Batman villain Bane asking Trump, “Do you feel in charge?”

To the extent that MAGA is a cult, Trump is not the undisputed cult leader. It’s more apt to say that MAGA is a political Frankenstein monster that Trump didn’t even bother to build himself. He just set it loose. Sometimes it listen to him, but increasingly, it does not.

After a devastating midterm, perhaps Republicans will realize that it’s the MAGA mob alone they need to fear and flatter. Trump is merely the middle man they might learn to do without, but the mob itself remains a threat to all of us.

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Considering how pissed off most voters are right now, political writer Nick Fields posted last week on social media, “In retrospect, Kamala’s Joy Campaign was a mistake, the 2028 Democratic nominee needs to be angry. JD Vance surely will be angry.”

JD Vance is a singularly repulsive figure, and I’m not sure it makes sense for Democrats to take their cues from him. I agree that a joy-centric campaign might have been a problem for Harris as the sitting vice president for an unpopular incumbent. She couldn’t really do “hope and change.” However, anger wouldn’t have worked any better. Anger doesn’t elections.

Now, it wouldn’t make sense to pretend that Americans aren’t angry, but we need more than anger to escape our current MAGA prison.

In Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, the villain Bane (Tom Hardy) defeats Batman (Christian Bale) and imprisons him in a dismal hell hole through a set of actions arguably more legal than Trump’s mass deportations.

“There’s a reason why this prison is the worst hell on earth,” Bane explains to a broken Bruce Wayne, “Hope.” Is there a better description of the American experiment under Trump? (Watch below.)

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“Every man who has rotted here over the centuries has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom,” Bane says. “So easy ... So simple ... And like shipwrecked men turning to sea water from uncontrollable thirst, many have died trying. I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope.”

We can probably all relate to this. We hope that we can escape Trump, but we’re not certain Democrats can make the leap. Will focus-group-driven fear shackle them to misplaced notions of “bipartisanship” and “norms”?

Most liberals now are like the shattered Bruce Wayne. We’re slowly recovering and preparing for our escape. Like Wayne, we insist that we’re not afraid. We’re angry.(Watch below.)

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Bruce Wayne’s anger is passionate, fueled by conviction. He doesn’t come off as scolding, which is a problem for politicians, especially on the left, when their anger is conveyed through lectures and sermons. No one wants to follow someone who’s so consumed by anger that they reject any expression of joy. These are the dreary “anti-brunch” progressives or the John Lithgow from Footloose types who flipped out over Mallory McMorrow dancing in public.

Anger was a theme in the 1992, 2008, and 2020 elections but it wasn’t the base note. Democrats nominated candidates in those cycles who presented as more affable than their closest rival. That’s in part because voters, like most normal people, don’t like angry. It’s draining and not particularly motivating. Although false hope is a prison, Democrats should still offer true hope that life can improve. It’s OK to have brunch and dance or to basically enjoy yourself as a woman (far too many men on the left have an issue with this).

Liberals will likely argue that Trump’s campaigns were only rooted in anger. That’s true to a point, but his hate rallies were joyful celebrations in their perverse way. They offered a twisted sort of hope for a world where MAGA full thuggery was unleashed. After the 2024 election, some Trump voters expressed their delight that they could use the “r-word” slur without any “woke” backlash.

Most liberals aren’t sociopaths so they don’t get a thrill from how they will oppress and marginalize other people. At worst, they are more likely to revert to professional “deliverism” — how their policies will improve people’s lives whether they like it or not.

In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne eventually realizes that fear and anger are intertwined, and he must embrace his fear, not reject it.

Bruce Wayne: I fear dying in here, while my city burns, and there’s no one there to save it.

Blind Prisoner: Then make the climb!

Bruce Wayne: How?

Blind Prisoner: As the child did. Without the rope. Then fear will find you again

He’s finally able to escape his prison when he’s willing to make the impossible leap without the security of a rope that only grounds him. He’ll either escape or die trying. There is no safe, sensible center. A terrified Bruce Wayne makes the jump, and a restored Batman climbs out of the pit. (Watch below.)

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You can argue that the 2016 and 2024 campaigns very much channeled legitimate fears about a Trump presidency. Why wasn’t that enough to make the leap? But fear alone is only weakness without conviction, without the passion that anger can fuel. Still, fear and anger combined can’t prevail without hope.

When I saw Stevie Nicks this year at Jazz Fest, she ended her set with the Fleetwood Mac classic “Don’t Stop,” which if you were alive at the time, as I was, you’ll remember as the official song for Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. The lyrics urge you to never stop “thinking about tomorrow” because “yesterday’s gone.”

“If your life was bad to you. Just think what tomorrow will do.”

This is a song that obviously inspires hope, not anger. Barack Obama had many songs during his 2008 presidential campaign, but at the end of the Democratic National Convention, they played “Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours.” It’s an interesting choice, as it’s about a man who strayed but realizes he made a mistake and returns to his love to ask her forgiveness: “Then that time I went and said goodbye. Now I'm back and not ashamed to cry.” He admits he’s “done a lot of foolish things,” but he submits to her mercy: “You got my future in your hands. Here I am, baby.” The hope is in its humility. That’s also far more powerful than anger.

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No, I am content to wait for natural causes to take Trump away like Calgon. Ideally, it’s after a debilitating stroke that leaves his face misshapen and sagging and reduces his speech to random nonsense phrases. That should fatally damage his strongman image, but Trump is kind of like this already and his more cultish followers haven’t abandoned him. (Watch below.)

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Those same sycophants have taken to social media to complain that the amorphous left irrationally hates Trump. Some have pointed out there there were no assassination attempts against Democratic presidents, which would be an interesting observation if it were at all true.

Former President Barack Obama was the target of at least 11 serious assassination attempts. The threats against him were so great he was the first presidential candidate to receive Secret Service protection early. He received 400 percent more death threats than George W. Bush, who had shoes thrown at him.

Some of the worst Obama assassination attempts include a 2008 plot by three men — one of whom literally had the surname “Adolf” — to shoot Obama from a high vantage point during his Democratic National Convention acceptance speech. That same year, two white supremacists in Tennessee were arrested for planning a racist murder spree that would’ve climaxed with killing Obama. The goons claimed they would have dressed in all-white (obviously) tuxedos and worn top hats while driving their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama and shooting at him from the windows.

A North Carolina man was indicted for threatening to execute Obama with a sniper rifle in the summer of 2008. A neo-Nazi in Maine planned to make a “dirty bomb” to execute Obama before he could take office in 2009, but the neo-Nazi’s abused wife killed him in December 2008. Good for her.

Of course, the threats didn’t end when Obama took office, and we shouldn’t forget that Donald Trump personally pushed a racist conspiracy theory that Obama was an illegitimate president with a fake birth certificate — the very sort of slander that likely fueled even more threats on his life.

When Trump was considering a presidential run as early as 2010, his support was concentrated among the far-right loons who believed Obama was foreign-born, Muslim, or both (he is neither). Trump’s former “fixer” Michael Cohen urged the National Enquirer to openly question Obama’s citizenship and faith. There’s a popular narrative that Trump was just a racist crank who Obama provoked into running for president after making fun of him at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. That’s perverse victim-blaming, as the facts clearly show that Trump had always planned on building his political career off the racist backlash to Obama’s presidency.

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that after Obama’s inauguration, further plots and attempts to assassinate the first Black president escalated in tandem with the birther conspiracy.

In November 2011, a gunman fired multiple shots from a semi-automatic rifle at the White House. One round broke a window, but fortunately the Obamas weren’t at the residence. In 2012, five Georgia men, members of the terrorist “FEAR” militia, plotted to assassinate Obama. In 2012, a Mississippi man sent poison-laced letters to Obama and other officials. In 2015, three New York men were charged in another terrorist plot to kill Obama. In 2016, a Korean man posted letters on the White House web site that threatened to kill the U.S. ambassador to South Korea and rape Obama’s youngest daughter, Sasha, who was 14 at the time.

The threats didn’t end once Obama left office, and there’s probably a direct link to his successor posting unhinged social media rants accusing him of treason. In 2023, a January 6 rioter was arrested near Obama’s Washington D.C. home after posting threats online. He’d shown up with weapons and bomb-making materials.

However, MAGA presumably thinks all these incidents were part of a massive hoax orchestrated by the Southern Poverty Law Center. How else do you explain the gaslighting comments from Republicans that insult our intelligence and disrespect our short-term memories.

Actor Patricia Heaton (who was good on The Middle) posted on social media after Trump’s measly third assassination attempt, “I wasn’t happy when Clinton, Obama or Biden won, but I didn’t call them fascist/dangerous/threat to democracy. I didn’t hope someone would assassinate them. I went on with my life with gratitude. Friends on the left, please try this. Your life and our country will be better.”

