newyorker--2020-05-16--What to Stream: Forty-four Standout Movies from Cannes Film Festivals Past

The Cannes Film Festival , which would have been taking place now , is like the Oscars for art-house films : it usually gets things wrong , runs more according to dollars than sense , but nonetheless brings welcome attention to many great films—albeit only a small sliver of those they should be paying attention to .
Last year ’ s main slate had an extraordinarily rich bunch of movies , including “ Atlantics , ” “ Bacurau , ” and “ Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
” This year ’ s edition was supposed to feature the première @ @ @ @ @ @ @ French Dispatch ” ; now this year ’ s festival has been cancelled ( though a list of films that have been selected and would have screened will be announced in June ) .
In lieu of the real thing , here is a list of some of the best from the festival since its establishment , in 1946 .
These selections , like Cannes ’ s programming over all , give only a partial and skewed picture of what ’ s best in world cinema , but they offer many delights that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
( I ’ ve added a few titles from the festival ’ s sidebar sections , such as the Director ’ s Fortnight and Un Certain Regard , for a fuller view of the art . )
1 .
“ Alexandra ” : Alexander Sokurov ’ s drama , about an elderly woman who endures an arduous journey to visit her grandson at an army base , daringly confronts the cruelties of Russia ’ s war in Chechnya .
( Streaming options . )
2 .
“ All About Eve ” : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the theatre to reveal the powers of the cinema and delights in the pretenses of actors to reveal their authentic art .
( Streaming options . )
3 .
“ L ’ Argent ” : Robert Bresson ’ s last film , an adaptation of a story by Tolstoy , connects one young man ’ s wrongful prosecution to the deep-rooted corruption of the social order .
( Streaming options . )
4 .
“ L ’ Avventura ” : This drama by Michelangelo Antonioni is the one in which he expanded his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of cinematic storytelling .
( Streaming options . )
5 .
“ Behind the Candelabra ” : Steven Soderbergh ’ s bio-pic about Liberace , starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon , is one of his best movies but fell by the wayside of film history when it was released on HBO rather than in theatres .
( Streaming options . )
6 .
“ Black God , White Devil ” : The Brazilian director Glauber Rocha ’ s ferocious drama of a revolutionary bandit and a religious pilgrimage fuses political confrontation with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ options . )
7 .
“ Cléo from 5 to 7 ” : Agnès Varda ’ s second feature , about a singer awaiting the results of a medical test , maps her private torments onto the street life and the artistic energy of Paris .
( Streaming options . )
8 .
“ The Connection ” : For her first feature , Shirley Clarke expanded Jack Gelber ’ s play about jazz musicians waiting for a drug dealer by adding a documentary filmmaker into the mix and turning it into a metafiction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cannes selection , it was screened there in 1961 at the behest of a group of French critics ; owing to its acclaim , the festival established , the following year , a critics ’ -week section , which still exists .
( Streaming options . )
9 .
“ The Dead Don ’ t Die ” : Jim Jarmusch ’ s zombie film , starring Adam Driver , Bill Murray , Chloë Sevigny , and Tilda Swinton , is a giddy , gory , furious and playfully self-referential comedy about ecological apocalypse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Detective Story ” : Kirk Douglas , Eleanor Parker , William Bendix , and Lee Grant star in William Wyler ’ s police drama , which is centered on the illegality and the stigma of abortion .
( Streaming options . )
11 .
“ The Fiancés ” : In Ermanno Olmi ’ s drama about a young Italian laborer whose promising new job takes him far from his fiancée , the stresses of social life are fused with intimate tensions through audacious narrative fragmentation .
( Streaming options . )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ : For his first feature , François Truffaut won the award for Best Director at the 1959 festival the year after he ’ d been banned for his sharp criticism of the event ’ s programming .
( Streaming options . )
13 .
“ Frankie ” : Isabelle Huppert ’ s aura of command is at its most radiant in this graceful and exquisitely composed drama of an ailing actress during a final family vacation .
( Streaming options . )
14 .
“ Good Time ” : Robert Pattinson stars in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drama from the streets of Queens , about a heist gone wrong amid the biggest scam of all , a political one .
( Streaming options . )
15 .
“ Le Grand Amour ” : Pierre Étaix is one of the great physical comedians—and social critics—of the French cinema ; this comedy takes a scathing look at bourgeois marital mores in a provincial town .
( Streaming options . )
16 .
“ Grigris ” : The night life and underworld of N ’ Djamena , the capital of Chad , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun , about political corruption and the broken medical system .
( Streaming options . )
17 .
“ Heaven ’ s Gate ” : Michael Cimino ’ s vast historical and political Western , a drama about anti-immigrant hatred , is an unjustly maligned masterwork ; it was enthusiastically received when it premièred at the festival , in 1980 , only to be met with rabidly negative reviews when it opened in the United States later that year .
( Streaming options . )
18 .
“ Holy Motors ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , about an actor ’ s impassioned impersonations , is both a fervent collaboration with the actor Denis Lavant and an exaltation of the transformative power of the cinema .
( Streaming options . )
19 .
“ Home from the Hill ” : This Texas melodrama by Vincente Minnelli is both a seething view of the economic and racial tensions that prevailed there and a high point in his exploration of the inner lives of lost boys .
( Streaming options . )
20 .
“ Hyenas ” : Djibril Diop Mambéty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this drama of a now-wealthy woman ’ s return to her home town in Senegal in search of revenge .
( Streaming options . )
21 .
“ The Immigrant ” : James Gray developed this pugnacious and meticulously nuanced drama , about a Polish immigrant ( Marion Cotillard ) on the Lower East Side in the nineteen-twenties , from stories of his own family ’ s past .
( Streaming options . )
22 .
“ Jeanne Dielman , 23 Quai du Commerce , 1080 Bruxelles ” : The “ Citizen Kane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Akerman made at the age of twenty-four .
( Streaming options . )
23 .
“ Lorna ’ s Silence ” : The Dardenne brothers , Jean-Pierre and Luc , intensify their symbolic realism with theatrical devices in this drama of an Albanian immigrant ’ s trouble with gangsters in Belgium .
( Streaming options . )
24 .
“ Modesty Blaise ” : Joseph Losey ’ s wildly ornamental adaptation of a famous comic strip is both a bold 007 parody starring Monica Vitti and one of the most gleefully cartoon-like live-action @ @ @ @ @ @ @ )

