newyorker--2020-11-02--Matriarchs of Steel in “Let Him Go”

Matriarchs of Steel in “Let Him Go”

“ Let Him Go , ” which springs from Larry Watson ’ s novel of the same name , was written and directed by Thomas Bezucha .
He likes to toy with our expectations , as the wedding scene proves , yet the toying has nothing blithe or puckish about it ; rather , we sense the characters struggling to keep pace with the machinations of fate .
( Note to any producer requiring a Thomas Hardy adaptation : call Bezucha . )
One day , Margaret sees Donnie slapping Lorna and cuffing the little boy—Jimmy , the Blackledges ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saying farewell , Donnie takes his wife and stepson and heads to North Dakota , to be with his family .
Margaret , fearing for Jimmy ’ s welfare , doesn ’ t hesitate .
She sets off in pursuit , packing her Chevrolet station wagon with essentials : a skillet , a loaded pistol , her husband , and an iced Bundt cake in a tin .
The film is low of mood and cleanly told .
The dialogue , at times , is whittled to the core .
“ You thought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” George says of the gun .
“ I didn ’ t want to find out I did and not have it , ” Margaret replies .
The only trouble is that , in “ Man of Steel ” ( 2013 ) , and again in “ Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice ” ( 2016 ) , Costner and Lane played Jonathan and Martha Kent , the terrestrial parents of Clark .
They were by far the best thing in those movies , grounding the more risible flights of fancy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Go ” unfolds , you can ’ t help wondering : Where ’ s the guy in the blue pantyhose ?
Who let him go ?
I kept waiting for Costner to store that pesky Kryptonite in the barn , behind the weed killer , or for Lane to iron the pleats in a nice red cape .
This is Diane Lane ’ s movie , all the way .
She is as poised as ever , and she can switch on the charm , but she radiates a force of purpose that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and it ’ s fascinating to see Costner , so accustomed to saddling up as a leading man , dismount and back away .
“ We ’ re not young , Margaret , ” George says , aware of what his wife has in mind , and trying some friendly dissuasion .
“ We ’ re not old , ” she answers , and , at her prompting , they track Donnie , Lorna , and Jimmy to a secluded ranch .
This is the homestead of the Weboy clan , presided over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and her gang of devoted—and frankly terrified—sons .
So now the film has two mothers of steel , squaring up to each other , and two formidable actresses , of radically different styles , face to face .
Batman v. Superman ?
Stop squabbling , kids .
Stand back .
This is women ’ s work .
When we first meet Blanche , she is hidden by a hanging lamp , but we see a puff of smoke from her cigarette , and we hear the drawl of her greeting : “ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you were alarmed by Manville as the hero ’ s sister in “ Phantom Thread ” ( 2017 ) , watch her dig her scarlet nails into this role , way out West .
So muted is the rest of “ Let Him Go ” that Blanche seems to hail from another film entirely—to be exact , from Sam Fuller ’ s “ Forty Guns ” ( 1957 ) , in which Barbara Stanwyck , likewise , was a matriarch before whom strong men quailed .
She and Blanche both have tight blond @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as she and her boys pay a nocturnal visit to the Blackledges , in a motel .
Blanche has an axe in a sack , but she also wears a head scarf , as if she were out shopping for groceries .
Still to come : a showdown of blood and fire , and the one point , I ’ d argue , at which “ Let Him Go ” takes a seriously false step .
It is George who girds himself for the final reckoning , but it ought to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fable .
She should be the one to end it .
The Marvel franchise , bereft of its proper arena , is like a travelling circus without a tent .
Short of knocking on people ’ s doors and asking them to babysit the tigers for an afternoon , what can be done ?
And who will pay the clowns ?
Meanwhile , at the quieter end of moviegoing , where the numbers are less elephantine , the question of a sustainable business model is equally urgent .
Exhibit A : Béla Tarr @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dates from 1988 , and which is now—restored and revived , in a fresh print—enjoying a wide release .
A virtual one , that is .
You can ’ t , alas , take your seat at Lincoln Center , the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco , or the Film and Television Archive at U.C.L.A.
, but you can log in to their respective Web sites and , for a limited period , see the movie at an hour of your choosing .
I recommend half past one in the morning , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hand .
“ Damnation ” is a quickie .
It lasts a couple of hours—a mere sprint for anyone who ran the marathon of Tarr ’ s “ Sátántangó ” ( 1994 ) , which goes on for seven hours and nineteen minutes .
It was in “ Damnation , ” however , that the director first displayed a complete command of Tarrying : the long slow take , defined , as often as not , by a stately procession of the camera—right to left , left to right , and haring along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a similar grace ; what distinguishes Tarr is his patience .
He tends to offer us a prolonged look at a place before anything happens there , and then , once the action is over , he will loiter and gaze , in tranquil suspense , in case anything else turns up .
It rarely does .
And what of our patience ?
In movie theatres , this is not a problem .