So, I don’t know what Heaton specifically said about past Democratic presidents, but we do know that Republicans in general weren’t so sanguine. There’s video footage and everything. Even now, Republicans struggle to state on the record that Biden legitimately won the 2020 election. Former Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn called Biden an “inept geriatric despot” on the House floor. During the 2016 Republican primary, Marco Rubio often insisted that Obama was deliberately trying to harm America.

Heaton’s argument is also classic false equivalency. It’s like a German complaining in 1955 that they never called FDR a “threat to democracy” or a “tyrant” but Americans were deeply critical of the German leader of the same period. That’s not a fair comparison, though, as Germans are far more capable of self-reflection and genuine remorse than MAGA.

Whatever your personal feelings are about old men, Black people, and adulterous blow job receivers, Biden, Obama, and Clinton were not fascists, dangerous, or active threats to democracy. They never tried to overthrow the government, as Trump did.

Trump doesn’t just govern in opposition to the wishes of half the nation. He has actively waged war against “liberal America.” He has never even pretended he’s the president for the entire United States. He’s the ruler of an overwhelmingly white sub-nation that seeks to subdue the country’s racially diverse urban centers. He’s attacked Democratic-run states and cities with both economic and violent force. He’s withheld necessary federal disaster aid from Democratic-run states. He’s sent his armed goons into Democratic cities, which led to the un-prosecuted murders of two U.S. citizens. In contrast, Barack Obama expanded health care access for millions of Americans, and Joe Biden was very old.

There is no justification for political violence, but there’s also no rational provocation to violence just because a Black man and an Elderly American were elected president. Trump however steeps in violence and division like harsh and bitter tea. He’s like the villain in the Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Speckled Band. The sinister Dr. Grimesby Roylott wants to get his two stepdaughters out of the way so he can have their mother’s inheritance all to himself. He successfully murders one by luring a venomous swamp adder — the titular “speckle band” — into her bed while she sleeps. Fortunately, Holmes foils the attempt on the second stepdaughter: He strikes at the bell cord the adder uses to enter her bed, and the angered snake returns to Roylott’s room and kills him. (Good for the snake.)

Finding Roylott’s dead body with the adder curled around his forehead, Holmes says, “Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another.” (Below is a clip from the Jeremy Brett TV adaptation.)

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Perhaps Trump is destined to meet a violent end. If he does, it’s certainly not because any Democrat or journalist correctly identified his many offenses against common decency. He’s boasted that “the people that make the biggest impact, they're the ones that they go after.” These assassination attempts only feed his insatiable ego, and it’s why I prefer a disgraced, humiliated Trump to a martyred one. He must survive to see a world where we’re finally free of him.

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at explored Booker’s sentiments and explained why it wasn’t a compelling political message. However, I think Booker’s sermon reflects a disturbing “religious-political fundamentalism” within the Democratic Party. (Watch below.)

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The Present Age

The Scolding

Cory Booker gave a speech at the Michigan Democratic Women’s Caucus luncheon over the weekend, and in the days since, a clip of it has pulled in nearly 10,000 likes and more than five million views on an X account called “best of kamala harris.” A lot of people are watching. A lot of them seem to think Booker is finally telling it like it is…

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10 days ago · 129 likes · 31 comments · Parker Molloy

“I saw it with Kamala Harris,” Booker testified. “Too many people that say I don’t agree with her on everything. I mean, 90 out of 100 I agree with her. But those 10 I can’t do it. Well, you may disagree with her on 10% of her views but you let someone get in office who you disagree with on everything. You let somebody get in office who was locking up our children. You let somebody in office who’s taking away our health care. You let somebody in office who’s taking away workers’ rights. You let somebody in office who got rid of the Department of Education.”

Booker blames his own congregation for the Devil’s actions. Adam and Eve ate that apple so now women have painful childbirth and men have that little thing in our throats (Adam must have had a better lawyer.) Booker doesn’t hold Trump solely responsible, as he should, and it’s not as if Booker himself has stood firm against Trump’s regime. He’s voted to confirm some of his nominees, including Marco Rubio.

Notice that Booker says, “I’m calling it like it is!” — suggesting he’s a harsh truth teller like Donald Trump or Bill Maher but, like both men, he’s simply reinforcing pleasing narratives for his audience. Booker is confident that not a single person in the crowd doesn’t want to hear what he’s saying. They are delighted to hear him call out the sins of others. They are like the pious members of a church congregation who tingle with delight at every barb flung from the pulpit because they feel the true target is their neighbor.

What makes Booker’s remarks a tedious sermon and not a particularly inspiring political speech is that there is zero persuasion. Politics exist in the Mad Men world where clever ad executives convince people that a brand of soda is clearly different and superior to its competitors with appeals to emotion and invocations of nostalgia. (Watch below.)

“Advertising is based on one thing: happiness,” Don Draper (Jon Hamm) tells his clients. “And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK.”

Effective politics is a form of advertising that sells happiness. One could argue that a founding principle of the MAGA movement has been telling people who are afraid of the future, of social change, that whatever they’re doing is OK. It’s a negative message wrapped within a superficially positive package: “You are OK.”

If you talk to most liberals, they’ll express their contempt for this sort of messaging — especially when directed toward the dominant culture in America. This is because an increasing number of Democrats, like Cory Booker, fundamentally don’t believe that not voting for Democrats is a valid or moral choice. This makes persuasion unnecessary, a form of blasphemy. It’s not up to the church to change to keep the faithful from straying. Most ministers don’t feel as if they have to sell you on not serving Satan. Religion hasn’t failed the people who willingly lead godless lives. No, it’s the sinners who failed when they refused to embrace God.

This issue is not exclusive to centrists, either. The far-left is filled with political snake handlers who can’t accept anyone disagrees with them for legitimate reasons. Their opponents’ devil are corporations and billionaires. They insist everyone will support universal health care once they are “saved.”

Even the concept of “original sin” can apply to certain liberal rhetoric: People (well certain demographics, at least) are born inherently flawed and imperfect. Redemption only comes through embracing Christ or taking the appropriate anti-racist training. But someone can’t simply join the church without publicly confessing their sins as the congregation stands in judgement.

“How do we become born again?” Billy Graham once wrote. “By repenting of sin. That means we are willing to change our way of living. We say to God, ‘I’m a sinner, and I’m sorry.’ It’s simple and childlike.”

That’s what many liberals demand of “fallen” Americans who didn’t vote for Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton. The “fallen” must admit that their decisions weren’t just wrong, but informed by racism and sexism. They listened to the Devil on Fox News or TikTok. Anyone who voted for Trump but has now soured on him can’t be trusted unless they accept the damage they’ve willingly inflicted on everyone. Repentance must be total and all-consuming, like that scene from There Will Be Blood. (Watch below.)

Coca-Cola doesn’t care why Pepsi drinkers are considering making a change. They just welcome any new customers with open arms. MAGA tends to do this, as well. They don’t care about what former such as Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and future defector John Fetterman once believed. All that matters is where they stand today. It’s what makes cults successful.

Of course, MAGA, like its mad king, is notoriously without shame, but that doesn’t mean Democrats should trade in shame. “I am a sinner!” is what far too many liberals want to hear, but like Nietzsche, I distrust those in whom the urge to punish is strong.

A political party is not a house of worship. The winning coalitions for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden contained true saints but also unrepentant sinners. Your motivations might determine whether you enter heaven, but they don’t matter when casting a ballot. Cory Booker’s sermon reveals a tremendous disconnect about how politics work. Politicians serve the people, not the other way around.

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Jazz Fest is a different vibe but worth it when you go with friends. There’s a lot of classic, old-school jazz to find, sometimes in climate-controlled tents with seats for the middle-aged. Last night, my friend and I saw Jazz Tent headliner Monty Alexander, who ended his performance with a version of the James Bond theme.

Saturday, Stevie Nicks plays on the main stage, which I can’t miss. Sunday, I’ll have to choose between Rod Stewart, David Byrne, and The Isley Brothers. Yes, that’s harder than you might think.

Wednesday night, I drank red absinthe at a French Quarter speakeasy with my wife and best friend. We’d just been on a walking tour where we’d discussed the infamous LaLaurie mansion.

I first heard about Delphine LaLaurie on a New Orleans ghost tour in 2007. LaLaurie was a 19th Century sadist and socialite (not an unusual combination at the time) who tortured enslaved people for her sick pleasure.

Delphine and her third husband, Louis LaLaurie, threw fancy parties for other wealthy people in their estate on Royal Street. On April 1834, her party was interrupted when a fire broke out on the premises. She reportedly took the party out onto the street, where the wine continued to flow, until the fire department arrived. Rescuers discovered an enslaved old woman chained to the stove in the kitchen. New Orleans had fairly “progressive” laws about enslavement — such as, you can keep people as slaves but you can’t chain them to the stove. It’s just not done.

Even among enslavers, LaLaurie was notoriously awful. She had nine enslaved people taken from her because of how she abused them, but she purchased them again through an intermediary. She didn’t just keep her elderly cook chained to the stove. She prevented others from feeding her.