The Cannes Film Festival, which would have been taking place now, is like the Oscars for art-house films: it usually gets things wrong, runs more according to dollars than sense, but nonetheless brings welcome attention to many great films—albeit only a small sliver of those they should be paying attention to. Last year’s main slate had an extraordinarily rich bunch of movies, including “Atlantics,” “Bacurau,” and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” This year’s edition was supposed to feature the première of Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch”; now this year’s festival has been cancelled (though a list of films that have been selected and would have screened will be announced in June). In lieu of the real thing, here is a list of some of the best from the festival since its establishment, in 1946. These selections, like Cannes’s programming over all, give only a partial and skewed picture of what’s best in world cinema, but they offer many delights that are worthy of inclusion in that pantheon. (I’ve added a few titles from the festival’s sidebar sections, such as the Director’s Fortnight and Un Certain Regard, for a fuller view of the art.)
1. “Alexandra”: Alexander Sokurov’s drama, about an elderly woman who endures an arduous journey to visit her grandson at an army base, daringly confronts the cruelties of Russia’s war in Chechnya. (Streaming options.)
2. “All About Eve”: Joseph Mankiewicz relies on the passions of the theatre to reveal the powers of the cinema and delights in the pretenses of actors to reveal their authentic art. (Streaming options.)
3. “L’Argent”: Robert Bresson’s last film, an adaptation of a story by Tolstoy, connects one young man’s wrongful prosecution to the deep-rooted corruption of the social order. (Streaming options.)
4. “L’Avventura”: This drama by Michelangelo Antonioni is the one in which he expanded his distinctive aesthetic philosophy into a new mode of cinematic storytelling. (Streaming options.)
5. “Behind the Candelabra”: Steven Soderbergh’s bio-pic about Liberace, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, is one of his best movies but fell by the wayside of film history when it was released on HBO rather than in theatres. (Streaming options.)
6. “Black God, White Devil”: The Brazilian director Glauber Rocha’s ferocious drama of a revolutionary bandit and a religious pilgrimage fuses political confrontation with the majesty of legend. (Streaming options.)
7. “Cléo from 5 to 7”: Agnès Varda’s second feature, about a singer awaiting the results of a medical test, maps her private torments onto the street life and the artistic energy of Paris. (Streaming options.)
8. “The Connection”: For her first feature, Shirley Clarke expanded Jack Gelber’s play about jazz musicians waiting for a drug dealer by adding a documentary filmmaker into the mix and turning it into a metafiction. Though not originally part of the Cannes selection, it was screened there in 1961 at the behest of a group of French critics; owing to its acclaim, the festival established, the following year, a critics’-week section, which still exists. (Streaming options.)
Adam Driver in “The Dead Don’t Die.” Photograph from Focus Features / Alamy
9. “The Dead Don’t Die”: Jim Jarmusch’s zombie film, starring Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny, and Tilda Swinton, is a giddy, gory, furious and playfully self-referential comedy about ecological apocalypse. (Streaming options.)
10. “Detective Story”: Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, and Lee Grant star in William Wyler’s police drama, which is centered on the illegality and the stigma of abortion. (Streaming options.)
11. “The Fiancés”: In Ermanno Olmi’s drama about a young Italian laborer whose promising new job takes him far from his fiancée, the stresses of social life are fused with intimate tensions through audacious narrative fragmentation. (Streaming options.)
12. “The 400 Blows”: For his first feature, François Truffaut won the award for Best Director at the 1959 festival the year after he’d been banned for his sharp criticism of the event’s programming. (Streaming options.)
13. “Frankie”: Isabelle Huppert’s aura of command is at its most radiant in this graceful and exquisitely composed drama of an ailing actress during a final family vacation. (Streaming options.)
14. “Good Time”: Robert Pattinson stars in Josh and Benny Safdie’s crime drama from the streets of Queens, about a heist gone wrong amid the biggest scam of all, a political one. (Streaming options.)
15. “Le Grand Amour”: Pierre Étaix is one of the great physical comedians—and social critics—of the French cinema; this comedy takes a scathing look at bourgeois marital mores in a provincial town. (Streaming options.)
16. “Grigris”: The night life and underworld of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, is the setting for this turbulent drama, by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, about political corruption and the broken medical system. (Streaming options.)
17. “Heaven’s Gate”: Michael Cimino’s vast historical and political Western, a drama about anti-immigrant hatred, is an unjustly maligned masterwork; it was enthusiastically received when it premièred at the festival, in 1980, only to be met with rabidly negative reviews when it opened in the United States later that year. (Streaming options.)
18. “Holy Motors”: Leos Carax’s visionary drama, about an actor’s impassioned impersonations, is both a fervent collaboration with the actor Denis Lavant and an exaltation of the transformative power of the cinema. (Streaming options.)
19. “Home from the Hill”: This Texas melodrama by Vincente Minnelli is both a seething view of the economic and racial tensions that prevailed there and a high point in his exploration of the inner lives of lost boys. (Streaming options.)
Ami Diakhate in “Hyenas.” Photograph from Alamy
20. “Hyenas”: Djibril Diop Mambéty adapted a play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt for this drama of a now-wealthy woman’s return to her home town in Senegal in search of revenge. (Streaming options.)
21. “The Immigrant”: James Gray developed this pugnacious and meticulously nuanced drama, about a Polish immigrant (Marion Cotillard) on the Lower East Side in the nineteen-twenties, from stories of his own family’s past. (Streaming options.)
22. “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”: The “Citizen Kane” of cinematic modernism, which Chantal Akerman made at the age of twenty-four. (Streaming options.)
23. “Lorna’s Silence”: The Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, intensify their symbolic realism with theatrical devices in this drama of an Albanian immigrant’s trouble with gangsters in Belgium. (Streaming options.)
24. “Modesty Blaise”: Joseph Losey’s wildly ornamental adaptation of a famous comic strip is both a bold 007 parody starring Monica Vitti and one of the most gleefully cartoon-like live-action movies ever. (Streaming options.)
25. “Mon Oncle”: Jacques Tati’s comedy about the influx of technological modernism into domestic life looks longingly at the waning days of small-town pleasures. (Streaming options.)
26. “Moonrise Kingdom”: Wes Anderson’s lyrical confection of young love in the mid-sixties is also a grand vision of historic changes in mores. (Streaming options.)
27. “The Neon Bible”: Terence Davies’s adaptation of a novel by John Kennedy Toole stars Gena Rowlands in a tale of a young man’s artistic apprenticeship. (Streaming options.)
28. “Night Across the Street”: The last film that Raúl Ruiz completed is a warmly nostalgic reminiscence of childhood and an extravagantly imaginative vision of death. (Streaming options.)
29. “Rome, Open City”: Roberto Rossellini’s drama of the Italian Resistance in the waning days of the Second World War inaugurated a new era of politically engaged and locally rooted cinema. (Streaming options.)
30. “The Roof”: Vittorio De Sica’s drama about a poor family’s effort to build their own home turns their struggle inside out with a closely analytical look at the legal and administrative obstacles that they confront. (Streaming options.)
A scene from Bruno Dumont’s “Slack Bay.” Photograph from Alamy
31. “Slack Bay”: More comedy, more horror: Bruno Dumont fuses the drawing-room comedy of high-society fops and a tale of cannibalism among local fishermen for an ingenious cross-section of class and gender conflicts in turn-of-the-twentieth-century France. (Streaming options.)
32. “A Story from Chikamatsu”: Kenji Mizoguchi’s passionate drama about lovers separated by unjust legal and familial authority holds Japanese culture and tradition to sharp scrutiny while exalting the transcendent power of love. (Streaming options.)


newyorker--2020-05-16--The Trump Campaign Brings Its Angry Tone to the Coronavirus Era

Donald Trump , Jr. , the President ’ s eldest son , thinks that his father is getting a raw deal .
In a recent appearance on “ Team Trump Online ” —a nightly video series that serves as a substitute for campaign rallies and often attracts more than a million viewers—he complained that his father is having to wage war against “ the deep-state guys ” and unchecked attacks from “ influencers on the other side.
” He said that each reporter at the White House briefings “ has an agenda , and that is to destroy Donald Trump.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ remember where he is fifty per cent of the time , ” Trump , Jr. , said , but he can count on the “ media lackeys ” who are the “ marketing wing of the Democrat Party.
” The Democrats , he added , are “ becoming the party of socialism and communism.
” That includes Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib— “ you know , the Hamas caucus in Congress.
” As for the COVID-19 outbreak , which has caused more than eighty thousand deaths in the U.S. to date , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the whole world.
” Venom and victimization largely define the President ’ s public persona , and the same holds true for the online campaign .
Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in early March , and the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to barnstorming a few weeks later , but the rhetoric of Trump ’ s campaign has barely budged .
On March 12th , as the coronavirus crisis was taking hold in the United States , it e-mailed its supporters a photograph of Trump , ruddy face fully made up , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sitting behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office , looking steely .
The e-mail said that there is “ no room for partisanship , and the President is calling on both parties in Congress to unite.
” The very next day , when Trump declared a national emergency , the campaign reverted to form , blasting “ Sleepy Joe ” and “ Crazy Bernie.
” Last weekend , after the Justice Department dropped its charges against Michael Flynn , Trump ’ s former national-security adviser , who had twice pleaded guilty to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crowed , in a fund-raising text , “ Justice for Gen Flynn !
A WITCH HUNT from day 1 !
ALL GIFTS TRIPLED TO DRAIN THE SWAMP.
” Anyone who has attended Trump ’ s rallies , where thousands of fans in MAGA hats whoop and cheer at his insults and diatribes , can attest that the President , ever a showman , knows how to play to his target audiences .
And , yet , as Biden edges into the lead in key states , such as Wisconsin , Pennsylvania , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ questioning whether Trump ’ s perennial pitch can carry him to victory on November 3rd .
His political base is loyal but narrow .
When Democrats scored heavily in the suburbs in the 2018 midterms , and captured a majority in the House of Representatives , it was women voters who made the difference .
A recent Quinnipiac poll in Florida showed Trump lagging behind Biden among women , and also among two groups that delivered crucial support in 2016 : voters over the age of sixty-five and voters who dislike both candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the director of the Quinnipiac poll , about the survey , he said that Biden does better among both groups on honesty , leadership , and empathy .
“ These numbers are a warning sign for his campaign , ” Schwartz said of the President .
The Trump campaign brags about an army of field organizers , the cell-phone numbers of tens of millions of supporters , and a new app that connects voters to news , virtual events , and volunteer opportunities , from fund-raising to voter registration .
Each is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effort , which relied on his outsized personality , his televised rallies , and the power of social media .
The current operation , led by Brad Parscale , who ran Trump ’ s successful Facebook marketing campaign in 2016 , has raised more than seven hundred and thirty million dollars .
In cash-on-hand , Biden lags tens of millions of dollars behind .
“ It ’ s not like a campaign of grievance and anger and fear hasn ’ t been a pillar of American politics since there was an American politics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pollster who worked on Barack Obama ’ s Presidential campaigns , said .
“ That ’ s exactly how Trump won.
” Republicans are right to be worried , Belcher added , but even as Trump struggles to expand his base COVID-19 and the plunging economy are making predictions difficult .
“ Given that environment , where people are afraid and anxious—and understandably so—can you count out a candidate peddling grievance and fear ?
” In hundreds of different versions of its standard pitch , Trump ’ s campaign complains , boasts , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surrogates , and the campaign staff spray a familiar buckshot of belittling nicknames and insults at a cast that includes “ Sleepy Joe , ” “ Crazy Bernie , ” and “ Crooked Hillary , ” who were recently joined by “ Cheatin ’ Obama.
” An e-mail on Monday , targeting Biden , asked supporters to “ show the Left that you REJECT their corrupt candidate , ” while one on Friday called Biden “ a certified CROOK.
” During a recent “ Team Trump Online ” broadcast , Parscale bragged about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paper that I use every time I ’ m in a bad mood .
I have boxes of it , and I take it into the bathroom , and it ’ s just enjoyable.
” Another regular target is the “ Lamestream ” media , the “ enemy of the people , ” ever in cahoots with “ the Radical Left-wing MOB.
” Together , Trump warned in an e-mail earlier this year , these elements are pushing a “ non-stop propaganda campaign of LIES to try and destroy me.
” With nary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump slams “ the establishment , ” along with the “ Hollywood elite ” and “ foreign enemies , ” declaring , in one solicitation , “ They all HATE you , and that ’ s why they want to steal your vote .
It ’ s US against THEM.
” The April 27th “ Team Trump Online ” session was led by Katrina Pierson , a former Tea Party activist , whose guests included Representative Dan Crenshaw , a military veteran from Texas .
She described Barack Obama as a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ viewers that Democrats “ will lie through their teeth .
They ’ re doing it all the time.
” In its texts and e-mails , the campaign seeks donations and valuable voter contact information by offering a steady supply of Trump-branded merchandise , from football jerseys , Christmas ornaments , and doormats to plastic straws , a swipe at liberal locales that have been banning them to help the environment .
The offers have continued unabated during the COVID-19 crisis .
Last Saturday , the campaign wrote supporters to say Trump knows that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Americans from all across the Nation.
” The e-mail said that the President is grateful for “ your unwavering support ” and wants to do “ something special for you to show how much your loyalty means to him.
” The message continued , “ He ’ s asked us to give you EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to get our Official Trump-Pence Pint Glasses.
” The cost for a set : thirty-one dollars .
“ But , we have an extremely limited supply , so we can only hold them until 11:59 PM TONIGHT.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ former head of the marketing agency Y .
& R. , to assess the Trump campaign as a marketing effort .
“ His base loves it , ” said Sable , who explained that Trump has “ brand power ” derived from what he called the “ brand experience , ” which is part show , part substance .
“ The key is to get those people to recruit other people .
If you can do that , you ’ re way ahead of the game .
That ’ s basically the way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to Sable , Trump ’ s team , to its credit , “ understands simplicity.
” The “ Make America Great Again ” message , in 2016 , was straightforward , and so is the “ Keep America Great ” message in 2020 , according to Sable : “ At the end of the day , I ’ ve done a great job , I will continue to do a great job , and I will fix this to get back to the great job I was doing .
”