I sat through “ Damnation ” years ago , and sneaked not a single glance at my watch .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every intervening shade of gray—fog , mud , raincoat , rain , bare skin .
The sounds are no less sharply etched ; when a man named Karrer ( Miklós B. Székely ) has a shave , we flinch at the razor ’ s rasp .
The effect is one of hypnosis , as we slide into Tarr ’ s sepulchral thrall .
He beats time , and we follow .
Such obedience , I would argue , is impossible in a domestic environment .
Even if we kill the lights , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the temptation to pause , and the sideways drift of our thoughts .
No hypnotist can practice his art under such conditions .
When Karrer enters a bar called the Titanik , on a foul night , and finds a singer ( Vali Kerekes ) crooning , “ It ’ s finished , it ’ s all over , ” I no longer surrendered , as I had done in the cinema , to such fatalistic gloom .
Into my head , instead , came another low dive , in “ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fear ” ( 1991 ) , where the crooner begins , “ I ’ m feeling blue , ” and the camera surveys , on a wall behind the wretched customers , a row of calamities : the San Francisco earthquake , the Hindenburg , the Lusitania , and Michael Dukakis .
Yet all is not lost .
Though much of the magic drains out of “ Damnation ” on the smaller screen , an unexpected bonus is revealed .
Tarr is seldom prized as a storyteller , yet I noticed , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plot is woven into the texture of the tale .
Karrer has an affair with the singer , and arranges for her husband to go out of town , on a smuggling mission .
In one typically elegant composition , lifted straight from Antonioni ’ s “ L ’ Eclisse ” ( 1962 ) , we spy Karrer on one side of a stone column , and a woman on the other side .
What I ’ d forgotten—or maybe failed to realize in the cinema , so overwhelming are the demands that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Karrer is outside a police station , and that he will later go back there to inform on the smuggler .
“ Damnation ” hails from the putrescent end of Hungarian Communism , and Karrer is exuded by that system .
I used to think he was a lover , a boozer , a moper , and a sorry sight .
Now , viewed in the age of streaming , he ’ s a rat .
♦

A trick is played on us, near the start of “Let Him Go.” We are in Montana, in 1961, and a young man, James Blackledge (Ryan Bruce), has just died, after being thrown from his horse. He leaves a widow, Lorna (Kayli Carter), and a baby son. Now we see James’s parents, Margaret (Diane Lane) and George (Kevin Costner), preparing for a solemn occasion. George, gruff and grizzled, used to be a sheriff, but he stands there like a schoolboy while Margaret ties his dark tie for him. (One of many signs that this will be a mothering movie.) We presume that they are bound for James’s funeral, but no: some three years have passed, and Lorna is getting married again, this time to a fellow named Donnie Weboy (Will Brittain). The wedding feels like a wake.
“Let Him Go,” which springs from Larry Watson’s novel of the same name, was written and directed by Thomas Bezucha. He likes to toy with our expectations, as the wedding scene proves, yet the toying has nothing blithe or puckish about it; rather, we sense the characters struggling to keep pace with the machinations of fate. (Note to any producer requiring a Thomas Hardy adaptation: call Bezucha.) One day, Margaret sees Donnie slapping Lorna and cuffing the little boy—Jimmy, the Blackledges’ only grandchild. Soon afterward, without saying farewell, Donnie takes his wife and stepson and heads to North Dakota, to be with his family. Margaret, fearing for Jimmy’s welfare, doesn’t hesitate. She sets off in pursuit, packing her Chevrolet station wagon with essentials: a skillet, a loaded pistol, her husband, and an iced Bundt cake in a tin.
The film is low of mood and cleanly told. The dialogue, at times, is whittled to the core. “You thought you’d need it?,” George says of the gun. “I didn’t want to find out I did and not have it,” Margaret replies. The only trouble is that, in “Man of Steel” (2013), and again in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016), Costner and Lane played Jonathan and Martha Kent, the terrestrial parents of Clark. They were by far the best thing in those movies, grounding the more risible flights of fancy, and now, as “Let Him Go” unfolds, you can’t help wondering: Where’s the guy in the blue pantyhose? Who let him go? I kept waiting for Costner to store that pesky Kryptonite in the barn, behind the weed killer, or for Lane to iron the pleats in a nice red cape.
This is Diane Lane’s movie, all the way. She is as poised as ever, and she can switch on the charm, but she radiates a force of purpose that will not be muffled or repelled, and it’s fascinating to see Costner, so accustomed to saddling up as a leading man, dismount and back away. “We’re not young, Margaret,” George says, aware of what his wife has in mind, and trying some friendly dissuasion. “We’re not old,” she answers, and, at her prompting, they track Donnie, Lorna, and Jimmy to a secluded ranch. This is the homestead of the Weboy clan, presided over by Blanche Weboy (Lesley Manville) and her gang of devoted—and frankly terrified—sons. So now the film has two mothers of steel, squaring up to each other, and two formidable actresses, of radically different styles, face to face. Batman v. Superman? Stop squabbling, kids. Stand back. This is women’s work.
