by Peter Simon | Jul 20, 2016 | Culture, Politics |
Day Two of the Republican National Convention opened (in the world of journalism, at least) with apocalyptic discussions of one of the weightiest and most crucial political topics of the day — did two or three sentences from Melania Trump’s remarks the day before too...
by Peter Simon | Jul 19, 2016 | Culture, Politics |
Any week of a Republican National Convention can be expected to be a week of Republicans comparing the presumptive nominee to the descent of the Messiah. This is not that sort of week, for the nominee in question is Donald Trump, breaker of norms, nationalist...
by Peter Simon | Jul 6, 2016 | Culture, Politics |
What is it about Donald Trump’s use of language that is such a shock? He seems incapable of making so much as a casual remark about the weather without sending the whole of the East Coast Literati into torrential avalanches of Hitler metaphor. One can dismiss the...
by Peter Simon | May 19, 2016 | Culture, Ideology, Politics |
Thomas Edsall often seems a cut above other Times writers because he likes to shore up his case with numbers. The problem is, making a case involves more than finding supporting data: it means seeking out all the data, including any data that disconfirms your...
by Peter Simon | May 9, 2016 | Culture, Ephemera, Politics |
Certain writers, correct or not, are valuable and a joy to read. (G. K. Chesterton, for instance, with whom I agree less and less each year, but whose every page is sparkling.) Yes, style salvages substance, if one applies enough of it. Andrew Sullivan has style....
by Peter Simon | May 2, 2016 | Culture, Politics |
Thomas Edsall’s latest article in the New York Times, How The Other Fifth Lives, nicely adds some data to what is usually an over-moralized subject. But unfortunately not a lot. Analysis of a disease — at least clarification of its key terms — should...