The enslaved woman had set the fire deliberately, a perilous decision but a desperate one that exposed the depths of LaLaurie’s evil.

The fire fighters discovered a dozen enslaved people in a secret room, chained to the wall in a horrible condition. Some were strapped to makeshift operating tables, others were confined in cages intended for dogs. Human body parts littered the floor. Severed heads were stuffed in buckets, and human organs were stacked on shelves.

The New Orleans Bee reported that some women “ had their stomachs sliced open and their insides wrapped about their waists. One woman had her mouth stuffed with animal excrement and then her lips were sewn shut.”

The men were in even worse condition if you can imagine, which I don’t recommend. The prisoners were all tortured in ways to prevent a quick death. Some cried in pain when discovered and begged to be out of their misery.

Delphine LaLaurie fled New Orleans and any justice in this world. She died in exile in Paris, but that’s not what I’d consider a punishment.

The LaLaurie mansion stands today, having changed owners so often, it’s considered cursed. Nic Cage once owned the estate before losing it to bankruptcy.

Of course, the enslaved who LaLaurie tortured and killed were actual human beings. The murders were enabled by an oppressive system where the wealthy behave as if above even the most paltry rules of conduct. The mansion should stand as a public museum that documents this horrible history, a solemn place where the victims’ descendants in particular could connect with their past. Instead, it’s just another hunting lodge for rich weirdos.

Spring is here, though in New Orleans, it feels more like straight-up summer. If you haven’t already, please consider taking advantage of my “Spring Fling” subscription sale — 40 percent off the usual annual paid subscriber rate. That’s just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently.

Before I split town, I wrote about Dave Chappelle and how he’s apparently horrified to discover that anti-trans Republicans have weaponized his bigoted anti-trans “jokes.”

Prince left the physical plane 10 years ago on Tuesday.

Vice President JD Vance is on a glide path to the 2028 GOP presidential nomination — the ultimate booby prize.

and returned for Part 2 of our discussion about The Bulwark and politics in general. Enjoy.

That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.

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Steward and Evan return for Part Two of our discussion about The Bulwark, the Never Trump movement, and who controls the Democratic Party narrative. Enjoy! And go check out Steward and Evan’s substacks, and .

Certain Thoughts

Reality Checking the Bulwark – Episode 5

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, The Bulwark matters. We value and respect their prominent position in the pro-democracy movement. Yet despite their success, the Bulwark advises on politics from a point of view so ideologically blinkered that it puts the entire movement at risk…

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a month ago · 16 likes · 6 comments · Evan Stern and Steward Beckham

Certain Thoughts

Reality Checking the Bulwark – Episode 7

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, The Bulwark matters. We value and respect their prominent position in the pro-democracy movement. Yet despite their success, the Bulwark advises on politics from a point of view so ideologically blinkered that it puts the entire movement at risk…

Listen now

a month ago · 16 likes · Evan Stern and Steward Beckham

Some Highlights From Our Conversation

Why Democrats shouldn’t choose political expediency over useful action.

Steward explains why conceding right-wing narratives and framing, especially regarding U.S. cities, is part of a broken Democratic Party playbook.

Evan discusses the now almost decade-long smear campaign against Rep. Ilhan Omar.

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Just look at this dismal crowd! When I attended UGA in the early to mid 1990s, you could find more conservatives at the local gay club, Boneshakers.

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There was still enough people present to heckle Vance, which probably occurs wherever he goes, including his own home. (Watch below.)

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Vance demonstrated his usual political savvy when he picked a fight with Pope Leo XIV, who said that true followers of Christ are “never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.” Vance, who officially converted to Catholicism in 2019 when Old Town Road topped the charts, now believes he can challenge the literal pope on Biblical meaning.

“Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis?” Vance asked, initiating his own sociopathic dialogue with an absent Pope Leo. “I certainly think the answer is yes.”

I’m not sure God was on anyone’s side in World War II considering that he apparently stood on the sidelines as Hitler’s goons murdered six million Jews, including children, but God works in mysterious ways or — in JD Vance’s case — while dead-ass drunk. I think Pope Leo likely means that God sides with those who never seek to wield the sword and drop bombs, who find other methods.

Nonetheless, Vance warned that Pope Leo “needs to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.” Even Republican Senate Leader John Thune thought that was a bit much: “Isn’t that [the pope’s] job?” Thune said. “I’d stay focused on… the economic issues, pocketbook issues that most Americans care about. And let the church be the church.”

It’s no wonder Pope Leo is more popular than both Vance and Trump. According to CNN pollster Harry Enten, Pope Leo’s net popularity rating is +34 points and Trump’s is -12 points. Vance is the least popular vice president in history, and this includes Dan Quayle. He’s 18 points underwater. American Catholics mostly agree with the pope about the Iran War, but the war still has higher approval that Vance and Trump. I presume this is because Pope Leo can order doughnuts correctly.

Vance is so unpopular and so terrible at both the logistical and human aspects of politics that it’s believed his career has “peaked” at the vice presidency, which is still pretty good for a 41-year-old who served barely two years in the Senate before Trump picked him out of a political bubble-gum machine.

The Financial Times suggests that “after a series of setbacks, the vice-president is no longer Trump’s obvious successor.” I disagree. I think the couch fucker’s ideally suited to succeed an incumbent president whose approval rating is currently below syphillis. Trump is leading the GOP off an electoral cliff. Democrats have consistently outperformed in every special election since Trump slithered back into the White House. The upcoming midterm elections look like a disaster for Republicans, and there’s no reason to think that it won’t be the same or worse in 2028.

During his half-a-keg gathering at UGA, Vance tried to blame the nation’s lousy economic condition on Joe Biden, who hasn’t been president for more than a year. Polls show that no one’s buying the scapegoat routine. Smearing Biden helped Trump and Republicans reclaim the White House in 2024, but they can only pull that trick once. Anyone paying attention knows Trump is solely responsible for torching an economy that was steadily improving under Biden. Trump has even made history as the first president who voters can fairly blame for rising gas prices.

Vance has tried to distance himself Trump’s most catastrophic mistakes, particularly the Iran War. His team clearly leaked self-serving background to the press about how Vance was “skeptical” of the war, which might explain why Trump saddled him with a prominent, public role in the Iraq War that blew up in his stupid round face.

No, JD Vance fully owns this administration’s nightmare record, which is why any Republican with presidential ambitions will sit out 2028 and let Vance carry Trump’s weighted anchor. Thus, Vance will probably “win” the same Monkey’s Paw presidential nomination that Kamala Harris received in 2024.

After withdrawing from the race in July 2024, Biden told Fox News’ Paul Doocy that he didn’t think Harris would distance herself from his economic policies. That turned out to be the case, and whether it was misguided loyalty or simple lack of imagination, it was a fatal error. Vance isn’t troubled by loyalty or scruple, but Trump would never let him escape his shadow. Trump, if regrettably still alive during the 2028 election, would probably trash any Republican candidate who didn’t suitably praise him as the greatest president who ever existed, but as the sitting vice president, Vance is the most vulnerable to those body blows.

Even if JD Vance’s approval dips below kidney stones the size of basketballs, I don’t think there are many Republicans who will seriously challenge him. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Better to lay low, let Vance get pantsed, and then start working to sabotage the incoming Democratic president. Unfortunately, that trick does work more than once.

When Democrats are in power, Republicans operate as almost a separate government from a hostile nation. Democratic attempts to govern in good faith are constantly undermined. That’s what the next Democratic president will face unless they figure out how to flip the script. If Democrats prevail in 2028, they will inherit Trump’s dystopian dumpster fire, and Republicans will immediately start blaming them for everything that’s still wrong. Meanwhile, the Jill Stein set will blame Democrats for not fixing everything immediately, as if the next president could just blow up the Master’s Paradox Machine and magically rewind the past four years so that they never happened.

Of course, the worst thing that could happen for Republicans (and liberal democracy) is that Vance actually wins because Democrats stupidly nominate someone who makes Mike Dukakis look like Barack Obama. That’s a doom loop we need to break.

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However, there was a clear sociopolitical theme in his work if you looked closely. Prince was not especially subtle. That was part of his charm. In 1980’s “Partyup,” he sings, “That Army bag, such a double drag,” before stating more aggressively, “Fighting war is such a fucking bore.” The song ends with the repeated chant — ironically, not unlike a military cadence: “You’re gonna have to fight your own damn war. ‘Cause we don’t wanna fight no more. I said we don't wanna fight no more (gonna have to fight your own damn war). ‘Cause we don’t wanna FIGHT NO MORE!” (Listen below.)

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Earlier in the song, Prince offers the boastful lament, “I don’t wanna die. I just wanna have a bloody good time.” This reflects an almost nihilistic hedonism, which is found in much of his early work. In 1981’s “Controversy,” Prince says, “People call me rude. I wish we were all nude. I wish there was no black and white. I wish there were no rules.” That’s paired with the direct political appeal of “Ronnie Talk To Russia,” where he worries that the necessary conversation could come too late. He warns, “Don’t you blow up my world!”