When we first meet Blanche, she is hidden by a hanging lamp, but we see a puff of smoke from her cigarette, and we hear the drawl of her greeting: “I hope you like pork chops.” If you were alarmed by Manville as the hero’s sister in “Phantom Thread” (2017), watch her dig her scarlet nails into this role, way out West. So muted is the rest of “Let Him Go” that Blanche seems to hail from another film entirely—to be exact, from Sam Fuller’s “Forty Guns” (1957), in which Barbara Stanwyck, likewise, was a matriarch before whom strong men quailed. She and Blanche both have tight blond curls, though Blanche goes one better, as she and her boys pay a nocturnal visit to the Blackledges, in a motel. Blanche has an axe in a sack, but she also wears a head scarf, as if she were out shopping for groceries. Still to come: a showdown of blood and fire, and the one point, I’d argue, at which “Let Him Go” takes a seriously false step. It is George who girds himself for the final reckoning, but it ought to be Margaret. Her grief has driven this fable. She should be the one to end it.
Can a movie, no less than a person, suffer in lockdown? Happening to catch “Spider-Man: Far from Home” (2019), on TV, I was struck by how lost it seemed, like a child in a crowd. Such a product was hardly designed to make sense, but on the big screen, at least, it roughly cohered, glued together by sheer spectacle. Squeeze it into your living room, peel away the zap and the pow, and what remains? A pitiful excuse for a drama, I’d say, with Peter Parker touring the old world—Venice, Prague, Berlin—in a last well-meaning gasp of American imperialism. In cinemas, the film took more than a billion dollars. At home, it took two hours out of my day, and I’ll never get them back.
The Marvel franchise, bereft of its proper arena, is like a travelling circus without a tent. Short of knocking on people’s doors and asking them to babysit the tigers for an afternoon, what can be done? And who will pay the clowns? Meanwhile, at the quieter end of moviegoing, where the numbers are less elephantine, the question of a sustainable business model is equally urgent. Exhibit A: Béla Tarr’s “Damnation,” which dates from 1988, and which is now—restored and revived, in a fresh print—enjoying a wide release. A virtual one, that is. You can’t, alas, take your seat at Lincoln Center, the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco, or the Film and Television Archive at U.C.L.A., but you can log in to their respective Web sites and, for a limited period, see the movie at an hour of your choosing. I recommend half past one in the morning, with a bottle of Hungarian moonshine close to hand.
“Damnation” is a quickie. It lasts a couple of hours—a mere sprint for anyone who ran the marathon of Tarr’s “Sátántangó” (1994), which goes on for seven hours and nineteen minutes. It was in “Damnation,” however, that the director first displayed a complete command of Tarrying: the long slow take, defined, as often as not, by a stately procession of the camera—right to left, left to right, and haring along like a tortoise. Others have mastered a similar grace; what distinguishes Tarr is his patience. He tends to offer us a prolonged look at a place before anything happens there, and then, once the action is over, he will loiter and gaze, in tranquil suspense, in case anything else turns up. It rarely does.
And what of our patience? In movie theatres, this is not a problem. I sat through “Damnation” years ago, and sneaked not a single glance at my watch. The film is in black-and-white, and in every intervening shade of gray—fog, mud, raincoat, rain, bare skin. The sounds are no less sharply etched; when a man named Karrer (Miklós B. Székely) has a shave, we flinch at the razor’s rasp. The effect is one of hypnosis, as we slide into Tarr’s sepulchral thrall. He beats time, and we follow. Such obedience, I would argue, is impossible in a domestic environment. Even if we kill the lights, there is always the risk of the doorbell, the temptation to pause, and the sideways drift of our thoughts. No hypnotist can practice his art under such conditions. When Karrer enters a bar called the Titanik, on a foul night, and finds a singer (Vali Kerekes) crooning, “It’s finished, it’s all over,” I no longer surrendered, as I had done in the cinema, to such fatalistic gloom. Into my head, instead, came another low dive, in “The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear” (1991), where the crooner begins, “I’m feeling blue,” and the camera surveys, on a wall behind the wretched customers, a row of calamities: the San Francisco earthquake, the Hindenburg, the Lusitania, and Michael Dukakis.