Donald Trump, Jr., the President’s eldest son, thinks that his father is getting a raw deal. In a recent appearance on “Team Trump Online”—a nightly video series that serves as a substitute for campaign rallies and often attracts more than a million viewers—he complained that his father is having to wage war against “the deep-state guys” and unchecked attacks from “influencers on the other side.” He said that each reporter at the White House briefings “has an agenda, and that is to destroy Donald Trump.” Joe Biden “can’t remember where he is fifty per cent of the time,” Trump, Jr., said, but he can count on the “media lackeys” who are the “marketing wing of the Democrat Party.” The Democrats, he added, are “becoming the party of socialism and communism.” That includes Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib—“you know, the Hamas caucus in Congress.” As for the COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused more than eighty thousand deaths in the U.S. to date, he said, “China basically screwed the whole world.”
Venom and victimization largely define the President’s public persona, and the same holds true for the online campaign. Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in early March, and the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to barnstorming a few weeks later, but the rhetoric of Trump’s campaign has barely budged. On March 12th, as the coronavirus crisis was taking hold in the United States, it e-mailed its supporters a photograph of Trump, ruddy face fully made up, a flag pin in his lapel, sitting behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office, looking steely. The e-mail said that there is “no room for partisanship, and the President is calling on both parties in Congress to unite.” The very next day, when Trump declared a national emergency, the campaign reverted to form, blasting “Sleepy Joe” and “Crazy Bernie.” Last weekend, after the Justice Department dropped its charges against Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national-security adviser, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I., the campaign crowed, in a fund-raising text, “Justice for Gen Flynn! A WITCH HUNT from day 1! ALL GIFTS TRIPLED TO DRAIN THE SWAMP.”
Anyone who has attended Trump’s rallies, where thousands of fans in MAGA hats whoop and cheer at his insults and diatribes, can attest that the President, ever a showman, knows how to play to his target audiences. And, yet, as Biden edges into the lead in key states, such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida, pollsters and political strategists are questioning whether Trump’s perennial pitch can carry him to victory on November 3rd. His political base is loyal but narrow. When Democrats scored heavily in the suburbs in the 2018 midterms, and captured a majority in the House of Representatives, it was women voters who made the difference. A recent Quinnipiac poll in Florida showed Trump lagging behind Biden among women, and also among two groups that delivered crucial support in 2016: voters over the age of sixty-five and voters who dislike both candidates. When I asked Douglas Schwartz, the director of the Quinnipiac poll, about the survey, he said that Biden does better among both groups on honesty, leadership, and empathy. “These numbers are a warning sign for his campaign,” Schwartz said of the President.
The Trump campaign brags about an army of field organizers, the cell-phone numbers of tens of millions of supporters, and a new app that connects voters to news, virtual events, and volunteer opportunities, from fund-raising to voter registration. Each is a significant upgrade from Trump’s 2016 effort, which relied on his outsized personality, his televised rallies, and the power of social media. The current operation, led by Brad Parscale, who ran Trump’s successful Facebook marketing campaign in 2016, has raised more than seven hundred and thirty million dollars. In cash-on-hand, Biden lags tens of millions of dollars behind. “It’s not like a campaign of grievance and anger and fear hasn’t been a pillar of American politics since there was an American politics,” Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster who worked on Barack Obama’s Presidential campaigns, said. “That’s exactly how Trump won.” Republicans are right to be worried, Belcher added, but even as Trump struggles to expand his base COVID-19 and the plunging economy are making predictions difficult. “Given that environment, where people are afraid and anxious—and understandably so—can you count out a candidate peddling grievance and fear?”
In hundreds of different versions of its standard pitch, Trump’s campaign complains, boasts, and beseeches. The President, his surrogates, and the campaign staff spray a familiar buckshot of belittling nicknames and insults at a cast that includes “Sleepy Joe,” “Crazy Bernie,” and “Crooked Hillary,” who were recently joined by “Cheatin’ Obama.” An e-mail on Monday, targeting Biden, asked supporters to “show the Left that you REJECT their corrupt candidate,” while one on Friday called Biden “a certified CROOK.” During a recent “Team Trump Online” broadcast, Parscale bragged about “a roll of Hillary Clinton toilet paper that I use every time I’m in a bad mood. I have boxes of it, and I take it into the bathroom, and it’s just enjoyable.”
Another regular target is the “Lamestream” media, the “enemy of the people,” ever in cahoots with “the Radical Left-wing MOB.” Together, Trump warned in an e-mail earlier this year, these elements are pushing a “non-stop propaganda campaign of LIES to try and destroy me.” With nary a mention of his own wealthy backers, Trump slams “the establishment,” along with the “Hollywood elite” and “foreign enemies,” declaring, in one solicitation, “They all HATE you, and that’s why they want to steal your vote. It’s US against THEM.” The April 27th “Team Trump Online” session was led by Katrina Pierson, a former Tea Party activist, whose guests included Representative Dan Crenshaw, a military veteran from Texas. She described Barack Obama as a “faint-hearted” Commander-in-Chief, while Crenshaw told viewers that Democrats “will lie through their teeth. They’re doing it all the time.”
In its texts and e-mails, the campaign seeks donations and valuable voter contact information by offering a steady supply of Trump-branded merchandise, from football jerseys, Christmas ornaments, and doormats to plastic straws, a swipe at liberal locales that have been banning them to help the environment. The offers have continued unabated during the COVID-19 crisis. Last Saturday, the campaign wrote supporters to say Trump knows that recent weeks have been “extremely difficult for Americans from all across the Nation.” The e-mail said that the President is grateful for “your unwavering support” and wants to do “something special for you to show how much your loyalty means to him.” The message continued, “He’s asked us to give you EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to get our Official Trump-Pence Pint Glasses.” The cost for a set: thirty-one dollars. “But, we have an extremely limited supply, so we can only hold them until 11:59 PM TONIGHT.”
I asked David Sable, the former head of the marketing agency Y. & R., to assess the Trump campaign as a marketing effort. “His base loves it,” said Sable, who explained that Trump has “brand power” derived from what he called the “brand experience,” which is part show, part substance. “The key is to get those people to recruit other people. If you can do that, you’re way ahead of the game. That’s basically the way the guy operates,” Sable said. According to Sable, Trump’s team, to its credit, “understands simplicity.” The “Make America Great Again” message, in 2016, was straightforward, and so is the “Keep America Great” message in 2020, according to Sable: “At the end of the day, I’ve done a great job, I will continue to do a great job, and I will fix this to get back to the great job I was doing.”
Trump has repeatedly bragged about his Administration’s leadership during the pandemic. In April, as governors were shutting down their states and complaining of a slipshod federal response, Trump said his Administration was doing a “spectacular job.” He predicted that the economy will take off “like a rocket ship.” The message of once and future success is a hallmark of the nightly “Team Trump Online” broadcasts, led by surrogates from their homes. On one recent show, hosted by Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Representative Matt Gaetz asserted that Americans miss the “optimism fuelled by the energy of our enthusiastic President.” On another night, the Reverend Robert Jeffress, a Fox News contributor who leads the First Baptist Church in Dallas, said that Trump had quoted Isaiah 60:2 to faith leaders on Good Friday. Jeffress expressed his gratitude for a President who acknowledges dark times “but is an optimistic leader who points us to the future.”