Those of us who grew up during the Cold War can recall that very real fear of nuclear war. So, it made sense that one of Prince’s first major hits was “1999,” a song about partying during the end of the world. He sings, “Yeah, everybody’s got a bomb, we could all die any day. But before I’ll let that happen, I’ll dance my life away.” The song ends with a child asking, “Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?” (Watch below.)

Later, in “Lady Cab Driver,” when Prince and the titular lady fool around in the backseat, he shouts, “This is for politicians who are bored and believe in war.” (Maybe, he’s just thinking this and not saying it out loud, as she sounds like she’s enjoying herself. If she were an Uber driver, she’d give him five stars.)

Prince’s frustrations with the modern world was balanced by a deep religious faith, which often felt rooted firmly in the Book of Revelations. The world might end in some nightmare holocaust of our own making, but there is another, better world waiting for us — if you believe that sort of thing. Prince obviously did. He ends 1982’s “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” with this proto-rap:

Whatever you heard about me is true
I change the rules and do what I wanna do
I'm in love with God, he's the only way
'Cause you and I know we gotta die some day
If you think I'm crazy, you're probably right
But I'm gonna have fun every motherfuckin' night
If you like to fight, you're a double-drag fool
I'm goin' to another life, how 'bout you?

He begins 1984’s Purple Rain with these gospel-tinged words: “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric word life. It means forever and that’s a mighty long time. But I’m here to tell you: There’s something else — the afterworld. A world of never ending happiness. You can always see the sun, day or night.”

Even the scandalous (well, for 1984) “Darling Nikki” features the backmasked message: “Hello, how are you? I’m fine. 'Cause I know that the Lord is coming soon, coming, coming soon.”

The 1980s were a brutal decade — with the looming threat of war and a literal plague that cut down people in the prime of life while a callous government looked the other way. Prince started to lose that delicate balance between nihilism and faith. In 1987’s “Sign o’ the Times,” he despairs, “Some say a man ain’t happy truly until a man truly dies.” The last side of the Sign o’ the Times album offers more upbeat messages: There’s the spiritual salvation in “The Cross” — “Ghettos to the left of us. Flowers to the right. There’ll be bread for all, y’all. If we can just, just bear the cross, yeah.” Then the jubilation in “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”: “No time for politics, no we don't wanna fight. Everybody get up, it’s gonna be a beautiful night. No time for sorrow, this is gonna be the one. Tonight there’s no tomorrow. Tonight we’re gonna have some fun.”

That was the constant push and pull for Prince. The title track from his unreleased 1986 triple album Crystal Ball was written during what he described as “a deepbluefunk depression as Prince pondered his future in a music business that had become more business than music. His only solace during this time was his continuing search 4 a soul mate.”

The haunting “Crystal Ball” is about Prince and this imagined soul mate together as the world burns around them: “As bombs explode around you and hate advances on your right, the only thing you can be sure of is the love we make tonight.”

At over 10 minutes, it’s a funky yet gloomy song that my mostly gloomy 20something self would listen to for hours in the dark when it was finally released in 1998. Those were, of course, simpler times compared to now. Prince is physically no longer with us, but his life’s work will always remain. Perhaps that’s why “Crystal Ball” hits such a somber note today. It’s more prescient than ever.

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“I did resent that the Republican Party ran on transgender jokes,” Chapelle told NPR Newsmakers host Michael Martin. “You know, I felt like they were doing a weaponized version of what I was doing. That’s not what I was doing.”

For those of us not suffering from advanced-stage Memento disease, Chappelle’s statement seems hard to accept. Chappelle dedicated a significant portion of his recent stand-ups special to — well, I wouldn’t actually call them “jokes” so much as bigoted, angry rants about trans people.

During his 2021 Netflix special, The Closer, Chapelle defended Dolores Umbridge herself, JK Rowling, over her (repeated, seemingly ceaseless) attacks against trans people.

“They canceled JK Rowling — my God,” Chapelle lamented. “Effectually she said gender was fact, the trans community got mad as shit, they started calling her a TERF … I’m team TERF.”

This isn’t a transgender joke, by the way. It doesn’t start with “knock knock,” and there’s not even a distasteful question in there involving “screwdrivers” and “light bulbs.”

“Gender is a fact,” Chapelle said — still not making actual jokes. “Every human being in this room, every human being on Earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. This is a fact.” This is a reductive view of gender that also suggests Chapelle has never seen a production of Macbeth. (Watch the version with Sir Ian McKellan and Dame Judi Dench below.)

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Chappelle vowed in The Closer that he wouldn’t tell another joke about the LGBTQ community until “we are both sure that we are laughing together.” That apparently was a punchline and not a promise.

“I’m not fucking with those people anymore,” Chappelle claimed in his 2024 special The Dreamer. “It wasn’t worth the trouble. I ain’t saying shit about trans people. Maybe three or four times tonight, but that is it. Tired of talking about them. You wanna know why I’m tired of talking about ’em? Because these people acted like I needed them to be funny. Well, that’s ridiculous. I don’t need you. I’ve got a whole new angle. You guys will never see this shit coming. I ain’t doing trans jokes no more. Know what I’mma do tonight? Tonight … I’m doing all handicapped jokes. Well, they’re not as organized as the gays. And I love punching down. There’s probably a handicap in the back right now ’cause that’s where they make them sit.”

The rest of the special played out like a Jack Chick tract but without the comedy.

“God forbid I ever go to jail,” Chapelle said. “But if I do, I hope it’s in California. ‘Cause soon as the judge sentence me, I’ll be like, ‘Before you sentence me, I want the court to know… I identify as a woman. Send me… to a woman’s jail.’ As soon I get in there, you know what I’mma be doing.”

This is not a joke. It’s a confession. It’s also vile slander of a vulnerable, marginalized group. Anti-trans bigots like to conjure up the image of the imposing, muscular man in a dress “posing as a woman” so he can freely abuse women. That seems like an awful lot of work when he could just run for Congress. Chapelle doesn’t address the flip side of what he describes — trans women in confined space with men like Chappelle. That’s no punchline. It’s a horror show.

Chappelle was never just making “jokes.” He was openly advocating against trans people. This isn’t like a comedian or comedy writer expressing regret about anti-trans jokes in 1990s sitcoms or movies. There is a big difference between “She’s a man, baby!” and Chapelle proudly declaring himself “Team TERF” with JK Rowling.

Chappelle doesn’t express any actual remorse for his obsessively anti-trans commentary. He just doesn’t enjoy keeping company with his fellow travelers in bigotry.

“I’ll give you an example,” Chappelle told NPR. “Before I learned the phrase, ‘I respectfully decline,’ I was on Capitol Hill, and everybody ran up to take pictures with me from every congressional office. And I just take pictures with whoever asked. I didn’t ask how they vote or what their voting record is.”

“At first, it was CBC [Congressional Black Caucus] people,” he went on. “Then here comes Lauren Boebert and she said, ‘Can I get a picture?’ And I had already taken 40 pictures. I didn’t want to say no in front of everybody, but I didn’t know the phrase ‘I respectfully decline.’ So I just took the picture. And then she posted the picture before I could even get from there to the show and says something to the effect of, ‘Just two people that know that it’s just two genders.’ Just instantly, like, weaponized or politicized. So I got to the arena, and I lit her ass up for doing that. And she should never do that to a person like me.”

Chappelle seems more offended that Boebert actually told a joke — a mean-spirited, offensive one but it was at least in the restricted neighborhood of a joke. After all, if Chappelle’s trenchant “Gender is a fact” and “Team TERF” lines were just savage humor, then why would he consider Boebert’s riff on his material “weaponized” or “political”?

It’s possible that Chappelle’s ego is greater than his intelligence. After all, in 2022, he invited his billionaire buddy Elon Musk onto the stage with him during a show, and the audience promptly booed Musk because he sucks.

“You notice one thing?” Chappelle told Musk. “All the people that are booing have terrible seats.”

That was probably a joke. I’ll give him that. It was just mean, which is why both Dave Chappelle and Lauren Boebert are more suited for an open-mic night at the Chuckles Hut than whatever it is they actually do.

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Most syndication packages start with Episode 210 and that’s the first one I saw back in fall of 1988. It felt as if I were dropped into an otherwise normal world where everyone was preoccupied with mundane secrets and personal challenges. They were completely unprepared for what was about to happen.

The episode opens with the usual narration from Collins family governess Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke). She is the series star at this point, but she doesn’t yet realize she’s about to be upstaged.

“My name is Victoria Winters,” she says. “There are no limits to the things some men will do. They sink to the bottomless depths of corruption. They will desecrate sacred ground, and violate that which should remain sealed forever.”