Yet all is not lost. Though much of the magic drains out of “Damnation” on the smaller screen, an unexpected bonus is revealed. Tarr is seldom prized as a storyteller, yet I noticed, for the first time, how neatly his plot is woven into the texture of the tale. Karrer has an affair with the singer, and arranges for her husband to go out of town, on a smuggling mission. In one typically elegant composition, lifted straight from Antonioni’s “L’Eclisse” (1962), we spy Karrer on one side of a stone column, and a woman on the other side. What I’d forgotten—or maybe failed to realize in the cinema, so overwhelming are the demands that the movie makes on our senses—is that Karrer is outside a police station, and that he will later go back there to inform on the smuggler. “Damnation” hails from the putrescent end of Hungarian Communism, and Karrer is exuded by that system. I used to think he was a lover, a boozer, a moper, and a sorry sight. Now, viewed in the age of streaming, he’s a rat. ♦


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newyorker--2020-11-01--Trump Urges Americans to Wait in Parking Lot for Vaccine and Buses Will Pick Them Up

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) —In what his campaign staff touted as his “ November surprise , ” Donald @ @ @ @ @ the American people to wait in a parking lot for a coronavirus vaccine and buses @ @ @ @ @ “ Go to the nearest parking lot , and soon there will be a bus @ @ @ @ @ “ Very , very soon.
” Trump said that , in order to pick up @ @ @ @ @ million Americans from parking lots , he had secretly launched a program called Operation Warp @ @ @ @ @ be shiny , gleaming buses to take you to the vaccine , ” Trump said @ @ @ @ @ Appearing on CNN , Dr. Anthony Fauci took a slightly different tack regarding Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ the entire population of the United States in buses .
“ There are no damn @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Please , make it stop .
”

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In what his campaign staff touted as his “November surprise,” Donald J. Trump on Sunday told the American people to wait in a parking lot for a coronavirus vaccine and buses will pick them up.
“Go to the nearest parking lot, and soon there will be a bus,” he said. “Very, very soon.”
Trump said that, in order to pick up all three hundred and thirty million Americans from parking lots, he had secretly launched a program called Operation Warp Bus.
“There will be shiny, gleaming buses to take you to the vaccine,” Trump said. “Just wait.”
Appearing on CNN, Dr. Anthony Fauci took a slightly different tack regarding Trump’s plan to pick up the entire population of the United States in buses.
“There are no damn buses,” Fauci said. “Please, make it stop.”


newyorker--2020-11-01--“We Don’t Protest”: Borough Park’s Mask-Burning Orthodox Jewish Demonstrators

The man was Heshy Tischler , a local talk-radio host and a candidate for City Council .
Kornbluh had covered Tischler before : in 2017 , when the radio host had launched an earlier bid for City Council ( and lost , having received just four per cent of the vote ) , and more recently , as Tischler had emerged as the leader of a local uprising against government COVID measures .
Lately , Tischler had begun accusing members of the community of being so-called government informants .
The crowd noticed one such man filming their protest ; he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set upon him and beat him unconscious .
Kornbluh left the scene when the violence began .
There was a chance that it might turn on him next .
When the pandemic hit , in March , the coronavirus eviscerated Haredi communities like the one in Borough Park .
Large families , crowded neighborhoods , and communal life and prayer functioned as preëxisting conditions .
Entire communities across Brooklyn decided , by consensus , to shut themselves down , even as schools and restaurants throughout the city remained open .
But it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Some Haredi Jews don ’ t watch television , and many keep “ kosher ” phones that filter or block the Internet ; virtual worship isn ’ t possible when electronics are forbidden on holidays .
There were scattered reports of congregations illicitly gathering throughout Brooklyn .
When a prominent Hasidic rabbi in Williamsburg died in late April , the funeral procession drew thousands of mourners .
The ceremony was outdoors and masked , and the N.Y.P.D .
barricaded the streets , but at that point in the pandemic—the number of COVID @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two weeks before—it was perceived as a serious violation .
Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered that the event be broken up and tweeted a “ message to the Jewish community ” that “ the time for warnings has passed.
” Many Jews felt that the tweet was a crude generalization ; the head of the Anti-Defamation League called it “ scapegoating.
” The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council , an organization meant to counter discrimination against the Orthodox Jewish community , pointed out that thousands of New Yorkers had gathered the same day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do a flyby .
Where had the Mayor been then ?
And what about all the other Jewish communities who were following the rules ?
Kornbluh documented the tensions in Borough Park .
Among the city ’ s political press , he ’ s known as a reporter ’ s reporter—a news junkie who wears a yarmulke and speaks with a Yiddish-inflected British accent .
Kornbluh grew up in London ’ s Stamford Hill , where his father started an emergency medical service .
At a young age , he developed a fascination @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the names of all the Knesset members , ” he said , referring to Israel ’ s parliament .
Kornbluh went to yeshiva but never finished high school .
In 2001 , he moved to Brooklyn , the center of the Hasidic world in the United States , and worked at a kosher deli ; later , he opened a kosher pizza place .
He had eclectic tastes for a member of his community , which tends to be highly insular : he taught himself to write by studying biographies of famous Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started a blog , and began showing up at major city events to write about them .
He covered the Anthony Weiner frenzy and Donald Trump ’ s fateful escalator ride .
At such events , he would often run into Ben Smith , then a reporter at Politico , who is now the Times ’ media columnist .
