former chief book critic, The New York Times; author of “The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption & the Rise of the Outsider," and "Ex Libris: 100+ Books"
My new book “THE GREAT WAVE: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider" coming on Feb 20th …
How rapid social, political and technological change can forge hinge moments in history -times marked by both chaos and the possibility of renewal
American Dream: Dad of gold medal winning snowboarder Chloe Kim came to LA from So.Korea in 1982 w $800. Got job as a dishwasher at fast-food franchise, saved money, got an engineering degree. Drove Chloe 5 hours on wkends 2 mountains so she could practice
This is Orwellian: Trump admin gives CDC, the nation's top public health agency, a list of words/phrases it is prohibited from using. Words/phrases are: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based" & “science-based”
During assault weapon ban, the number of gun massacres fell by 37 percent.
After the ban lapsed in 2004, the numbers shot up again — an astonishing 183 percent increase in massacres and a 239 percent increase in massacre deaths.
UK intell officials shaken by Barr's request 4 help w. inquiry into origins of Russia investigation.
It's like nothing we've seen before: "they are basically asking, in quite robust terms, for help in doing a hatchet job on their own intelligence services”
In unprecedented move, the New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial written by its editors condemning the Trump admin for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic &calling for the current leadership in the United States to be voted out of office
Gold medal snowboarder Chloe Kim's Dad immigrated from South Korea; parents of Mirai Nagasu, 1st US woman to land triple axel at Olympics, immigrated fm Japan; speedskater Maame Biney came to US at age 5 from Ghana: via
@thinkprogress
In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned of "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men" who might try "to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion"
"Russian state TV hosts brazenly assert, 'Trump is ours,' and joke that U.S. lawmakers traveled to Russia 'to make deals with our hackers, so they can rig the midterms in favor of Trump’s team'."
Hannah Arendt in her 1951 book The Origins of Totalitarianism: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction,” and “the distinction between true and false no longer exist”
In the 7 weeks leading up to the midterm elections, President Trump made a mind-boggling 1,419 false or misleading claims — an average of 30 a day. He is trying to impose his own fear-based, Orwellian reality on the country.
AP story: officials scolded "a group of 5-year-olds for playing around in their cage, telling them to settle down. There are no toys or books." One boy was "quiet, clutching a piece of paper that was a photocopy of his mother's ID card"
"IN THEIR CAGE"
George Washington: "I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong."
Roth on Trump as a con artist: "ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English"
No people has found the American lurch toward authoritarianism under Trump more alarming than the Germans. A recent cover of Der Spiegel portrays Trump holding a lighted match with the country ablaze. The headline: “Der Feuerteufel,” or "the Fire Devil.”
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released new evidence showing how CDC was pressured by Trump administration officials to alter scientific guidance and prevented from communicating directly with the public.
Leading Scientists Urge Voters to Dump Trump:
Scientific journals and Nobel Prize winners - who are usually cautious about stepping into politics - cite unprecedented damage and incompetence in calls for a U.S. leadership change. via
@sciam
In 2016, when she was 15, Chloe Kim became the first female snowboarder in history to land back-to-back 1080 degree spins in competition, giving her a perfect score of 100, a feat only otherwise achieved by Shaun White. via
@CNN
Former intell chief James Clapper: "Of course the Russian efforts affected the outcome. Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches logic, common sense, and credulity to the breaking point"
Octavia Butler’s 1993 dystopian novel “Parable of the Sower” begins in July of 2024. Climate change is turning the globe into a hellscape with droughts, fires and calamitous weather events. Racial and class inequities have soared, women’s rights are under threat, and white
John Lewis: “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way.“
Reminder: this is what Trump said in a 1990 Playboy interview:
"When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength."
Can’t quote this too often
Fitzgerald: “They were careless people, Tom & Daisy - they smashed up things & creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, & let other people clean up the mess they had made”
Donald Trump and other White House insiders infected with COVID-19 carried the virus across the country in a matter of days, potentially exposing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people as they went about their business, a USA TODAY investigation found.
In 1984, Orwell wrote: "Science, in the old sense, has almost ceased to exist. In Newspeak there is no word for ‘Science’. The empirical method of thought, on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc"
This is Orwellian: Trump admin gives CDC, the nation's top public health agency, a list of words/phrases it is prohibited from using. Words/phrases are: “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based" & “science-based”
“Trump is God’s gift that keeps on giving,” says a Russian columnist. “Trump implements Russia’s negative agenda by default, undermining the US-led world order, US alliances, US credibility... Russia can just relax and watch and root for Trump”
Orwell’s “1984”:
the “reason for the readjustment of the past is the need to safeguard the infallibility of the Party...speeches, statistics & records of every kind must be constantly brought up to date in order to show that the predictions of the Party were in all cases right”
George Washington, 1783:
"The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent & respectable Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our rights & privileges"
A 36-year veteran of the Justice Department accused Attorney General William Barr of abusing his power to sway the election for Pres. Trump & said he was quitting, making him the 3rd sitting prosecutor to issue a rare public rebuke of the attorney general
George Washington, 1783:
"The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent & respectable Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our rights & privileges"
George Washington warned America about aspiring tyrants - “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” who will try “to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust
Trump: “Get out and vote just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years it will be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore...In four years you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good your not gonna have to vote.”
Hannah Arendt in “The Origins of Totalitarianism”: “totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.: "A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true."
James Madison in Federalist 47: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
The Federalist Papers. Number 10. James Madison:
"Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people."
Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict”
Republicans, now is the time to defend American democracy.
History will remember what you do in this moment of crisis.