Unwelcome house guest Willie Loomis (John Karlen) believes there’s a treasure trove of jewels hidden somewhere in the Collins family mauseleum, so like any respectable grave robber, he plans to break in and steal them before skipping town — except he’s not going anywhere, and neither is the audience.

Willie stumbles upon a secret room in the mauseleum, where he finds a chained coffin. He assumes that’s where the jewels are hidden, so while almost sweating with greed, he breaks the chains and opens the coffin. What he finds horrifies him: A hand reaches out and grabs him by the throat. The hand belongs to Barnabas Collins, the eventual breakout star of Dark Shadows. (Watch below.)

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Set extra Timothy Gordon played Barnabas’s hand in that cliffhanger scene. Actor Jonathan Frid would officially debut as Barnabas Collins at the end of the next episode on April 18. He’s first seen from behind when startled housekeeper Mrs. Johnson (Clarice Blackburn) answers the door. His face isn’t fully visible until he stands in front of his own 18th Century portrait and says, with an eerie smile, “Oh, madam, if you would, you may tell her that it’s ... Barnabas Collins.” Now, that’s an entrance. (Watch below.)

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A vampire on a daytime soap opera was unusual, but once that same vampire became the show’s time-traveling anti-hero, Dark Shadows was officially no longer like any other TV show on the air. His relationship with Dr. Julia Hoffman (the magnificant Grayson Hall) is a precursor in many ways to the dynamic between The X-Files’ Mulder and Scully, who also investigated bizarre paranormal activity but Barnabas and Julia never really had to leave their house.

Cynics might fixate on the production mishaps (the show was effectively performed like like theatre), but Dark Shadows was an incredibly ambitious program that, when watched today, feels more modern than any other genre series from its period. While Star Trek and The Avengers are episodic, with no continuing narrative, Dark Shadows has story arcs with specific “Big Bads” like we’d later see on Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Only Murders In The Building. (Buffy obviously has the vampires and monsters, and Murders is based in a gothic apartment building with a body count that rivals Collinwood.) Dark Shadows’ serialized nature fits well in today’s streaming culture, and with more than 1,000 episodes, its ideally suited for binge-watching. I still watch a couple episodes a day. Dark Shadows is like a treasured family heirloom, one of many gifts to me from my mother, who loved everything spooky and unconventional.

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Spring is here, even in Portland — well, at least every once in a while. If you haven’t already, please consider taking advantage of my “Spring Fling” subscription sale — 40 percent off the usual annual paid subscriber rate. That’s just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently. Remember, summer is ready when you are.

Previously on The Play Typer Guy:

I wasn’t interested in discussing the whole Lindy West discourse, considering everyone else in the media world was doing so, but then I learned just 3,000 people have bought her book so far. I’m assuming this includes relatives and friends.

I had the chance to chat with and about The Bulwark, which could use a reality check. This was Part 1. Part 2 is next week.

So, Project Hail Mary author Andy Weir doesn’t think politics and social commentary belong in his work, which has me wondering if he’s read his own work.

I explore the white moderate obsession with “Sister Souljah” moments and explain what they miss about Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign.

My fellow Dark Shadows fan, author Laramie Dean, has a new book out, Haunt Me Then, which you should check out. We have an annual Halloween chat on the podcast. Back in 2023, we celebrated the life of Lara Parker, our beloved Angelique Collins.

That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.

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There’s a reason McMorrow’s “moment” never materialized, but first some background for those who came in late: Back in 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton spoke at Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition where he repudiated statements rapper and political activist Sister Souljah had made in a Washington Post interview, as well as some specific lyrics in her music. Souljah had been a guest at the Rainbow Coalition the previous night, and this was a calculated effort on the Clinton’s campaign part to distance the “New Democrat” from Jackson, who was both politically and socially progressive (Bernie Sanders endorsed his presidential run in 1988).

The real, non-metaphorical Sister Souljah, whose name is Lisa Williamson, wasn’t Bill Clinton’s actual target. She was simply collateral damage. In a 2019 New York Times column, Brett Stephens wrote that we need “more Sister Souljah moments” and claimed Clinton had courageously broken with his base when publicly scolding a minor Black rapper. His version of events was so ahistorical it could count as fiction.

During the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, very concerned conservatives such as George Will and Amanda Carpenter argued that Democratic nominee Joe Biden needed “a Sister Souljah moment.”

Will explained:

In 1992, this rap singer was pleased by the deadly Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of the police officers involved in the Rodney King beating: “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” Candidate Bill Clinton’s criticism, not of extremism in general, but of her explicitly, reassured temperate voters that he was not intimidated by inhabitants of the wilder shores of American politics.

Yep, scratch a Never Trumper and you find someone who says “inhabitants of the wilder shores.”

Sister Souljah was just exercising her constitutional right to free speech. Her words weren’t marching orders or proposed political policy. They were also taken out of context, as she tried to explain shortly after Clinton turned her into a household name like Gennifer Flowers and later Monica Lewinsky. (Watch below.)

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Biden was president for all of twelve minutes before Anti-Trump conservative Max Boot declared that he “needs a ‘Sister Souljah moment’: He needs to attack the far-left activists who want to defund the police, boycott Israel and divide Americans by race. He could start by criticizing what liberal columnist Jonathan Chait describes as the ‘kooky, harmful, and outright racist ideas’ peddled by White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo. Biden should champion liberalism, not leftism.”

Joe Walsh suggested in August 2024 that “Biden would really benefit politically from a Sister Souljah moment with these keffiyeh-wearing college kids. And it would be the right thing to do. But he’s just not capable of it.”

Even the term “Sister Souljah moment” obfuscates the larger political context: Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, one of the nation’s poorest states with a population of a little more than 2 million people. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition were far more prominent and influential. Thus, Clinton was seen as taking on the “liberal establishment.” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is hardly Jesse Jackson, who wasn’t running against Clinton.

Clinton’s “Sister Souljah moment” was a white Democratic leader’s expression of dominance over a Black Democratic leader. This is probably why white moderates and conservatives recall this moment so fondly. They find it comforting when white Democratic leaders show they have their party under control. This is what McMorrow and Slotkin were attempting to achieve, but they failed because they didn’t nail the dismount that Clinton mastered.

Notice that white moderates rarely mentionn Clinton’s contemporaneous “Arsenio Hall moment,” when Bill and Hillary Clinton appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show — the hippest and Blackest program on television. Arsenio Hall was openly liberal, decades before Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers. David Letterman was hip but not as earnestly political. Jay Leno, who had just replaced Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, was, well, Jay Leno.

So, although Clinton criticized Sister Souljah, he’d also engaged with Black culture, and not just the (at the time) “respectable Bill Cosby” wing but the hip-hop culture that “mainstream” talk shows would never book prior to Hall’s show.

During the interview, Clinton name-dropped Maxine Waters, the very liberal representative from California who white moderates considered the Ilhan Omar and Zohran Mamdani of the day. He talked about visting South Central, Los Angeles after the 1992 riots, and he acknowledged why the people there might feel that both parties were the same. He didn’t mock or lecture them but spoke about their concerns with empathy.

CLINTON: You tell [young people in South Central] to register and vote get an education and go to work and they say, I may not have a job but if I deal drugs I can make money. You tell them that they ought to register and vote and they say why I’ll still be unsafe on my streets uh you tell them to register and vote and they look at most people in South Central, L.A., they obeyed the law. They didn’t loot they didn’t burn they rio, they didn’t steal, but a lot of them are still living below the poverty line even though they’re working 40 hours a week so there are real problems there that that have divorced a whole lot of Americans from the rest of us and I think what this election is about in a way is reconnecting more folks to the American dream making them feel like they’re a part of our community and making them feel that tomorrow can be better than today.

These current prescriptions for two “Sister Souljah moments” and call Bill Maher in the morning usually boil down to picking fights with random people of color and “preachy females.” It’s transparently performative with no attempt at true empathy.

A few months after Clinton’s Arsenio Hall appearance, during the second presidential debate, a young Black woman asked the candidates, “I know people who cannot afford to pay the mortgage on their homes, their car payment. I have personal problems with the national debt. But how has it affected you and if you have no experience in it, how can you help us, if you don’t know what we’re feeling?”

President George H.W. Bush and eccentric billonaire Ross Perot both bombed this question. Bush himself struggled to even understand it. However, Clinton’s response was one for the ages. (Watch below.)

CLINTON: I’ve been governor of a small state for 12 years. I’ll tell you how it’s affected me. Every year Congress and the president sign laws that make us do more things and gives us less money to do it with. I see people in my state, middle class people — their taxes have gone up in Washington and their services have gone down while the wealthy have gotten tax cuts.

I have seen what’s happened in this last 4 years when — in my state, when people lose their jobs there’s a good chance I’ll know them by their names. When a factory closes, I know the people who ran it. When the businesses go bankrupt, I know them.

And I’ve been out here for 13 months meeting in meetings just like this ever since October, with people like you all over America, people that have lost their jobs, lost their livelihood, lost their health insurance.