Smith encouraged Kornbluh to pursue journalism full time .
Kornbluh took the advice , selling off his pizzeria .
In 2015 , he was hired by Jewish Insider , a daily news outlet that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Jewish angle .
( Two of its recent headlines are “ Twitter CEO Dismisses Ayatollah ’ s Threats to Israel as ‘ Saber-Rattling ’ ” and “ Congressional Dems Urge Biden to Continue Campus Antisemitism Protections.
” ) With his tireless reporting on local and national politics , and on happenings within his own community , Kornbluh became well known to his readers and a rare channel through which they could hold their local elected officials accountable .
He can ask the types of questions that don ’ t typically come up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chizhik-Goldschmidt described him in the Forward article as “ the most famous Hasidic journalist in America.
” One of Kornbluh ’ s most distinctive qualities as a journalist is his closeness to the community .
When he covers local news , he is hardly an outsider “ parachuting in ” to get some quotes from a seemingly opaque group of people .
“ Political reporters sometimes don ’ t realize how real the stakes are and don ’ t have to live with them , ” Smith told me .
He added that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues in this community , whose divisions mirror the country but where passions are really , really high.
” Borough Park tolerated Kornbluh ’ s feel for the divisions in the community when the subject was politics , less so when he began writing about the pandemic .
In April , during Passover , as most of Borough Park remained on lockdown , Kornbluh began outing rule-breakers .
He tweeted a video of a man exiting a synagogue that should have been closed .
He called in a complaint to a government hotline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restrictions .
A digital flyer circulated on WhatsApp calling him an informer .
“ I lost some friends , ” Kornbluh told me .
His reporting for Jewish Insider and his posts on social media had been critical of both the restrictions and his neighborhood ’ s response to those restrictions , but only one aspect of his coverage had stuck .
One day in April , a crowd of about a hundred Haredim , noticing Kornbluh walking nearby , chased him down the street , chanting insults .
By June , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flattened .
It was no longer just a small group ignoring public-health guidelines .
In Borough Park , the rhythms of life returned to near-normal .
Revellers packed wedding halls .
( Tischler claims to have attended seventeen weddings in one month . )
“ The few who were wearing masks—people looked at them a little funny , ” Yochonon Donn , a resident of the neighborhood and a writer for Mishpacha ( Family ) , a popular Haredi weekly , told me .
The number of new cases stayed relatively low over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , de Blasio noted an uptick in Borough Park .
He warned of harsh measures if behavior didn ’ t change .
On went the masks .
Then , de Blasio , noting the still-worrying numbers , imposed closures anyway .
People felt lied to , betrayed by the city .
The masks came off .
Governor Andrew Cuomo developed his own plan .
On October 6th , he set up a call with Haredi leaders and urged them to limit their synagogues to half capacity .
Later that day , he announced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scrapped the fifty-per-cent idea .
The new limit was ten worshippers for each shul , no exceptions .
That night , protesters filled the streets .
The man caught filming it was beaten .
Kornbluh , taking on a more activist role , messaged Tischler urging him to apologize for inciting violence .
But the following evening , at a second demonstration , the vitriol only increased .
Back on the scene , Kornbluh took notes from a distance , watching as the crowd pulsed with energy .
Tischler noticed Kornbluh and shouted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a pig !
” A group of protesters swarmed Kornbluh and cornered him against a wall .
The police had to rescue him .
Kornbluh said afterward that he had been hit in the head and kicked .
( Tischler has denied this . )
What set the crowd into a frenzy was when Tischler , inches from Kornbluh ’ s face , called the reporter a moser , a Hebrew word for a traitor—a Jew who informs on a Jew .
Tischler had encouraged the rest of the mob to chant it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moser !
’ ” Some interpretations of religious law , including that of Maimonides , the hugely influential twelfth-century Jewish philosopher , dictate that a moser must be stopped before he informs again—even if it means killing him .
On October 11th , after the first two demonstrations in Borough Park , Tischler was arrested by the N.Y.P.D .
for “ inciting to riot and unlawful imprisonment in connection with an assault of a journalist.
” ( He pleaded not guilty . )
Soon after , a Tischler fan tweeted out Kornbluh ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roughly two hundred people—mostly Yeshiva-age boys , but a few families with young kids—gathered outside his home at midnight .
( Someone had brought a bullhorn : “ Good morning , Jacob !
We ’ re all waiting for you !
” ) A man in his thirties , who said that his name was Mendel , argued that Kornbluh had become a tool of an oppressive governor by outing Haredi rule-breakers .
“ Do you think that we were so dumb and stupid , that we paid such a heavy price , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and we wouldn ’ t do everything to protect us ?
” he asked .
“ I prayed on my porch not for one month—four months !
” Now , he said , everyone had antibodies .
( The antibody rate in Borough Park is estimated to be forty-three per cent—below the theoretical threshold for herd immunity . )
Mendel dismissed the new restrictions as theatre .