newyorker--2020-05-17--Riz Ahmed Is Rethinking What Matters

Riz Ahmed Is Rethinking What Matters

When Riz Ahmed decided to make an album and a short film about “ being broken up with by the country you live in , ” he had a landscape of inspiration to choose from : Brexit in the United Kingdom , the election of Donald Trump in the United States , state-sanctioned violence against Muslims in India .
Ahmed has long made smart , playful music , from the single “ Post 9/11 Blues , ” in 2006 , to the album “ Cashmere , ” from 2016 , which he released as part of the hip-hop group Swet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Heems .
But he may be best known for his exhilarating work as an actor , in films like “ Four Lions , ” “ Nightcrawler , ” and “ Rogue One : A Star Wars Story , ” and in television shows like “ The Night Of ” and “ Girls.
” His début solo LP , “ The Long Goodbye , ” came out in March , as the coronavirus crisis swallowed most countries ’ other concerns , including the matter of Brexit .
But Ahmed has not lost sight of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brought into relief .
He begins the album with the lines “ Britain ’ s broken up with me / We had our ups / But now it ’ s broken down / Lem me break down the whole fuckery.
” The album ’ s extended breakup metaphor goes in emotional , reflective , and often funny directions .
In one interlude , Mindy Kaling leaves Ahmed a “ voice mail ” encouraging him to take half in the breakup ; in another , Mahershala Ali tells him not to let rejection and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spends time wrestling with the idea of home .
His family hails from Pakistan , but Ahmed was born and grew up in northwest London , and he went to Oxford for college .
( “ Did they ask you where you from ?
/ No , where you really from ?
/ The question seems simple , but the answer ’ s kinda long , ” he raps on the album . )
In lieu of an album tour , he has been hosting a series of discussions about art and mental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hopping on his friends ’ online events , such as an open-mike night hosted by the poet Rupi Kaur .
But , like many of us , Ahmed is also restless at home , releasing the evidence of his quarantine buzz cut and nostalgically posting his fight scenes with Tom Hardy from the movie “ Venom , ” while joking about the days of being able to touch others .
He ’ s riding out the lockdown in the U.K. , which he still considers his only home .
We spoke via FaceTime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was in my apartment , in Brooklyn , and Ahmed was at his place in London .
Our conversation has been edited and condensed .
My condolences about your uncle .
He recently passed away due to complications from COVID-19 , right ?
Yes .
Thank you .
I ’ ve lost two family members now , my uncle and my aunt .
I ’ m sorry to hear that .
Thank you .
A lot of people are facing unexpected losses .
The first thing I wanted to ask you about is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ encouraging people to sign a petition called the Solidarity Pledge , which would help insure that poorer countries are not outbid by wealthier nations for ventilators , vaccines , treatments , and essential supplies .
Is that something you ’ re concerned about ?
Yes .
In some ways , national differences seem more inconsequential than ever , because viruses don ’ t respect borders , and we ’ re going through this as a collective human experience .
On the other hand , different communities , in different countries , have different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve been reading a little bit about what ’ s going on , for example , in refugee camps , where there ’ s little to no resources , such as ventilators , and little to no possibility of social distancing .
So I think it ’ s time to try and pull together the best we can .
Can you take me through the process of coming up with the concepts , lyrics , and music on “ The Long Goodbye ?
” Was it inspired mostly by the political situation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personally ?
It was a mixture of things , like most creative projects are .
For me , the idea of a breakup album addressed to your country started taking root in the spring of 2017 .
I ’ d floated it as the concept for a track on the Swet Shop Boys album that we were recording that April .
We thought we ’ d get around to it , but we didn ’ t , quite .
The concept itself came from a number of different sources .
I always hesitate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to political circumstances , because I ’ m not a politician .
I ’ m an artist ; I ’ m just responding to what are personal matters .
How you feel walking down the street in your home town is a very personal matter .
The dreams or nightmares that keep you up at night , that ’ s a very personal matter .
Some of it was a response to those emotions in the wake of Brexit and the election of President Trump .
When we played our first show in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ night of Trump ’ s Inauguration .
There was a really intense energy that night .
People were in tears , people were getting really drunk .
It was like being at a wake or something .
The reason I decided to frame that emotional response as a breakup album is partly inspired by Qawwali music and Sufi music , and by the kind of Sufi poetic tradition where you often use the metaphor of estrangement from the beloved , or rejection by the beloved , or the beloved being obscured from you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the divine .
It was taking that frame and placing it into what I do .
You see it also in the broader Urdu poetry tradition , where you have poets like Faiz Ahmed Faiz or Muhammad Iqbal , who would engage with the idea of home or the homeland .
So had you had that experience of walking down the street and not feeling welcome , or having nightmares about what was going on ?
Yeah .
Something that really stood out for me was , I was at dinner with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was quite a mixed group .
There were Jewish people there ; there were black people there ; there were Muslim people there ; there were East Asian people there ; and the topic of conversation that came up was whether it ’ d be safe to stay in the United States .
I ’ d heard similar conversations in the U.K. and in Paris .
This idea of , O.K.
, we ’ re born and raised here , we ’ ve always seen this as our home .
But by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s generation , will they curse us for not having left when we had the chance ?
Is this Berlin in the late nineteen-twenties , and we just don ’ t realize it ?
What surprised me about that was two things .
One , I hadn ’ t really heard people of my generation who were born and raised in these countries speak like that before .
And second , I recognized it as a thought .
It was a conversation that was , on one level , surprising to me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incredibly familiar .
I wanted to unpack that question— “ Are we together or not ?
” The album plays out the metaphor of heartbreak because home is a place that you care about .
It ’ s a relationship that , for better or worse , you define yourself through .

When Riz Ahmed decided to make an album and a short film about “being broken up with by the country you live in,” he had a landscape of inspiration to choose from: Brexit in the United Kingdom, the election of Donald Trump in the United States, state-sanctioned violence against Muslims in India. Ahmed has long made smart, playful music, from the single “Post 9/11 Blues,” in 2006, to the album “Cashmere,” from 2016, which he released as part of the hip-hop group Swet Shop Boys, with the Indian-American rapper Heems. But he may be best known for his exhilarating work as an actor, in films like “Four Lions,” “Nightcrawler,” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” and in television shows like “The Night Of” and “Girls.” His début solo LP, “The Long Goodbye,” came out in March, as the coronavirus crisis swallowed most countries’ other concerns, including the matter of Brexit. But Ahmed has not lost sight of the underlying conditions that the pandemic has brought into relief. He begins the album with the lines “Britain’s broken up with me / We had our ups / But now it’s broken down / Lemme break down the whole fuckery.”
The album’s extended breakup metaphor goes in emotional, reflective, and often funny directions. In one interlude, Mindy Kaling leaves Ahmed a “voice mail” encouraging him to take half in the breakup; in another, Mahershala Ali tells him not to let rejection and hate get him down. Ahmed also spends time wrestling with the idea of home. His family hails from Pakistan, but Ahmed was born and grew up in northwest London, and he went to Oxford for college. (“Did they ask you where you from? / No, where you really from? / The question seems simple, but the answer’s kinda long,” he raps on the album.) In lieu of an album tour, he has been hosting a series of discussions about art and mental health on his Instagram account, and hopping on his friends’ online events, such as an open-mike night hosted by the poet Rupi Kaur.
But, like many of us, Ahmed is also restless at home, releasing the evidence of his quarantine buzz cut and nostalgically posting his fight scenes with Tom Hardy from the movie “Venom,” while joking about the days of being able to touch others. He’s riding out the lockdown in the U.K., which he still considers his only home. We spoke via FaceTime at the end of April; I was in my apartment, in Brooklyn, and Ahmed was at his place in London. Our conversation has been edited and condensed.
My condolences about your uncle. He recently passed away due to complications from COVID-19, right?
Yes. Thank you. I’ve lost two family members now, my uncle and my aunt.
I’m sorry to hear that.
Thank you. A lot of people are facing unexpected losses.
The first thing I wanted to ask you about is something you posted recently. You were encouraging people to sign a petition called the Solidarity Pledge, which would help insure that poorer countries are not outbid by wealthier nations for ventilators, vaccines, treatments, and essential supplies. Is that something you’re concerned about?
Yes. In some ways, national differences seem more inconsequential than ever, because viruses don’t respect borders, and we’re going through this as a collective human experience. On the other hand, different communities, in different countries, have different levels of access to resources. I’ve been reading a little bit about what’s going on, for example, in refugee camps, where there’s little to no resources, such as ventilators, and little to no possibility of social distancing. So I think it’s time to try and pull together the best we can.
Can you take me through the process of coming up with the concepts, lyrics, and music on “The Long Goodbye?” Was it inspired mostly by the political situation and things that had happened to you personally?
It was a mixture of things, like most creative projects are. For me, the idea of a breakup album addressed to your country started taking root in the spring of 2017. I’d floated it as the concept for a track on the Swet Shop Boys album that we were recording that April. We thought we’d get around to it, but we didn’t, quite.
The concept itself came from a number of different sources. I always hesitate to describe my music as a response to political circumstances, because I’m not a politician. I’m an artist; I’m just responding to what are personal matters. How you feel walking down the street in your home town is a very personal matter. The dreams or nightmares that keep you up at night, that’s a very personal matter. Some of it was a response to those emotions in the wake of Brexit and the election of President Trump. When we played our first show in L.A., it was actually on the night of Trump’s Inauguration. There was a really intense energy that night. People were in tears, people were getting really drunk. It was like being at a wake or something.
The reason I decided to frame that emotional response as a breakup album is partly inspired by Qawwali music and Sufi music, and by the kind of Sufi poetic tradition where you often use the metaphor of estrangement from the beloved, or rejection by the beloved, or the beloved being obscured from you, as a metaphor for your relationship to the divine. It was taking that frame and placing it into what I do. You see it also in the broader Urdu poetry tradition, where you have poets like Faiz Ahmed Faiz or Muhammad Iqbal, who would engage with the idea of home or the homeland.
So had you had that experience of walking down the street and not feeling welcome, or having nightmares about what was going on?
Yeah. Something that really stood out for me was, I was at dinner with some friends in New York, and it was quite a mixed group. There were Jewish people there; there were black people there; there were Muslim people there; there were East Asian people there; and the topic of conversation that came up was whether it’d be safe to stay in the United States. I’d heard similar conversations in the U.K. and in Paris. This idea of, O.K., we’re born and raised here, we’ve always seen this as our home. But by the time we get to our grandchildren’s generation, will they curse us for not having left when we had the chance? Is this Berlin in the late nineteen-twenties, and we just don’t realize it?
What surprised me about that was two things. One, I hadn’t really heard people of my generation who were born and raised in these countries speak like that before. And second, I recognized it as a thought. It was a conversation that was, on one level, surprising to me, and, on another level, incredibly familiar. I wanted to unpack that question—“Are we together or not?” The album plays out the metaphor of heartbreak because home is a place that you care about. It’s a relationship that, for better or worse, you define yourself through.
Another question you raise in the album is: If you did leave, or if other people left, where would they go?
Yeah, exactly. I think the album can be captured by a quote from an artist who passed just yesterday, Zarina Hashmi. I was deeply moved by her work and by some of her interviews. She said, “I learned early on in my life that home isn’t a physical place. It’s an idea that you take with you.” Rather than the question being, should I stay as an African-American post-Ferguson, or should I stay in the U.K. post-Brexit, the question becomes: Who am I relying on to make me feel at home? Whose acceptance am I looking for in order to feel like I have worth and value?
The album is trying to find that self-love and self-compassion. I used to think that people who say “The real work starts with yourself” were being lazy, and that the real work had to take place on the front line. But if the coronavirus is showing us anything, it’s that much of the work we can do to insure a fair world is actually work on ourselves—it’s developing compassion in our voices and compassion toward ourselves, so that we can become building blocks for a better world.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t material injustices that we need to address. But the things that we were told are fundamental, like ambition and productivity and status, have been revealed to be hollow. We always knew that, but we’re feeling it on a visceral level now. The things that are fundamental are family, health, and our interconnectedness.
Absolutely. I was rewatching the short film for “The Long Goodbye,” and it’s shocking. We see intimate scenes of a Muslim family who are suddenly arrested and then killed by what look to be militants or state security. On the song “Mogambo,” you rap, “They want to kill us all.” Why did you go for that extreme visual approach? Do you think that kind of violence is possible?