Democrats don’t need more “Sister Souljah moments.” They need more moments like this when they can demonstrate empathy for the people who they’re asking to put them in power. McMorrow has had those moments in the past. She went viral years ago when she stood up against the bullies who want to torment queer kids. Empathy will always deliver more successful “moments” than whatever the centrist think thanks and think pieces advise.

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Andy Weir’s first book was 2011’s The Martian, which was made into a 2015 movie starring Matt Damon. Both The Martian and Project Hail Mary are about extraordinary, yet relatable, people achieving extraordinary feats through perseverance, team work, and intelligence. There’s a consistent theme there, but Weir has resisted the suggestion that his work offers more than simple entertainment. In a 2018 interview with Futurism, Weir states:

I dislike social commentary. Like… I really hate it. When I’m reading a book, I just want to be entertained, not preached at by the author. Plus, it ruins the wonder of the story if I know the author has a political or social axe to grind. I no longer speculate about all possible outcomes of the story because I know for a fact that the universe of that book will conspire to ensure that the author’s political agenda is validated. I hate that.

I put no politics or social commentary into my stories at all. Anyone who thinks they see something like that is reading it in on their own. I have no point to make, and I’m not trying to affect the reader’s opinion on anything. My sole job is to entertain, and I stick to that.

Although Weir has described himself as “fiscally conservative and socially liberal,” which usually means a Republican who smokes weed, he’s said he makes a point of never discussing his own personal beliefs and political views. (J.K. Rowling should have considered this advice). However, it’s not as simple as keeping your mouth shut. Art is inherently political, because our politics reflect how we view the world. They are how we shape the future in which we wish to live.

In Project Hail Mary, school teacher and former biologist Ryland Grace (Gosling) , wakes up on a spaceship in a distant solar system with very convenient plot-driven amnesia. Flashbacks slowly reveal to both us and Grace that he was part of a crew of astronauts sent on desperate mission into deep space to save humanity. The sun has become “infected” by alien microbes that’s dimming its light, which is bad news for anyone who doesn’t enjoy ice ages and other extinction-level events.

Already, Weir takes a political position, as the story doesn’t focus on a vocal segment of the population who insists the whole “dimming of the sun” is a big hoax. The world seems to collectively take this climate crisis seriously. Former European Space Agency administrator Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) leads the global task force of scientists and other smart people assigned to solve the problem. What Weir presents as a simple backstory, right-wing podcasters and Republican politicians would decry as “woke.” A woman is in charge, and she’s not even American. Stratt works outside any elected office. She’s not President Franklin Roosevelt rousing Americans during World War II or Winston Churchill helping Britain maintain its stiff upper lip during the Blitz. She operates with almost tyrannical authority — sort of a sci-fi version of how right-wingers viewed Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Thomas Brodey shares a revealing passage from Project Hail Mary in his essay, The Illiberalism of Project Hail Mary.

“I assure you, Ms. Stratt, you will comply with the law,” said the justice.

“Only when I want to.” Stratt held up a sheet of paper. “According to this international treaty, I am personally immune from prosecution for any crime, anywhere on Earth. The United States Senate ratified that treaty two months ago.”

She held up a second piece of paper.

“And to streamline situations like this, I also have a preemptive pardon from the president of the United States for any and all crimes I am accused of within U.S. jurisdictions.”

This is objectively “social commentary.” Weir presents a scenario where humanity owes its salvation to someone whose governing philosophy is “the ends justify the means.” Grace and adorable alien Rocky save their worlds by trusting each other and working together, but Stratt’s actions are what makes it possible for Grace and Rocky to meet.

In the same 2018 interview, Weir says, “I deeply dislike social commentary. For instance, as a lifelong Star Trek fan, it’s always bothered me that there is a presumed ‘responsibility’ within Star Trek shows to talk about social issues. I just want to watch Romulans and the Federation shoot at each other.”

This seems almost purposely flippant, as any Star Trek episode featuring the Romulans is about far more than just two warring societies “shooting at each other.”

In the Romulans’ first appearance, 1966’s “Balance of Terror,” the Enterprise discovers that the Federation’s longtime foes physically resemble the Vulcans. Barely 25 years after the U.S. government forcibly relocated and incarcerated Americans for the crime of looking like our enemies, Star Trek challenges this prejudice head on. There are no “both sides” here. When Lt. Stiles (Paul Comi) tells Kirk that his ancestors had died in the previous Earth/Romulan war, Kirk stresses: “Their war, Mister Stiles. Not yours. Don’t forget it.” That line had to resonate at a time when Americans would openly express contempt for Japanese people because of the nation’s past actions in World War II.

Later, when Stiles can’t hide his contempt for Spock, Kirk warns him, “Well, here’s one thing you can be sure of, Mister. Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There’s no room for it on the bridge. Do I make myself clear?”

“Romulans and the Federation shooting at each other” is merely the backdrop for this pointed social commentary. Writer Paul Schneider’s script is overtly anti-war. The Romulan commander laments that if his mission succeeds, it will only lead to needless destruction. (Watch below.)

CENTURION: We've seen a hundred campaigns together, and still I do not understand you.
COMMANDER: I think you do. No need to tell you what happens when we reach home with proof of the Earthmen's weakness. And we will have proof. The Earth commander will follow. He must. When he attacks, we will destroy him. Our gift to the homeland, another war.
CENTURION: If we are the strong, isn't this the signal for war?
COMMANDER: Must it always be so? How many comrades have we lost in this way?
CENTURION: Our portion, Commander, is obedience.
COMMANDER: Obedience. Duty. Death and more death. Soon even enough for the Praetor's taste. Centurion, I find myself wishing for destruction before we can return. Worry not. Like you, I am too well-trained in my duty to permit it.

Two decades later, in The Next Generation episode “The Defector,” Romulan Admiral Jarok (James J. Sloyan Jr.) with a storied military career sacrifices everything — his position, his home, even his family — so that he can potentially prevent another war. Unlike Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu, he no longer sees glory or any useful purpose in warfare. A single event changed his outlook. (Watch below.)

“There comes a time in a man’s life that you cannot know,” Jarok tells Picard. “When he looks down at the first smile of his baby girl and realizes he must change the world for her. For all children. It is for her that I am here. Not to destroy the Romulan Empire, but to save it. For months, I tried desperately to persuade the High Command that another war would destroy the Empire. They got tired of my arguments. Finally I was censured, sent off to command some distant sector. This was my only recourse. I will never see my child smile again. She will grow up believing that her father is a traitor, but she will grow up. If you act, Picard. If we stop the war before it begins.”

Yes, “The Defector,” with its overt anti-war message, is a political story brimming with social commentary, but I don’t think Romulan and Federation ships shooting at each other until the superior Dirty Harry in space prevails is somehow better television. “She will grow up believing that her father is a traitor, but she will grow up” is a gut punch that still resonates, especially considering the tragic ending.

At the end of “Balance of Terror,” the defeated Romulan commander rejects Kirk’s offer of help — that’s not the Romulan way — but before destroying his ship and himself, he says, “I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend.”

Grace and Rocky are friends who make personal sacrifices for each other, and in the process, they save both their worlds without sacrificing their humanity. Survival is not presented as a zero sum game, and violence is never the answer. Weir chose to depict a different reality from our current one, and that makes Project Hail Mary an explicitly political work.

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I was fortunate enough to speak about this in depth with Steward and Evan. Watch and/or listen to Part One here, and come back next week for Part Two. Also, go check out Steward and Evan’s substacks, and .

Certain Thoughts

Hasan Piker & The Bulwark: Fissures in the Democratic Coalition

The Bulwark Publisher Sarah Longwell has somehow managed to make herself the main character of the story: she’s the villain…

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a month ago · 8 likes · Evan Stern and Steward Beckham

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Reality Checking the Bulwark – Episode 4

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, The Bulwark matters. We value and respect their prominent position in the pro-democracy movement. Yet despite their success, the Bulwark advises on politics from a point of view so ideologically blinkered that it puts the entire movement at risk…

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2 months ago · 22 likes · 8 comments · Evan Stern and Steward Beckham

Some Highlights From Our Conversation

Evan warns about political “analysis” that simply launders bigotry.

Steward: The Bulwark has grown from just being a niche conservative publication where you have a bunch of conservative exiles, essentially debating over whether Trump is true conservatism, what they missed or what they couldn’t see when they were supporting conservative campaigns or reiterating conservative talking points on TV, which they still kind of do. And it has grown into one of the integral narrative forces within the larger Democratic Party machinery and the pro-democracy movement representing this kind of mythical middle voter or this reformed Republican or ex-Republican who wants to vote for Democrats but gets a little bit too scared by the Starbucks barista talking about trans rights and talking about Black Lives Matter.

Steward explains how Republicans co-opted patriotism and how this messaging continues to caricture liberals as inherently “anti-American.”