He ’ d heard rumors that the local testing books were cooked .
Secular , right-wing symbols dominated the event .
MAGA paraphernalia was everywhere @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waved “ Don ’ t Tread on Me ” flags , and Tischler wore a Trump sticker on his chest .
The rhetoric was familiar , too .
One boy told me , “ It ’ s not about corona anymore .
It ’ s about fake news.
” Mendel said , “ When Trump blames the ‘ China Virus , ’ liberals say , ‘ You can ’ t say that , that ’ s racist !
’ But when it comes to us , it ’ s not racist !
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demonstrators ’ resistance to public-health measures may be better understood as part of the larger far-right coronavirus denialism , albeit spiced with a set of anxieties particular to the Haredi community .
In the Presidential election , Joe Biden , like many Democrats before him , is likely to win an overwhelming majority of the American Jewish vote .
Polls have long shown that the secular and less observant American Jewish community is distinctly liberal on a range of social , economic , and political issues .
Trump , however , is wildly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a recent poll of Haredi voters , Trump led Biden by seventy points .
“ What we are seeing is the evangelicalization of Orthodox Judaism—at a time when evangelicalism is more about an idolatrous nationalism than about Jesus Christ , ” Joshua Shanes , a professor of Jewish studies at the College of Charleston , wrote recently in Tablet magazine .
The animating political forces for Haredim are conservative Justices , school choice , “ law and order , ” and opposition to same-sex marriage .
Support for Israel , particularly conservative leaders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ television and Internet access limited in the community , radio is unusually important .
Many Haredim listen to Rush Limbaugh , Sean Hannity , and Ben Shapiro .
Nathaniel Deutsch , the director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California , Santa Cruz , characterizes Hasidic political preferences as those of “ working-class white ethnics ” anywhere else .
In Borough Park , Tischler has become the leader of this movement .
He has posted hundreds of videos on social media , in which you ’ ll find him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ locked playground or harassing local health inspectors .
In each video , he also plugs his weekly radio program , “ The Just Enough Heshy Show , ” where he reflects on topics such as whether he should apologize for calling a young Muslim girl a terrorist ( initially yes ; later no ) , and the intellectual capacity of women ( “ not as smart as men ” ) .
The other day , on the air , he challenged the Mayor to a fight on his deck , “ man to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not a man .
”

Jacob Kornbluh, a Hasidic journalist, has lived in Borough Park, in southwest Brooklyn, for eighteen years. He has written on local and national politics from the neighborhood—which is home to one of the largest Haredi, or traditional Orthodox, communities in the city—for twelve. “Pre-pandemic, if you walked into any major Jewish event in New York City, you’d undoubtedly see him,” Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt recently wrote for the Forward, where she is an editor. Last month, mid-pandemic, hundreds of Haredi Jews took to the streets in protest of a new set of coronavirus restrictions on Borough Park. Kornbluh was there to report the story; he watched as the protesters—mostly young men and boys—tossed their masks into a makeshift bonfire in the middle of Thirteenth Avenue. The crowd was densely packed into a single street block, but it would occasionally part ways for one man, a big guy in a wrinkled suit, who commandeered a police megaphone. He spoke with a throaty, Brooklyn drawl, all “W”s and no “R”s. “You are my soldiers!” he bellowed. “We are at war!”
The man was Heshy Tischler, a local talk-radio host and a candidate for City Council. Kornbluh had covered Tischler before: in 2017, when the radio host had launched an earlier bid for City Council (and lost, having received just four per cent of the vote), and more recently, as Tischler had emerged as the leader of a local uprising against government COVID measures. Lately, Tischler had begun accusing members of the community of being so-called government informants. The crowd noticed one such man filming their protest; he tried to run, but the protesters set upon him and beat him unconscious. Kornbluh left the scene when the violence began. There was a chance that it might turn on him next.
When the pandemic hit, in March, the coronavirus eviscerated Haredi communities like the one in Borough Park. Large families, crowded neighborhoods, and communal life and prayer functioned as preëxisting conditions. Entire communities across Brooklyn decided, by consensus, to shut themselves down, even as schools and restaurants throughout the city remained open.
But it’s hard to put faith on pause. Some Haredi Jews don’t watch television, and many keep “kosher” phones that filter or block the Internet; virtual worship isn’t possible when electronics are forbidden on holidays. There were scattered reports of congregations illicitly gathering throughout Brooklyn. When a prominent Hasidic rabbi in Williamsburg died in late April, the funeral procession drew thousands of mourners. The ceremony was outdoors and masked, and the N.Y.P.D. barricaded the streets, but at that point in the pandemic—the number of COVID cases had reached a new peak just two weeks before—it was perceived as a serious violation. Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered that the event be broken up and tweeted a “message to the Jewish community” that “the time for warnings has passed.” Many Jews felt that the tweet was a crude generalization; the head of the Anti-Defamation League called it “scapegoating.” The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, an organization meant to counter discrimination against the Orthodox Jewish community, pointed out that thousands of New Yorkers had gathered the same day to watch the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds do a flyby. Where had the Mayor been then? And what about all the other Jewish communities who were following the rules?