newyorker--2020-05-17--What Donald Trump Shares with Joseph McCarthy

On January 6 , 2017 , at around 8:30 a.m. , Donald Trump undoubtedly had serious matters on his mind .
In just two weeks , he would come into possession of the nuclear codes , attempt to fill out the upper ranks of the federal government , and assume responsibility for the course of American policy at home and abroad .
So he picked up his phone and began to tweet an assessment of his replacement on “ The Celebrity Apprentice ” : In the years to come , Trump ’ s social-media goals expanded .
His tweets and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fevered rate of more than a hundred a day , provide real-time talking points for right-wing media outlets , and are absorbed as doctrine by millions of faithful constituents .
As President , Trump takes to Twitter to declare who is “ pathetic ” and who is “ dopey , ” who is a “ total nut job ” and who is a “ low class slob.
” He fires staff and touts the dimensions of his “ Nuclear Button.
” The tone is so consistently devoid of empathy , good faith , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ MOTHER ’ S DAY ” sounds like a threat .
The Library of America recently put out a collection of writings by the Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter .
It includes two full-length studies published in the early nineteen-sixties : “ Anti-Intellectualism in American Life ” and “ The Paranoid Style in American Politics.
” Hofstadter was trying , in part , to understand right-wing leaders , such as Senators Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater , and the prevalence of an antipathy toward expertise and an embrace of conspiracy theories that had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cranks of all kinds.
” Hofstadter , who died in 1970 , saw the country as “ an arena of uncommonly angry minds , ” and it is hard to read him and not think of Trump ’ s dark descants on “ the Deep State , ” “ the Enemy of the People , ” and , now , “ Obamagate.
” In “ The Paranoid Style , ” Hofstadter quotes McCarthy , speaking in 1951 , on the “ parlous ” state of America : McCarthy claimed that pro-Soviet Communist spies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department , and the Eisenhower Administration .
Joseph Nye Welch , the lawyer tasked with defending the Army against McCarthy ’ s charges , told him , in a 1954 Senate hearing , “ You have , I think , sir , something of a genius for creating confusion , creating turmoil in the hearts and minds of the country.
” That genius enabled McCarthy to win the support of nearly half of all Americans , but , after the Army-McCarthy hearings and a thorough dismantling by Edward R. Murrow , on CBS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ died at the age of forty-eight , in 1957 .
Unlike McCarthy , Trump seems to have only one fixed idea , and it is about his own greatness .
One day , he is talking about his abiding friendship with President Xi Jinping and China , “ which has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus.
” The next , he is insidiously referring to the “ Chinese virus ” and suggesting that Beijing should suffer consequences if it turns out that it was “ knowingly responsible ” for the existence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ McCarthy is the capacity to create confusion and turmoil , and it is emerging as the mainstay of his reëlection campaign .
Before the pandemic hit , Trump had intended to lock in his base and then campaign hard in the battleground states , arguing that he had single-handedly built “ the greatest economy in the history of the world.
” Today , he must campaign as an impeached President who has grossly mishandled a devastating assault on the national health and economy .
In early March , he declared that the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic : “ The world is relying on us.
” Now the country leads the world only in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths .
Trump ’ s failure is rooted in a distrust of expertise , which has led him to rely on the dubious counsel of his circle of cronies and family members .
One of his confidants told the Financial Times that , in the early weeks of the crisis , Jared Kushner , Trump ’ s son-in-law , “ had been arguing that testing too many people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would spook the markets and so we just shouldn ’ t do it .
That advice worked far more powerfully on him than what the scientists were saying.
” Trump now rejects the cautions of Anthony Fauci and other scientists about returning children to school as “ not an acceptable answer.
” Meanwhile , more than eighty thousand people in this country have died of Covid-19 .
Unemployment is approaching Depression-era levels .
And no one is able to make a convincing case either for an imminent improvement in the epidemiological outlook or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As a result , the reëlection campaign will be even more shameless than originally conceived .
Trump is running Facebook ads depicting Joe Biden as excessively sympathetic to China and cognitively diminished ( “ Joe Biden : Old and Out of It ” ) .
The President is above all trying to whip up a frenzy of paranoia about the Obama Administration ’ s supposed efforts to promulgate the theory that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia .
“ Obamagate , ” according to the President , is an affair “ worse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undermining the rule of law , has obediently asked that charges be dropped against Michael Flynn , the former national-security adviser , who admitted to lying to investigators about his contacts with Russia .
In 2016 , Trump ’ s rallying cry was “ Lock her up !
” Now the calls for prosecution are directed at Barack Obama and Joe Biden .
The President , who began his political career with one Obama conspiracy theory––birtherism––now hopes to prolong it with a new one .
Along the way , he has helped promote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been murdered in his bed , that windmills cause cancer , and that voter fraud cost him the popular vote in 2016 .
Not that he is incapable of changing his mind .
Trump used to tweet that vaccines may cause autism .
Now he is hoping that a vaccine comes quick—sometime before November .
♦