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I haven’t formally contributed to the discourse here because I don’t have much to offer. I think writer Leigh Stein’s piece best sums up my own thoughts: “This is a 300-page voyage of zero discoveries. It’s an addiction memoir that doesn’t end in sobriety. It’s a cult memoir that ends with a spirited defense of the cult leader.”

However, for its near omnipresence in media, Adult Braces is hardly what you’d call a best seller. Jasmine Vojdani at New York Book Gossip (is there anything more exciting?) writes, “What’s undeniable is that a lot more people have opinions about West’s personal life than have bought her book. According to BookScan — the leading industry tracker that captures mostly print sales and with a week or so delay — total Adult Braces sales stand, as of this writing, at just over 3,000 copies. It is generally believed that authors need to sell between 5,000 and 10,000 the first week to make the New York Times’ best-seller list; West sold only 1,800 in that time.”

So, all these “words, words, words” were written about a book most people have not read. Perhaps we all assumed that there was more of an audience for a millennial feminist memoir that reads as if it were written at the start of this millennium. I’m sure no one expected Adult Braces would sell like Twilight or feature more interesting characters, but I think my 12-year-old son’s upcoming fantasy novel will move more than 3,000 copies in a month. (He’s very determined: He’d go door-to-door in our neighborhood, and my wife and I would have to hit up our colleagues. It would be like literary Girl Scout cookies.)

If I somewhat rashly assumed that more people were reading the book so many people were discussing, it’s because I came of age at a time when people not only bought books but the media only really covered authors who wrote books people read.

When I was growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, I read a lot of Stephen King and, of course, my beloved VC Andrews, who was herself a living gothic novel. But I was especially drawn to Lewis Grizzard because he’d become a national figure as a newspaper columnist. (I even went to the University of Georgia because that’s where he studied journalism.) Yes, his politics openly shifted hard right in the early 1990s (a common development for white male Boomers), but in his early work, he praised fellow Georgia native Jimmy Carter and described Ronald Reagan as “nearly as old as baseball.” He was not a fan of Nancy Reagan, who he considered “snooty.”

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Grizzard’s column for the Atlanta Constitution was syndicated in 450 newspapers, back when people read newspapers every day. This was an audience of millions, and the books that collected Grizzard’s columns were legitimate best sellers: 1979’s Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You: A Good Beer Joint Is Hard to Find and Other Facts of Life (his titles were famously long-winded and this parenthetical explanation hasn’t helped) sold 75,000 copies in its first week. His humorous account of surviving open heart surgery, They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat, sold 100,000 copies when it was released in 1982.

I’m not directly comparing Grizzard and West, as they are like apples and something that isn’t apples. I’m more interested in how today’s media exists in an increasingly shrinking bubble. Consider that The Atlantic has 1.5 million subscribers but published two in-depth features about Adult Braces, a book 3,000 people have bothered to purchase (and fewer will likely read, based on the Second Law Of Conspicuous Book Consumption). The Wall Street Journal has 412,000 print subscribers and 4.13 million digitial subscribers. The New York Times has 570,000 print subscribers and 11.3 million online subscribers. New York Magazine has 1 million email subscribers.

Surely, the assignment editors at these publications do some research into how a book is selling before approving lengthy think pieces. That’s how you avoid covering a local junior high talent show. However, it seems as if people were determining relative news value based on chatter within that tight bubble. Slate ran a profile about West and her book — which triggered an ugly response from West’s husband who everyone loathes now — that was filed under the category “Fame.” That seems like a stretch.

Helen Lewis at The Atlantic suggested that West contributed to the death of “Millennial Feminism,” but that either overstates West’s influence or the overall impact of what they call “Millennal Feminism.” Perhaps it’s like when I try to explain the difference between DC’s New 52 and DC Rebirth.

The online pile on West’s memoir has received is not as if someone broke into her house and read her diary. West produced an artistic work that has generated much discussion. That’s the business. It’s perhaps not what the author wanted, but that’s true of many artistic works that receive negative feedback. West herself has written scathing reviews of other people’s work, such as Sex and the City 2 and Love Actually. There are people who share West’s Love Actually take down every year, which I think is sad — not because I love the film but because more than 3000 people probably watch it for the first time during the holidays and enjoy it. That is what tends to endure. West has had a lot to say about creative efforts and activities other people might enjoy that she didn’t appreciate, but she titled at windmills that were objectively larger than her own work. All this fuss over Adult Braces can’t help but feel like punching down or wasting everyone’s time.

It is unfortunate that so many people are reading about and judging Lindy West’s life without actually buying the book, though. She apparently needs the money: “I feel a pressure to take care of my family, and so on this very cynical surface level, I would love for the book to be a success.”

Despite its notoriety, Adult Braces is not a success. Jack Kyono, the director of marketing at McNally Jackson, told New York Magazine, “I think it’s not long for the tables.” He sounds more like a hardboiled detective than a marketing executive. I might start using that line in casual conversation.

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The single was released during the first Iraq War, and the band’s record company and management advised them to drop “Attack” from their name. The BBC had already suggested that “Massive Attack” was somehow “unpatriotic.” It’s not like that band’s name was “Massive Don’t Attack Because War Is Bad.” Governments usually love overly aggressive names for their military strikes (e.g. “Operation Desert Storm”), but a 1990s trip hop group can’t call themselves “Massive Attack.” The name had nothing to do with warfare. It came from a piece of graffiti by U.S. street artist Brim Fuentes. Ultimately, band released the single under the abbreviated name “Massive.”

The BBC had placed an “unofficial” ban on 67 songs that were considered “inappropriate” during this war. That included Blondie’s “Atomic,” Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” and The Bangles’ “Walk Like An Egyptian.” The silly name change probably helped keep the song on radio airwaves, for which I’m grateful. It was my jam.

“Unfinished Sympathy” is featured in the 1993 movie Sliver starring Sharon Stone and to a lesser degree Billy Baldwin. It’s played during a sex scene that I presume was meant to be erotic but looks like it was filmed in Confusovision. (Watch below.)

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Of course, I saw this movie several times in a theater. Sharon Stone movies got all my repeat business back in the day. I endured Intersection and The Specialist in 1994, but The Quick and the Dead and Casino in 1995 were both classics.

Tina Turner covered “Unfinished Sympathy” in 1996 and of course owned it. However, I do prefer the arrangement from the original. The cover buries Turner’s exquisite vocals with a lot of unnecessary noise, which is perhaps an equally relevant summation of the 1990s. (Watch below.)

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Easter is over, and spring is officially here, even in the Pacific Northwest. If you haven’t already, please consider taking advantage of my “Spring Fling” subscription sale — 40 percent off the usual annual paid subscriber rate. That’s just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently. Remember, summer is ready when you are.

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Previously on The Play Typer Guy:

The extremely former Attorney General Pam Bondi just got the Thomas Cromwell Special. The Department of Justice even tossed her photo in the trash, like garbage that was sent back to Florida. Once again, I’m reminded of a great scene the highly fictionalized Showtime drama The Tudors. The Duke of Suffolk (Henry Cavill) visits a fallen Cromwell (James Frain) in prison and taunts him in his misery: “The fact is, Mr. Cromwell, only two hours after your arrest, the king dispatched his treasurer [to your home] to take away your goods. The rabble came out to cheer them on. It was a pretty sight … I hear.” (See, he didn’t just hear about it. He was there, cheering it on!)

Elissa Slotkin might actually believe in something besides winning and someone else not winning, but it’s hard to tell. She does have fond memories of her Alex P. Keaton-like childhood spend fawning over Ronald Reagan.

We say “no kings” but Trump is something even worse.

Democrats are obsessed with qualifications for the presidency, and it’s not as if qualifications don’t matter. It’s just that too many Democrats confuse credentials with qualifications.

That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.

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The Constitution is silent on any additional qualifications beyond the two mentioned. However, that hasn’t stopped Democrats at least from describing various candidates, especially the ones who lost, as exceptionally qualified. During an interview where she reaffirmed her belief that a woman could win the presidency, Nancy Pelosi said, “I think Hillary Clinton was the most qualified person of that generation. More qualified than her husband, more qualified than George W. Bush, more qualified than Barack Obama. They all admit it. Bush doesn’t, but the others, they admit that.” (Watch below.)

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I’m not a fan of George W. Bush, but I can understand why he doesn’t “admit” that Hillary Clinton was more qualified than he was to serve as president. (Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have their own reasons for false modesty regarding their relative qualifications.)

When Hillary Clinton first ran for president, she was in her second term as New York senator and had just seven years of experience in elected office. This made her less qualified than past nominees John Kerry (two years as Massachusetts lieutenant governor and 19 years in the Senate) and Al Gore (eight years in the House, eight years in the Senate, and eight years as vice president).

Even if you give Clinton credit for her unelected role as First Lady, that arguably made her less qualified, as past successful Democratic nominees were Washington “outsiders” (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Obama). Lyndon B. Johnson had extensive Senate experience but only became president because John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush were all governors when they ran for president, and some have argued that previous executive experience is a better indicator of success in the presidency. A governor has to prepare for and manage national disasters, as well as engage with the federal government and the state legislature. A swing state governor will more likely have contended with a legislature that’s controlled by the opposite party and is hostile to their agenda.