Kornbluh documented the tensions in Borough Park. Among the city’s political press, he’s known as a reporter’s reporter—a news junkie who wears a yarmulke and speaks with a Yiddish-inflected British accent. Kornbluh grew up in London’s Stamford Hill, where his father started an emergency medical service. At a young age, he developed a fascination with journalism. “I knew probably the names of all the Knesset members,” he said, referring to Israel’s parliament. Kornbluh went to yeshiva but never finished high school. In 2001, he moved to Brooklyn, the center of the Hasidic world in the United States, and worked at a kosher deli; later, he opened a kosher pizza place. He had eclectic tastes for a member of his community, which tends to be highly insular: he taught himself to write by studying biographies of famous Americans; he read the Times. He started a blog, and began showing up at major city events to write about them. He covered the Anthony Weiner frenzy and Donald Trump’s fateful escalator ride. At such events, he would often run into Ben Smith, then a reporter at Politico, who is now the Times’ media columnist. Smith encouraged Kornbluh to pursue journalism full time. Kornbluh took the advice, selling off his pizzeria.
In 2015, he was hired by Jewish Insider, a daily news outlet that reports on political and business news from a Jewish angle. (Two of its recent headlines are “Twitter CEO Dismisses Ayatollah’s Threats to Israel as ‘Saber-Rattling’ ” and “Congressional Dems Urge Biden to Continue Campus Antisemitism Protections.”) With his tireless reporting on local and national politics, and on happenings within his own community, Kornbluh became well known to his readers and a rare channel through which they could hold their local elected officials accountable. He can ask the types of questions that don’t typically come up in a debate or press conference. Chizhik-Goldschmidt described him in the Forward article as “the most famous Hasidic journalist in America.”
One of Kornbluh’s most distinctive qualities as a journalist is his closeness to the community. When he covers local news, he is hardly an outsider “parachuting in” to get some quotes from a seemingly opaque group of people. “Political reporters sometimes don’t realize how real the stakes are and don’t have to live with them,” Smith told me. He added that Kornbluh “is writing about these life-or-death issues in this community, whose divisions mirror the country but where passions are really, really high.”
Borough Park tolerated Kornbluh’s feel for the divisions in the community when the subject was politics, less so when he began writing about the pandemic. In April, during Passover, as most of Borough Park remained on lockdown, Kornbluh began outing rule-breakers. He tweeted a video of a man exiting a synagogue that should have been closed. He called in a complaint to a government hotline about a synagogue that was flouting city restrictions. A digital flyer circulated on WhatsApp calling him an informer. “I lost some friends,” Kornbluh told me. His reporting for Jewish Insider and his posts on social media had been critical of both the restrictions and his neighborhood’s response to those restrictions, but only one aspect of his coverage had stuck. One day in April, a crowd of about a hundred Haredim, noticing Kornbluh walking nearby, chased him down the street, chanting insults.
By June, the weather had warmed and the curve had flattened. It was no longer just a small group ignoring public-health guidelines. In Borough Park, the rhythms of life returned to near-normal. Revellers packed wedding halls. (Tischler claims to have attended seventeen weddings in one month.) “The few who were wearing masks—people looked at them a little funny,” Yochonon Donn, a resident of the neighborhood and a writer for Mishpacha (Family), a popular Haredi weekly, told me. The number of new cases stayed relatively low over the summer, but, in August, de Blasio noted an uptick in Borough Park. He warned of harsh measures if behavior didn’t change. On went the masks. Then, de Blasio, noting the still-worrying numbers, imposed closures anyway. People felt lied to, betrayed by the city. The masks came off. Governor Andrew Cuomo developed his own plan. On October 6th, he set up a call with Haredi leaders and urged them to limit their synagogues to half capacity. Later that day, he announced a plan publicly. He’d scrapped the fifty-per-cent idea. The new limit was ten worshippers for each shul, no exceptions.
That night, protesters filled the streets. The man caught filming it was beaten. Kornbluh, taking on a more activist role, messaged Tischler urging him to apologize for inciting violence. But the following evening, at a second demonstration, the vitriol only increased. Back on the scene, Kornbluh took notes from a distance, watching as the crowd pulsed with energy. Tischler noticed Kornbluh and shouted at him: “You’re a pig!” A group of protesters swarmed Kornbluh and cornered him against a wall. The police had to rescue him.
Kornbluh said afterward that he had been hit in the head and kicked. (Tischler has denied this.) What set the crowd into a frenzy was when Tischler, inches from Kornbluh’s face, called the reporter a moser, a Hebrew word for a traitor—a Jew who informs on a Jew. Tischler had encouraged the rest of the mob to chant it, too: “Everybody scream ‘moser!’ ” Some interpretations of religious law, including that of Maimonides, the hugely influential twelfth-century Jewish philosopher, dictate that a moser must be stopped before he informs again—even if it means killing him.