Illustration by João Fazenda
On January 6, 2017, at around 8:30 a.m., Donald Trump undoubtedly had serious matters on his mind. In just two weeks, he would come into possession of the nuclear codes, attempt to fill out the upper ranks of the federal government, and assume responsibility for the course of American policy at home and abroad. So he picked up his phone and began to tweet an assessment of his replacement on “The Celebrity Apprentice”:
Wow. The ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got “swamped” (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT. So much for . . . being a movie star—and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary.
In the years to come, Trump’s social-media goals expanded. His tweets and retweets, which can come at a fevered rate of more than a hundred a day, provide real-time talking points for right-wing media outlets, and are absorbed as doctrine by millions of faithful constituents. As President, Trump takes to Twitter to declare who is “pathetic” and who is “dopey,” who is a “total nut job” and who is a “low class slob.” He fires staff and touts the dimensions of his “Nuclear Button.” The tone is so consistently devoid of empathy, good faith, or good will that even “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY” sounds like a threat.
The Library of America recently put out a collection of writings by the Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter. It includes two full-length studies published in the early nineteen-sixties: “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life” and “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” Hofstadter was trying, in part, to understand right-wing leaders, such as Senators Joseph McCarthy and Barry Goldwater, and the prevalence of an antipathy toward expertise and an embrace of conspiracy theories that had been, he wrote, “catnip for cranks of all kinds.” Hofstadter, who died in 1970, saw the country as “an arena of uncommonly angry minds,” and it is hard to read him and not think of Trump’s dark descants on “the Deep State,” “the Enemy of the People,” and, now, “Obamagate.”
In “The Paranoid Style,” Hofstadter quotes McCarthy, speaking in 1951, on the “parlous” state of America:
“How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men high in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy, a conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man.”
McCarthy claimed that pro-Soviet Communist spies had infiltrated the military, the State Department, and the Eisenhower Administration. Joseph Nye Welch, the lawyer tasked with defending the Army against McCarthy’s charges, told him, in a 1954 Senate hearing, “You have, I think, sir, something of a genius for creating confusion, creating turmoil in the hearts and minds of the country.” That genius enabled McCarthy to win the support of nearly half of all Americans, but, after the Army-McCarthy hearings and a thorough dismantling by Edward R. Murrow, on CBS, he was brought low. McCarthy died at the age of forty-eight, in 1957.
Unlike McCarthy, Trump seems to have only one fixed idea, and it is about his own greatness. One day, he is talking about his abiding friendship with President Xi Jinping and China, “which has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus.” The next, he is insidiously referring to the “Chinese virus” and suggesting that Beijing should suffer consequences if it turns out that it was “knowingly responsible” for the existence of Covid-19. What Trump shares with McCarthy is the capacity to create confusion and turmoil, and it is emerging as the mainstay of his reëlection campaign.
Before the pandemic hit, Trump had intended to lock in his base and then campaign hard in the battleground states, arguing that he had single-handedly built “the greatest economy in the history of the world.” Today, he must campaign as an impeached President who has grossly mishandled a devastating assault on the national health and economy. In early March, he declared that the United States would steer the global effort against the pandemic: “The world is relying on us.” Now the country leads the world only in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
Trump’s failure is rooted in a distrust of expertise, which has led him to rely on the dubious counsel of his circle of cronies and family members. One of his confidants told the Financial Times that, in the early weeks of the crisis, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, “had been arguing that testing too many people, or ordering too many ventilators, would spook the markets and so we just shouldn’t do it. That advice worked far more powerfully on him than what the scientists were saying.” Trump now rejects the cautions of Anthony Fauci and other scientists about returning children to school as “not an acceptable answer.” Meanwhile, more than eighty thousand people in this country have died of Covid-19. Unemployment is approaching Depression-era levels. And no one is able to make a convincing case either for an imminent improvement in the epidemiological outlook or for a “V-shaped” economic recovery.
As a result, the reëlection campaign will be even more shameless than originally conceived. Trump is running Facebook ads depicting Joe Biden as excessively sympathetic to China and cognitively diminished (“Joe Biden: Old and Out of It”). The President is above all trying to whip up a frenzy of paranoia about the Obama Administration’s supposed efforts to promulgate the theory that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. “Obamagate,” according to the President, is an affair “worse than Watergate.” The Justice Department, undermining the rule of law, has obediently asked that charges be dropped against Michael Flynn, the former national-security adviser, who admitted to lying to investigators about his contacts with Russia. In 2016, Trump’s rallying cry was “Lock her up!” Now the calls for prosecution are directed at Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
The President, who began his political career with one Obama conspiracy theory––birtherism––now hopes to prolong it with a new one. Along the way, he has helped promote the idea that Antonin Scalia may have been murdered in his bed, that windmills cause cancer, and that voter fraud cost him the popular vote in 2016. Not that he is incapable of changing his mind. Trump used to tweet that vaccines may cause autism. Now he is hoping that a vaccine comes quick—sometime before November. ♦


newyorker--2020-05-17--A Coronavirus Turf War in Klickitat County, Washington

Two days later , on May 7th , Keethler issued a press release of her own .
“ As we enter into a Phased approach to re-opening , the city will continue to follow all of the directives provided by Governor Inslee related to the COVID-19 pandemic and encourages its citizens and businesses to do the same.
” She noted that violators would first be educated about those directives , then warned , and finally issued a citation—by the city ’ s police force , which , the statement explained , would be enforcing the laws in White Salmon .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ couple of weeks before , Keethler had been worried that the “ pretty unified coalition ” of the early days was fracturing a bit , though she maintained that “ the majority viewpoint is still there.
” On Saturday , May 9th , opponents of the stay-at-home order once again gathered at the state capitol , in Olympia .
Like the previous protest , this one was organized by Tyler Miller , an engineering technician at the Kitsap Naval Base , near Puget Sound , who serves on the executive board of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spoke to Miller shortly before the second protest ; he had just returned to work , after “ a quote-unquote self-quarantine for the past fourteen days because of the last rally.
” Apparently , some of his co-workers “ had expressed concern over possible risk of exposure , ” since he had “ been in a crowd of people and everything , ” he said .
“ I acquiesced to that for fourteen days .
It was silly.
” Miller told me that his primary issue was the constitutionality of Inslee ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the matter , but hadn ’ t heard back , he said—and he had organized the events himself .
( Some protests elsewhere in the country have received support from deep-pocketed conservative groups . )
Miller thought that the second protest would be bigger than the first ; with Saturday approaching , he gave me a list of two dozen speakers , nearly all of whom were Republicans who either held local office or were campaigning to do so .
( “ I want to go , ” Songer had told me , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Tennessee , so I ’ ll be here with him.
” ) Ultimately , some fifteen hundred people came out , according to official estimates , a smaller crowd than the first .
( Miller disputed the number . )
At one point during the event , Matthew Shea , a Spokane Valley representative who was sanctioned last year for engaging in domestic terrorism , led the crowd in a chant of “ Freedom is the cure , ” the Seattle Times reported .
The Seattle Times also reported that a handful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the names and personal details of people who had reported potential violators of the stay-at-home order to local officials .
( One of these Facebook pages had also promoted Saturday ’ s protest . )
The information , which was likely obtained through public-records requests , had been posted in a public spreadsheet , and had reportedly led to threats of violence and harassment .
Washington was beginning to see an uptick in the transmission of the disease , after weeks of decline .
“ We ’ re very concerned about gatherings as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ridgeway , the official at the Klickitat County Health Department , had told me .
“ Especially the seasonal workers coming in .
We anticipate more cases in the coming weeks.
” ( According to Hernández , the organizer , a few hundred migrants , both documented and undocumented , come to the area from Mexico and California to pick cherries , pears , and apples from May through September . )
Three more cases had been confirmed in Klickitat since I first spoke with Ridgeway , all in the county ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopening of the county another three weeks at least .
I called Songer , asking if the new cases concerned him .
“ You ’ re looking at a population of almost twenty-two thousand , and three new cases doesn ’ t seem high to me , ” he said .
If the numbers got higher , I asked , might he put out another video urging caution ?
“ I would not change my position as far as refusing to arrest people for not social distancing or opening a business that fell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Upticks are likely inevitable as reopenings begin .
The virus is going to be with us for a while ; the question is whether we have the technologies and procedures in place to contain the new cases that arise , and whether people take the steps necessary to do so .
I thought of my conversation with Sue Hawkins , the retired computer technician who lives with her elderly husband .
“ You have a ninety-nine-per-cent chance to survive this and live through it , ” she ’ d said .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nowhere—at the time we talked , judging from fatalities in the state and confirmed cases , you might have concluded that someone who got it had about a one-in-a-hundred chance of being killed by the disease .
But the age curve with coronavirus is steep : the fatality rate for someone in her late fifties , like Hawkins , is probably higher , and for a man in his late seventies , like her husband , it is higher still .
And killing you is not the only thing that the coronavirus does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ damage to their health .
There ’ s also a great deal that we still don ’ t know , about the virus ’ s spread and its effects .
But Hawkins was sure that the governor had “ gone too far , ” she said , and had taken steps that were—as she , Songer , and others insisted—unconstitutional .
She and her husband had been going to town once a week for groceries , she said , and they did not wear masks or gloves .
“ We ’ re back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ And nobody is going to stop us from opening up and getting back to work.
” • Twenty-four hours at the epicenter of the pandemic : nearly fifty New Yorker writers and photographers fanned out to document life in New York City on April 15th .
• Seattle leaders let scientists take the lead in responding to the coronavirus .
New York leaders did not .
• Can survivors help cure the disease and rescue the economy ?
• What the coronavirus has revealed about American medicine .
• Can we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ privacy at the same time ?
• The coronavirus is likely to spread for more than a year before a vaccine is widely available .
• How to practice social distancing , from responding to a sick housemate to the pros and cons of ordering food .
• The long crusade of Dr. Anthony Fauci , the infectious-disease expert pinned between Donald Trump and the American people .
• What to read , watch , cook , and listen to under quarantine .