However, former Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy argued that a presidential candidate’s “experience” as a governor was overrated. In a 1988 New Republic article, McCarthy ruled out every possible presidential candidate based on their supposed credentials. My fellow Dark Shadows fan Acilius wrote the following in a 2019 post about McCarthy’s article and the upcoming Democratic primary:

Nonetheless, I’ve spent a fair bit of time these last 30 years thinking about McCarthy’s lists. The first list rules out prospective candidates on the basis of the jobs they’ve held. Among them are “governors and former governors, unless they have had experience with the federal government, either before or after their governorships.” Governors-turned-presidents come into office thinking that “they can handle the Pentagon… because they have reorganized a state highway department.” Also excluded are vice presidents and former vice presidents, not only because vice presidents are usually chosen for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to assume the top job, but also because service as vice president is a demoralizing experience that “is likely to weaken and confuse character.”

Hillary Clinton had added four years as secretary of state to her resume when she ran again in 2016, but voters that year ranked the economy and terrorism as more important issues for them than foreign policy. Of course, Clinton was better suited to address those issues — really any issue — than Trump, but that has more to do with her overall mental stability than professional credentials.

Pelosi said that Clinton was more qualified than “the creature that is there now. (She doesn’t like speaking Donald Trump’s actual name. He once sent a mob to kill her, so she’s allowed to hold a grudge.) However, she’s referring to personal fitness rather than qualifications because as impossible as it is to believe, Trump was already the president before he ran again in 2024. Even in 2016, Trump specifically based his candidacy on his “outsider” status and private sector experience. Gullible voters believed this qualified him to run the country like a business — even though he had an established record of running his own businesses into bankruptcy.

Certain Democrats are obsessed with qualifications and credentials, but politics is more like show business than people want to recognize. There are very “qualified” actors out there who never land roles. It’s not about what’s “fair.” Juilliard-trained classical actors have lost major roles to rappers or someone with movie star looks who a casting director spotted while dog walking. Back in 1960, Vice President Richard Nixon was more “qualified” than Sen. John F. Kennedy, but he lacked Kennedy’s charisma and magnetism. (Watch historical footage below.)

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It’s been obvious for a long while that as a hiring committee, the U.S. electorate is not that concerned with objective “qualifications” and “credentials.” Democrats will simultaneously boast about the qualifications of candidates who either lost to “less qualified” opponents or, in Biden’s case, crashed and burned in their only term. Many Democrats complain that voters seemingly don’t appreciate “qualifications” and “credentials,” yet they simultaneously insist that expanded and easier voting access will help preserve democracy. We’ve all seen those interviews with undecided swing state voters that make Idiocracy look like a documentary. If we’re honest about the U.S. electorate, we must accept the reality that the most important qualification — perhaps the only one that matters — is the skill necessary to convince people to get elected. Trump has been called a “con man.” Obama was dismissed as a “celebrity.” They both won the presidency.

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Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP

He followed that with a more bonkers message on Tuesday, when he threatened genocide as casually as someone ordering a pizza: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something.”

I’m writing this a few days in advance, but it’s safe to say that Trump was not immediately removed from office and institutionalized. I’m also assuming that we all survived “Power Plant Day” and Trump didn’t launch nukes in a fit of rage, like President Woody Boyd in Frasier’s nightmare from Cheers. (Watch below.)

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I’ve often called Trump a “mad king,” but that’s not entirely fair to kings, even the historically insane ones. After all, you can actually depose a king — especially one as old, withered, and mentally grotesque as Trump. Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, was known as the Swan King, the Fairy Tale King, and the Mad King. These were not flattering titles. Ludwig avoided actual leadership duties and wasted his time and money on vainglorious artistic and architectural projects, including lavish palaces. However, Ludwig’s courtiers don’t just clomp around in ill-fitting shoes. They presented his insane actions as proof of his insanity. He was removed from power and possibly murdered (his death was officially ruled a suicide).

Alas, we are seemingly stuck with Trump. That’s become the Republican Party still enables him, despite all his crimes and obvious madness. His approval rating keeps sinking but he maintains almost unwavering support among Republicans, who hate liberals more than they worry about their kids dying in the shadow of a mushroom cloud.

Self-proclaimed “Christian broadcaster” and “conservative truth teller” Erick Erickson expressed his disappointment with Trump’s insane post in a typically anti-anti Trump fashion: “Look, I don’t think it’s appropriate. Wish he hadn’t. But if I have to choose between this and Trans Recognition Day or whatever on Easter, okay.”

Two years ago, the Biden White House posted a polite acknowledgement of the Trans Day of Visibility, which coincidentally fell on Easter and The Matrix Release Day. Erickson openly prefers a president who spends Easter instead threatening to blow up Iran and indiscriminately kill millions of people. As Nietzsche said, “How evangelical!”

Erickson’s remarks reinforce my quibble with the “No Kings” protest. The problem isn’t just that Trump behaves like a mad king. The problem is that millions of Americans want to see him in a crown. (Watch below.)

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Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin argued last year that “no kings” is easier for her constituents to understand than “no oligarchs,” but she is focused on the superficial image of a king in frilly clothing wearing a crown. King Charles can’t unilaterally gut Britain’s foreign aid or start wars with nations that looked at him funny, and if he tried, it would probably mean the end for the Royal Family.

King Charles actually obeys norms and separation of powers. He has respect for institutions. He’s also not completely insane, but if he were, there is precedent for swift action against a deranged king.

Vice President JD Vance is reportedly skulking about, biding his time until 2028. That is the extent of any “palace intrigue.” His wife, of her own volition, Usha Vance is doing her best to make her husband look like a mammal — “somebody that drinks water and breathes air.” During a Fox News interview with Kayleigh McEnany, Usha Vance said she wished more people knew that Vance is “just the nicest, funniest guy.”

Usha Vance said all this without bursting into flame, thus proving there is no moral order to the universe: “He’s really just a wonderful person to be around, and our children, our family has so much more joy because he is a part of it,” she rambled. “I wish that people saw more of that.”

No one can see this, because anyone with functional human senses will perceive JD Vance as a malicious bully who lies without hesitation. Perhaps shameless deceit is what the Vances have in common.

If Vance became president tomorrow, the free world would celebrate but only because it would mean Trump has died and there’s one less vacancy in hell. Still, Vance could easily overthrow Trump, and he wouldn’t need an army — just the 25th Amendment. He convinces a majority of the Cabinet to declare that Trump is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” which is obvious from listening to his words or, worse, looking at him. Trump would obviously object, but Vance and the Cabinet could counter his “nuh uh” with a firm “uh huh.” Then Congress would decide, and Trump’s madness is about to cost Republicans the House and force them to put pants on and actually defend Senate seats in Alaska and Texas. Still, it seems unlikely when Trump’s taken the precaution of staffing his Cabinet with spineless weasels.

Impeachment and removal is more straightforward and easier than the 25th Amendment emergency option. That would require a majority in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate (as opposed to a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress). The latter seems like a reach, but there are at least 47 Democratic/independent votes for removal (46 if you exclude John Fetterman, MAGA’s new best friend). Vance just needs around 20 Republicans to say “enough already.” Republicans would have a better chance of holding the White House in 2028 if Trump were no longer president, just as we’d all have a better chance of actually seeing 2028.

Trump is not a constitutional monarch. There is no reason Republicans should have such loyalty to him. Incredibly, polls show that Democrats are not significantly more popular or trusted than Republicans. However, Trump is such a political anchor, he will drag most of them to a crushing defeat in November.

This is why some people suggest that the GOP has become a cult of personality, wholly devoted to a leader whose entire personality is toxic. Yet, if you believe what some Senate Democrats say about their Republican colleagues, they are not true believers of the MAGA cult. They act as they do because they believe it’s in their political and personal best interest. (Watch below.)

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“There are really good people in the Senate on both sides of the aisle,” Cory Booker said last month because it’s always sunny in his West Wing fantasy world. “I have these private conversations with my colleagues about what's wrong. But they're afraid or unwilling to say these things publicly. And that is the crisis that we’re in. It’s a crisis of conviction.”

Booker is unclear on why Senate Republicans are so afraid to defy Trump. He did famously stir up a lynch mob against his first vice president, but if Republicans are afraid of blowing up in their cars like Appolonia Corleone, that’s a serious indictment of MAGA voters. And if they’re worried about losing their cushy, do-nothing jobs in a primary challenge, like Dan Crenshaw and soon John Cornyn, that’s just as damning. It means that no matter how low Trump goes — how much he tanks the economy, destabilizes the world, and makes us dread reading the news on Easter Sunday, the United States of MAGA will keep demanding more.

It’s almost better if Trump were a king. A democratically supported tyrant is far worse.

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