Speak up or stay silent. Both are a choice and a statement.
Orwell in "1984": "if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth"
Hannah Arendt: “The moment we no longer have a free press,
anything can happen. What makes it possible
for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule
is that people are not informed..."
My review of the James Comey book "A Higher Loyalty."
In which the former FBI director writes that meeting with Trump gave him flashbacks to his earlier career as a prosecutor against the Mob: "The boss in complete control. The loyalty oaths."
Chadwick Boseman in 2018 commencement address at Howard University
“Purpose is the essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill"
Senator John McCain in 2017: “if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time.“
Victor Hugo on Norte Dame: “a vast symphony in stone” embodying “all the forces of an epoch... a sort of human creation, in a word, powerful and fecund as the divine creation of which it seems to have stolen the double character, –variety, eternity.”
In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned of "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men" who might try "to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion"
Trump thinks this guy is “a real leader”:
Atrocities under Kim Jong-un include murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions, persecution on political, religious & racial grounds, the disappearance of persons, prolonged starvation.
Trump on Kim Jong Un during last night's Hannity interview: "He is very sharp," "a real leader," "He likes me, I like him. Some people say 'you should not like him.' I say, 'Why shouldn't I like him?' I like him. Get along great."
Dan Balz: “There are but 16 days left in President Trump’s term, but there is no doubt that he will use all of his remaining time in office to inflict as much damage as he can on democracy... there are no limits to the lengths to which he will go”
Hannah Arendt: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist but people 4 whom the distinction betwn fact and fiction (ie. the reality of experience) &the distinction between true &false (ie.the standards of thought) no longer exist”
Orwell in “1984”: “if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”
Primo Levi: “Auschwitz is outside of us, but it is all around us, in the air. The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers [in] the rejection of human solidarity; obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and moral sense”
A historian compares Trump to America's worst presidents: James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore. They were bad, he may be worse, and if history is any a guide, "Mr. Trump’s first year portends a very unhappy ending."
Chekhov on what makes a civilized person:
= they are candid & fear lies like the plague
= they do not throw tantrums
= their compassion extends beyond beggars and cats
= they pay their debts
= they do not say 'No one understands me!'
= they are not preoccupied by vain things
They Were Willing to Make the Ultimate Sacrifice for the US, but Trump Didn't Want Them To Become Americans. A federal court ruled in August that the Trump admin can't deny US military members the path to citizenship long promised to them by Congress.
Trump’s incessant lying, the incomprehensible gibberish, the preposterous QAnon conspiracy theories, the dog whistles &hate talk - it’s almost literally “Newspeak” from Orwell’s 1984, complete with “doublethink” (“IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”) and grotesque efforts at “reality control”
All That’s Left Is the Vote: the midterm elections are the last obstacle to Trump’s consolidation of power—and the greatest obstacle to voting is the feeling that it doesn’t matter. by George Packer
My tribute to Barry, Central Park's beloved Barred Owl, who died last week. A magical, people-friendly creature, she gave New Yorkers hope during the dark days of the pandemic. via
@nytimes
Angela Merkel says pandemic reveals limits of “fact-denying populism” - “We are seeing at the moment that the pandemic can't be fought with lies and disinformation, and neither can it be with hatred and agitation.”
My mother’s family was among the 120,000 Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during World War II.
With Trump's "no tolerance" border policy, history is in danger of repeating itself.
John Lewis in an essay written just before his death in July:
“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it...Now it is your turn to let freedom ring”
In a new letter, 40 former Justice Department officials, who served under presidents of both parties, endorsed Kamala Harris for President.
Among those who signed the letter are former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former deputy attorneys general Sally Yates, David Ogden and
Alexander Hamilton hoped we would avoid characters w. "talents for low intrigue &the little arts of popularity;” shun “tumult &disorder;” &remain on guard against foreign powers that want to gain influence by “raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union”
Found in 1 participant's truck were an M4 assault rifle, multiple loaded magazines, 3 handguns & 11 Mason jars of homemade napalm
In another man's motel room, the FBI found a Tavor X95 assault rifle, a 9mm Glock 19 handgun, 100 rounds of ammo,THC edibles & injectable testosterone
AP investigation into backgrounds of 120 people show the insurrectionist mob summoned by President Trump included GOP party officials, political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists, felons, military officers and QAnon believers.
Remember: in “Newspeak there is no word for ‘Science’.The empirical method of thought on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed”to its fundamental principles. Its aim is to extinguish critical thinking &”deny the existence of objective reality”
Trump’s incessant lying, the incomprehensible gibberish, the preposterous QAnon conspiracy theories, the dog whistles &hate talk - it’s almost literally “Newspeak” from Orwell’s 1984, complete with “doublethink” (“IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”) and grotesque efforts at “reality control”
Hannah Arendt in “The Origins of Totalitarianism”: “totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”
The Trump White House and its allies, over the past 18 months, assembled detailed lists of disloyal government officials to oust — and trusted pro-Trump people to replace them — according to more than a dozen sources familiar with the effort.
The White House is blocking CDC officials from testifying next week at a hearing on reopening schools, according to the House Education and Labor Committee.
via
@politico
In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned of "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men" who might try "to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion"
Barry: “if there is a single dominant lesson from 1918, it’s that governments need to tell the truth in a crisis...Those in authority must retain the public’s trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one”
NYT review of John M. Barry’s 2004 book about the devastating flu pandemic of 1918:
“The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History.”
My new book “The Death of Truth” - about Trump’s assault on truth, reason and the rule of law; the fallout of the Russian “firehouse of falsehood;” and the threat to democracy - is available today.