“It was unsettling,” David Postman, Inslee’s chief of staff, told me recently, referring to this stretch. “I’ll tell you, I was very alarmed. People were trying to outdo each other.” Meanwhile, the Facebook page for the Klickitat County sheriff’s office was quiet. Merrit Monnat, the farmer in Goldendale, told me that, after Songer’s initial messages, people took the virus more seriously in the area, though maybe not seriously enough. “You still go to the grocery store and most people aren’t wearing masks,” she said. Keethler worried that the work that the state had done in March was at risk of coming undone. “We’re entering into a period where some of our efforts are now being undermined,” she said.
The day after Inslee’s press briefing, I went to see Songer, in Goldendale. As you drive east up the Columbia River gorge, the green of the lower Cascades gives way to yellow, then to brown. Trees disappear. The central and eastern side of Klickitat County has been farming and ranching land for a hundred and fifty years. White turbines loom in the hills above the valley: the county now produces more wind power than any other county in Washington. For a long time, there was a lumber mill in Goldendale, and more recently there was an aluminum plant. Both those industries are gone. The city’s largest employer is a waste-removal company: one of the biggest landfills in the country sits on the eastern edge of Klickitat, near the town of Roosevelt.
Songer’s citizen deputies include Ray Willis, a seventy-nine-year-old cattle and hay rancher, whom I spoke to outside his home. He was standing, unmasked, next to his pickup truck, which bore a decal signalling his membership in the Klickitat County Sheriff Posse Patrol. “I listen to Songer before I listen to the governor,” Willis told me. “That’s for dang sure.” He added, “Bob Songer’s got a pretty good head on his shoulders. He thinks about stuff. I’m not sure about our governor.”
That opinion was echoed by Keith Kreps, a fifth-generation cattle rancher, who spoke to me inside one of his family’s large, old barns north of White Salmon. “It’s like with the guns last year,” Kreps said. “Our sheriff is usually right.” For ranchers like Willis and Kreps, who can go days or weeks without venturing into town, a virus that is often transmitted in large gatherings does not seem all that personally threatening. Kreps operates on forty-four thousand acres. He was worried about the price of beef, which had plummeted, he said, when meat-packing plants began closing, and then rebounded a bit when some came back online. Kreps was afraid that, with the country entering a recession, and the market for beef falling, thieves would come to shoot his cattle, then sell it cheaply in neighboring communities. He said it had happened before, in the seventies.
“It’s good that we live where we do,” Kreps told me, “because we are away from where you have to do all that social distancing.” Just then, a rare visitor pulled up: his daughter-in-law, who had come to say hello. Like Kreps, she was not wearing a mask. After they spoke, Kreps returned to his worries about the commodity business. “They shut down all these packing plants, and that’s where it’s hurting us big time, all across the country,” he said, adding, “We need to get these guys back to work. Because if you have fat cattle to be your best prime rib, and they keep backing up, well, then they get fatter. Bigger costs more. We got to get those packing plants up, even if we got to go run around the clock.” Kreps wasn’t oblivious to the danger of meat-packing plants right now, he said. Along with nursing homes and prisons, meat-packing plants have emerged as one of the major sites of coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S. “We’ve got to get safe in the workplace,” Kreps told me. “I’ve heard all the horror stories about bosses saying you’ve got to come to work during the pandemic or you’re fired or whatever.” He added, “There’s only one way to get this to stop. We’ve got to develop a vaccine. That’s No. 1. But it’s going to take a long time. I’m not a scientist, but I know that.” On my way out, he offered his hand.
By the time I spoke to Kreps, Klickitat had had three confirmed coronavirus deaths, and just nineteen confirmed cases—though only “about four hundred” people in the county had been tested, Kristi Ridgeway, a clinical-division manager with the Klickitat County Health Department, told me. Most of the county’s cases have come in the central zone, which includes Goldendale. “Several of them, we were able to connect the dots—they gave it to each other,” Ridgeway said. “There was a gathering of folks—I can’t tell you more than that. Can’t tell you the town. But it was in mid-March, around when the governor was discussing that we need to limit socializing in groups.” Although Washington’s stay-at-home order was statewide, reopening is happening on a county-by-county basis—larger counties will reopen when they see a declining number of cases, and smaller counties will reopen after they’ve gone three weeks with no new cases. All of this, of course, depends on widespread testing. Ridgeway said that Klickitat had the capacity for such testing—“up to eight or nine thousand, if we had to, in our hospitals,” she said. The county has two hospitals—a community hospital, in Goldendale, and a private hospital, in White Salmon—both of which are conducting tests; hospital groups and clinics have volunteered to send mobile testing groups to the county’s harder-to-reach populations, but this has not happened yet. “Ultimately,” Ridgeway said, “it’s up to people to decide if they want to be” tested, “along with medical providers. Sometimes people with symptoms don’t want to be tested.”


newyorker--2020-05-17--Phoebe Bridgers’s Frank, Anxious Music

Phoebe Bridgers’s Frank, Anxious Music

“ Stranger in the Alps ” was produced by Tony Berg .
( The title is taken from the edited-for-TV version of “ The Big Lebowski , ” in which the line “ Do you see what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass ?
” becomes “ Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps ?
” ) Berg co-produced “ Punisher ” with Bridgers and Ethan Gruska , who also plays on the album .
Bridgers and Berg met through a mutual acquaintance in 2014 and have been close since .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ gave me an excruciating recording of myself playing trombone , ” he said .
“ That ’ s what I call a friend.
” When “ Stranger in the Alps ” was finished , Bridgers got an offer from Dead Oceans , an independent label based in Bloomington , Indiana : “ We forced the head of the label to come to dinner with us , because they wanted me to sign via e-mail .
I ’ m gon na fucking sign my record contract via e-mail ?
” She laughed .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really good.
” When Bridgers was twenty , she briefly dated the singer-songwriter Ryan Adams , who is some twenty years her senior .
He produced “ Killer , ” a three-song EP that Bridgers recorded in 2014 and released on his label , Pax Americana .
“ We ’ d had this relationship , and then it soured , ” she told me .
“ I don ’ t think I even thought of it as abuse at all at the time .
I had a crush on him , and he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was , like , ‘ Oh , my God , this is so cool , I ’ m , like , living my best adult life right now.
’ Then it went bad , and it was just years and years of thinking about it.
” In 2019 , Bridgers was one of several women who spoke to the Times about Adams ’ s abusive and controlling behavior , which included sending predatory messages to an underage fan he ’ d met online .
Through his lawyer , Adams has denied the Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Bridgers has not heard from Adams since the Times story ran .
“ There are Twitter accounts that pop up that are , like , ‘ You fucking bitch , you sold sex for success ’ or whatever , and I ’ m , like , ‘ Is this Ryan ?
’ That ’ s never been proven , but every once in a while some weird and specific comment will appear , and I ’ ll think , Are you starting a million burner accounts and bullying me , or are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fans ?
” “ Motion Sickness , ” a swooning single from “ Stranger in the Alps , ” is about their relationship : “ I hate you for what you did / And I miss you like a little kid.
” Bridgers almost never leans on platitudes or generalities , and the specificity of her lyrics ( “ You gave me fifteen hundred to see your hypnotherapist / I only went one time ” ) often makes it feel as if we ’ re getting a brief glimpse into her actual consciousness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her feelings—even when they ’ re unflattering , or at odds with ideas of self-empowerment—her work offers listeners a funny kind of relief .
Pop music has always favored aspirational fantasies over more graceless realities .
Bridgers pined for a boyfriend who she knew was shitty—it happens .
“ Sometimes I ’ ll write a song , and I ’ ll be , like , Oh , I don ’ t actually feel this way , but it ’ s a good line , ” she said .
“ With ‘ Motion Sickness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I really fucking hate this person , but that ’ s not interesting , so I should write it as if there ’ s more nuance to it .
But in retrospect that ’ s exactly how I felt , and how I feel .
I had so much to get over , and there was so much heartbreak surrounding that situation .
I was telling the truth .
I trick myself into doing that all the time : ‘ This is just a thought experiment , this isn ’ t my actual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be real.
” Bridgers ’ s work schedule makes dating difficult .
“ I don ’ t really think about it too much , ” she said .
“ It ’ s hard to even have friendships.
” She describes herself as bisexual .
“ I think I just started to look really gay in high school , ” she said .
“ Girls who were feeling experimental would gravitate toward the girl with the shaved head , so I was kind of forced into figuring it out .
I felt like my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t think they believed me .
I was totally allowed to have girls over , but I was not allowed to have boys over , so I was intimate with girls before guys.
” She added , “ But I don ’ t think I really felt comfortable talking about it , because I didn ’ t feel gay enough .
I ’ ve never experienced hardship because of it , other than Internet bullying—so I felt like I didn ’ t earn it.
” In 2018 , Bridgers , Julien @ @ @ @ @ @ @ band called boygenius , and recorded a self-titled EP for Matador Records .
Dacus told me , “ I had opened for Julien , Phoebe had opened for Julien , and Julien had hyped each of us to the other.
” The group ’ s name was intended as a sendup of boundless male entitlement , and the EP resonated—instantly and thoroughly—with exhausted young women .
Dacus believes that Bridgers ’ s candor is part of what makes her work so potent .
“ I think that being really blunt is a comfort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surprises me , ” Baker said .
“ She has really sound judgment in so many things .
She ’ ll do something outrageous , or antisocial in the most brutal way , but she does it with such conviction and severity that it ’ s either hilarious or not hilarious at all.
” “ I don ’ t have a yard , so I have nowhere to garden , ” Bridgers said , as we were finishing up lunch in New York .
“ But I do have a membership to Huntington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We should go !
” Yeah .
We didn ’ t go .
The idea had been that I would fly out to Los Angeles in early April—we ’ d roam around Pasadena , check out the Museum of Jurassic Technology , maybe cruise by her high school .
I ’ d watch her record an episode of “ Jimmy Kimmel Live !
” If things went well , I ’ d get to meet her friends .
There ’ s a lyric in “ Garden Song ” that describes a lovely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the water / Off the bridge at the Huntington / I hopped the fence when I was seventeen ” —and I wanted to go with her to see the fence and the bridge and the water , to hear more about what it felt like to be young and trespassing in Pasadena .
Instead , Bridgers and I did what everybody was doing : we made do with phone calls , text messages , FaceTime .
We both got sick .
The week I would have been in L.A. , I began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ profile writing to undergraduate students at New York University , where I teach .
I was , of course , doing this work over Zoom , rather than in the classroom , and the technology added a new level of absurdity to the endeavor .
“ The idea is to feel how a person displaces the air in a room , ” I said .
“ To learn something about them that they don ’ t realize they ’ re telling you.
” The students blinked back at me from their childhood bedrooms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his body .
My fever held steady at 99.8 .
Bridgers is active on social media , and I found myself sifting through her posts to see if they might contain some useful information , a process that felt both creepy and perfectly contemporary .
Perhaps , I thought , if one can discern what sort of persona someone is cultivating online , then it may be possible to extrapolate some broader truth about the person she thinks she is , or the person she wants to be .
Yet Bridgers is entirely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smart .
On Twitter , she commiserated about the indignities and the indulgences of self-isolation : “ If you put on jeans at any time in the last 14 days , you are the Chief of Police , ” she tweeted .

