“Trump is morally and constitutionally illiterate—a vile plutocrat—but he is no evil genius.” Read More
“That’s a loss for Americans, who, in any case, hardly know how to make a subtle or nuanced film anymore.” Read More
“The former president is but a symptom of a deeper degradation in the body politic.” Read More
As Arenas told me, “when something is cheap, someone somewhere is paying for it.” Read More
“So much cruelty could have been avoided with a modicum of understanding of the realities of war.” Read More
“The damage done to Kyiv and Mariupol is visible to the naked eye, but many other horrors continue in the shadows when a big crisis takes over the media.”
While I am one of the critics who saw NATO expansion into former Soviet bloc countries as a dangerous provocation to Vladimir Putin, I’m stunned by his savagery, and by…
“How best to respond to the threat from the extreme right, given the sudden rise of Zemmour, whose level of support verges on 14 percent?” Read More
“How to explain the Democrats’ sudden switch from free-trade dogma to free-trade restrictions?” Read More
I would have preferred those few moments of silent reflection to be multiplied by ten, if only to encourage the political and media leadership to shut up and think about…
“I get impatient reading too many points of view that are similar to my own.” Read More
Michael Pollan’s new collection of journalism, This is Your Mind on Plants, recounts for the first time publicly the story of his decision to leave out key passages of his…
“How did these clever policymakers in Congress—supported by hundreds of academic economists—achieve their ambitions?” Read More
“Apparently, the assassin who killed Bernie Sanders’ presidential aspirations and his popular appeal for Medicare for All is now donning the clothing of a New Deal social democrat.”
“How did the Trump Administration manage to succeed where France had failed so spectacularly? How can it be that 56 percent of American adults are now vaccinated against COVID-19 compared…
Remembering the humor, warmth, and precision of the talented linguist Read More
“So what is to be done about our 74 million fellow citizens who voted for a crook, and about the boisterous minority among them who would be willing to follow…
“When I traveled from Paris to Prague in 1983, I deliberately took the train because I wanted to pass through the Iron Curtain overland, to feel the fear of being…
“The sordid self-interest that warps the public sphere in the United States didn’t begin with Trump in the White House.” Read More
Such fervent admiration for a man who openly traffics in swindles and lies—where did it come from? Read More
“The reputation of the Times as a left-wing newspaper has led it to make some absurd efforts in justifying its new status as a progressive beacon. . . .”
“Why wait to read reports that appeared on the website of France’s leading daily the previous day?” Read More