Universalism versus Nihilism: the True Divide in American Politics
It is imperative that the nihilism destroying our society be named and confronted directly if we are to have any kind of future.
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White Fragility Comes to the Naval Academy
Treating America’s soldiers and sailors like scared children, too delicate to read a history of lynching, shows the administration’s deep contempt for them.
Why We Need a Reconstruction of the Liberal Public Sphere
How media systems work, how ours came to be, and where we go from here.
Attacks on Higher Ed and the New Illiberal Electorate
The right-wing destruction of American higher education institutions is a strategic move. Liberals need to answer with a strategy of their own.
Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt's Nazi Staffer
Nathan Hochman was fired from the DeSantis campaign for making a transparently neoNazi video featuring the Governor, and has only doubled down on his white nationalism since.
The Banality of Complicity: Arendt's Guide to Moral Resistance in the Age of Trump
Even in seemingly powerless positions, the choice to withdraw one’s support from corrupt systems remains a meaningful assertion of humanity.
The New York Times Launders Another Fascist
Misogyny, racism, and antisemitism all were glossed over in Ross Douthat's softball interview of Jonathan Keeperman.
Showing Their Buts: the False Compassion of the Concerned
“Compassion is important, but,” a beautiful turn of phrase that calls to mind the immortal words of the great leader Eddard Stark. Everything before the word "but" is horseshit.
Article II as Suicide Pact
Justice Robert Jackson's fear that "doctrinaire logic" could turn the Constitution into a "suicide pact" was warranted, but the Bill of Rights is not the problem.
Unfit to Be the Ruler of a Free People: The Anti-American Presidency of Donald Trump
The Trump administration is an affront to everything good that America has become and everything America has ever sought to be.
Two Paths to Immortality: Some Civic Religion for Nonbelievers
Reactionary immortality projects explain a lot about American political culture—above all why and how we Americans choose to panic.
The Grift Society
Where neoliberalism required at least the performance of adherence to impersonal rules, the grift economy revels in the scam of it all.