In late February, the singer and songwriter Phoebe Bridgers appeared at Carnegie Hall as part of a benefit for Tibet House U.S., a nonprofit founded by the composer Philip Glass, the actor Richard Gere, and the Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman. New York was not yet fully in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, but a diffuse anxiety was nonetheless in the air. Early in the evening, the artist and musician Laurie Anderson performed several pieces from her album “Songs from the Bardo,” in which she narrates sections of “The Tibetan Book of the Dead” in a gentle, steady voice. The text is intended to coax a consciousness through the foggy space between death and rebirth. Already, it felt resonant.
Bridgers, who is twenty-five, wore a tea-length black dress and high-top Doc Martens. A thin headband pushed her white-blond hair from her face. Backstage, she shared a dressing room with the seventy-four-year-old soul singer Bettye LaVette. “She’s so badass,” Bridgers told me later. “She was talking about a gig she’d played, and she was, like, ‘Oh, what was I doing again? Oh, I was playing Obama’s Inauguration.’ She was flexing and it was amazing.” Bridgers, who will release her second album, “Punisher,” in June, gets a little jittery before she performs. “My least favorite thing is not getting nervous,” she said. “Just being kind of bored and on my phone.”
In 2017, Bridgers released her début album, “Stranger in the Alps.” Her deft lyrics earned her comparisons to Bob Dylan—a worn-out accolade, perhaps, but there was a violent precision to Bridgers’s writing that made the songs feel urgent. Shortly after the release of the single “Funeral,” the singer and guitarist John Mayer tweeted, “This is the arrival of a giant.” The song is about someone who overdosed. Bridgers strums an acoustic guitar. Her voice is high and feathery:
And last night I blacked out in my car
And I woke up in my childhood bed
Wishing I was someone else, feeling sorry
for myself
When I remembered someone’s kid is dead.
At Carnegie Hall, Bridgers opened her set with “Garden Song,” the first single from “Punisher.” I made a bootleg recording of her performance, which I have replayed several dozen times, in part because it feels like a valuable relic from an era in which large groups of people could still assemble to hear music, and in part because it is beautiful. On “Punisher,” “Garden Song” is buoyed by synthesizers; it sounds lush and wet. That night, Bridgers was accompanied by her guitar and a string quartet, which added a tense elegance to a song that alludes, in an oblique way, to murdering a skinhead and burying him in the garden: “Someday I’m gonna live in your house up on the hill / And when your skinhead neighbor goes missing / I’ll plant a garden in the yard then.”
Conor Oberst, of Bright Eyes, was in the audience. He and Bridgers met when she was added to a bill he was part of at the Bootleg Theatre, in Los Angeles, in 2016; two years later, they made an album together, as Better Oblivion Community Center. “Right when I heard her start to sing, I felt like I was reuniting with an old friend,” Oberst said, of their first encounter.
Bridgers was brought up with the music of Laurel Canyon—the nimble but vulnerable folk songs that proliferated on the West Coast in the nineteen-seventies, when writers like Joni Mitchell began exploring parallel ideas of domesticity and unease—but she came of age listening to emo, a subgenre of punk rock focussed on disclosure and catharsis. Oberst is one of its most beloved practitioners. “I went directly into Bright Eyes as a teen-ager,” Bridgers said.
Oberst and Bridgers both write frank and anxious folk songs that are preoccupied with death and spiritual decay. But Bridgers is too interested in the pliability and the beauty of language to be satisfied with mere confession. “Punisher” took Bridgers more than a year to record. “I tweak lyrics a million times,” she said. “I’ll listen back and be, like, ‘Oh, fuck, phonetically I have something else that sounds exactly the same.’ ” Her best writing is both dreamlike and mundane. “The doctor put her hands over my liver / She told me my resentment’s getting smaller,” she sings on “Garden Song.”
In conversation, Bridgers is quick to lampoon her own behavior with a withering quip, or to wisecrack about the gaffes of others, but her music can be almost unbearably tender. “Punisher” was recorded at Sound City, in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Van Nuys, where Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Fleetwood Mac,” and Nirvana’s “Nevermind” were produced. There are vague echoes of all three in her music—Young’s dolor, Fleetwood Mac’s tunefulness, some of Nirvana’s boyish rawness. Though Bridgers often jokes about her inability to behave like a normal person, “Punisher” is a fully realized work, crafted with foresight and intention.
For Bridgers’s final song at Carnegie Hall, the singer Matt Berninger, of the indie-rock band the National, joined her onstage. In 2019, Berninger released “Walking on a String,” a melancholy track featuring Bridgers on vocals. Bridgers and Berninger both mix humor and dread, but their age difference—Berninger is forty-nine—means that they approach the problem of getting by from different vantages. Bridgers sings worriedly of the future; Berninger sings worriedly of the past. In the end, both points of view take a toll. “I hang my head and feel the oxygen drain,” they sang together. “Phoebe writes so well about boredom and sadness,” Berninger told me. “Sometimes she makes those things exciting and beautiful.”
The next day, Bridgers and I met for lunch at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, a century-old restaurant on the lower level of Grand Central Terminal. The ladies’ rest room features a red couch shaped like a pair of lips; tall cans of aerosol hair spray are arranged by the sinks. On the first season of “Mad Men,” Don Draper and Roger Sterling enjoy a bountiful Martini-and-oyster lunch at the Oyster Bar, and it remains the sort of spot where men in suits and cufflinks congregate to get loose and close deals. “Damn, this place rules,” Bridgers said.
We took a table near the back. Bridgers ordered six Katama Bay oysters and a side of sautéed vegetables. “Anything else for you?” the waiter asked. She shook her head. “Anything else for you?” he asked again.
“Wow, so much fucking judgment,” she said, laughing, after he walked away. When her order arrived, she felt vindicated. Surveying a plate of damp kale and green beans, she grinned and said, “This is exactly what I want! Hot, wet vegetables.” Bridgers is a pescatarian, and she recalled an incident from high school in which she was mocked for her diet: “They were standing around, like, ‘Phoebe’s a vegetarian.’ And I was, like, ‘I’m a pescatarian.’ And this girl goes, ‘Phoebe, that’s a fucking religion.’ ”
Bridgers has spent much of the past three years on tour, but when she’s not travelling she lives alone in Silver Lake, a trendy neighborhood on the east side of Los Angeles. The singer and songwriter Elliott Smith, who died of a presumed suicide in 2003, in nearby Echo Park, is one of Bridgers’s favorite musicians. Like Bridgers, Smith seemed possessed by the kind of melancholy that blossoms rather than shrinks when exposed to too much sunshine. The title track from “Punisher”—the term is a jokey pejorative that musicians use to describe the type of overzealous fan who lingers at the merch table a little too long—addresses Bridgers’s deep devotion to Smith. “I wrote a song about how, if Elliott Smith were alive, I probably wouldn’t have been the most fun person for him to talk to,” she explained. “I’m a superfan, and I know way too much about his music. So I wrote that as if I were the punisher.” The first verse is skewering:


newyorker--2020-05-17--Sunday Reading: Animal Planet

Sunday Reading: Animal Planet

Goats , sheep , deer , wild turkeys , and other animals have been spotted strolling through streets and plazas in cities around the world lately—content , it seems , to be free of human interference .
On certain days , it can appear that many places are being reclaimed , at least in part , by nature .
This week , we ’ re bringing you a selection of pieces about the animal world .
In “ Little Wing , ” Susan Orlean recounts the unique characteristics of homing pigeons and traces the history of pigeon racing .
Patricia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emotional-support animals , and David Sedaris encounters several mischievous—and persistent—birds around his house in Normandy .
In “ Dog Story , ” Adam Gopnik writes about his daughter ’ s first dog and considers the canine ’ s reputation as man ’ s best friend .
Finally , in “ Cairo : A Type of Love Story , ” Peter Hessler reflects on the cat that became a member of his family while he was living in Egypt during the country ’ s Arab Spring revolution .
We hope that these stories add @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Why did they want to come in ?
How did the dog become our master ?
Why are so many animals now in places where they shouldn ’ t be ?

Goats, sheep, deer, wild turkeys, and other animals have been spotted strolling through streets and plazas in cities around the world lately—content, it seems, to be free of human interference. On certain days, it can appear that many places are being reclaimed, at least in part, by nature. This week, we’re bringing you a selection of pieces about the animal world. In “Little Wing,” Susan Orlean recounts the unique characteristics of homing pigeons and traces the history of pigeon racing. Patricia Marx explores the sometimes humorous world of emotional-support animals, and David Sedaris encounters several mischievous—and persistent—birds around his house in Normandy. In “Dog Story,” Adam Gopnik writes about his daughter’s first dog and considers the canine’s reputation as man’s best friend. Finally, in “Cairo: A Type of Love Story,” Peter Hessler reflects on the cat that became a member of his family while he was living in Egypt during the country’s Arab Spring revolution. We hope that these stories add a bit of liveliness to your weekend.
—David Remnick
Why did they want to come in?
Illustrations by Jules Feiffer
How did the dog become our master?
Photograph by Mary Ellen Mark
When homing pigeons leave home.
Photograph by Patricia Marx
Why are so many animals now in places where they shouldn’t be?
Raising a family during a revolution.