Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
So many stories in presidential politics, in all politics, are more sound and fury than substance. This one isn’t. It’s hard to overstate how big a deal it is. Donald Trump caught a lot of grief during the primaries for putting several of his companies through bankruptcies during his career. He’s also made a point…
Today on the internet, some ordinary Americans who are very thrilled about their forthcoming offspring are expressing their excitement in a creative and highly American manner. That is to say, they are filling boxes with colored powder, and then shooting the boxes from afar with heavy artillery. The box blows up, showering the world with…
I think everyone is badly misinterpreting this tweet from Donald Trump: Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016 This is not an awkward and embarrassing outreach to Hispanics. It’s not aimed at Hispanics at all. It’s aimed…
Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty It’s Trump versus Clinton. It’s a well-funded mainstream Democrat against a widely reviled demagogue who will struggle to earn the support of his party’s donor base. It’s a man whose every public utterance is potential negative ad waiting to be cut, versus the most cautious candidate in modern memory. The…
On Thursday afternoon, presumptive Republican Party nominee Donald Trump threw the content creators of digital media some literal red meat. He tweeted a photo of himself enjoying a taco bowl for lunch, adding a typically ham-fisted assurance that, contrary to popular belief, he “love[s] Hispanics.” This is not an article about that tweet. This is an article…
Mediator By JIM RUTENBERG Wrong, wrong, wrong — to the very end, we got it wrong. Just a couple of weeks ago, political prognosticators in television and print media were describing Indiana as the “most important test” for Donald J. Trump and a “firewall” where Ted Cruz “should do well.” It was one of those…
“I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now,” the Wisconsin Republican told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” in an interview. Ryan’s position makes him the highest-level GOP official to reject Trump since the real estate mogul became the last candidate standing in the party’s nominating contest. His…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016 Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI After insulting and demeaning Mexican people for months and threatening to build an even bigger wall around their border with the US, Trump has come to realize that in…
(updated below: Thurs.) Trying to predict the future can be fun, which is why — from office sports pools to stock market speculation — many do it. Generally, though, people make such predictions with at least some humility: with the knowledge that they do not actually know what the future holds. But not America’s beloved political pundits. When they pronounce…
One of the great stories of 2016 is how Donald Trump hacked the media: how he learned from the New York tabloids and The Apprentice; how he dictated terms to the weakened television networks; how he used Twitter and won Facebook. Those are complex questions that we will argue about for decades. Here is a…