For most of New York’s Haredi Jews, demonstrating in the street is a rarity. (“We don’t protest,” one of them told me, while protesting.) Counterparts in Israel frequently stage demonstrations—usually in response to things that they perceive as existential threats, such as conscription in the Army—and, more recently, in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coronavirus restrictions, calling them anti-Semitic. Many of the young men in Borough Park have taken their cues from what they’d seen of Black Lives Matter protests. (“Jewish lives matter!” has become a common refrain.) But videos of looting and violence had circulated on WhatsApp, and Haredi protesters were eager to draw a contrast, to show that their demonstrations were more peaceful and more proper. “We come out to protest something, there’s music playing, we’re not looting, we’re not rioting,” one Haredi protester told me. This was after the counter-protester had been beaten.
On October 11th, after the first two demonstrations in Borough Park, Tischler was arrested by the N.Y.P.D. for “inciting to riot and unlawful imprisonment in connection with an assault of a journalist.” (He pleaded not guilty.) Soon after, a Tischler fan tweeted out Kornbluh’s address, and a mob of roughly two hundred people—mostly Yeshiva-age boys, but a few families with young kids—gathered outside his home at midnight. (Someone had brought a bullhorn: “Good morning, Jacob! We’re all waiting for you!”) A man in his thirties, who said that his name was Mendel, argued that Kornbluh had become a tool of an oppressive governor by outing Haredi rule-breakers. “Do you think that we were so dumb and stupid, that we paid such a heavy price, so many lives taken away from us, and we wouldn’t do everything to protect us?” he asked. “I prayed on my porch not for one month—four months!” Now, he said, everyone had antibodies. (The antibody rate in Borough Park is estimated to be forty-three per cent—below the theoretical threshold for herd immunity.) Mendel dismissed the new restrictions as theatre. He’d heard rumors that the local testing books were cooked.
Secular, right-wing symbols dominated the event. MAGA paraphernalia was everywhere; at a previous demonstration, people waved “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, and Tischler wore a Trump sticker on his chest. The rhetoric was familiar, too. One boy told me, “It’s not about corona anymore. It’s about fake news.” Mendel said, “When Trump blames the ‘China Virus,’ liberals say, ‘You can’t say that, that’s racist!’ But when it comes to us, it’s not racist!” Then he cited Tucker Carlson.


newyorker--2020-11-03--Trump Orders Bill Barr to Investigate Reports That Women Are Voting

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) —Donald J. Trump has ordered the Attorney General , Bill Barr , to investigate @ @ @ @ @ voting .
Trump said that he had evidence that women were casting ballots in the @ @ @ @ @ scandal that he called “ bigger than Watergate.
” “ We ’ re not going @ @ @ @ @ our country , ” he said .
“ We ’ re moving quite strongly and @ @ @ @ @ ” He also issued advice to suburban women , of whom he claimed to possess @ @ @ @ @ Suburban women , you need to stay at home and cook dinner so your husbands @ @ @ @ @ said .

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump has ordered the Attorney General, Bill Barr, to investigate widespread reports that women are voting.
Trump said that he had evidence that women were casting ballots in the tens of millions, a scandal that he called “bigger than Watergate.”
“We’re not going to let this happen in our country,” he said. “We’re moving quite strongly and quite powerfully on the women.”
He also issued advice to suburban women, of whom he claimed to possess a deep understanding.
“Suburban women, you need to stay at home and cook dinner so your husbands can vote,” he said.


newyorker--2020-11-03--Twenty-Five Things to Do While You Wait in Line for Six Hours to Vote

3 .
Call your estranged cousin , Cynthia , and finally confront her about everything she ’ s done .
5 .
Stare down the woman in front of you who remembered to bring an umbrella .
6 .
Blast “ Happy , ” by Pharrell , from your phone speakers and choreograph a flash mob !
7 .
Scream at everyone in line for not participating in aforementioned flash mob .
8 .
Try to build a lawn chair out of loose sticks and autumn leaves .
9 .
Think about your cousin , Cynthia , and all that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact that the volunteer was most likely the love of your life and , ultimately , the one that got away .
13 .
Relive that one time in the seventh grade when you tried to flirt by cracking a glow stick in front of your crush ’ s eyes , thereby blinding him for the rest of his birthday party .
14 .
Contemplate Shia LaBeouf and all the boundaries he ’ s broken .
15 .
Decide who to vote for !
16 .
Fake a pleasant phone call with Cynthia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out fine !
17 .
Propose to the woman in front of you , in the hope that this gives you access to her umbrella .
18 .
Let forty-five people cut in front of you so that you can get in the background of Eyewitness News and away from the woman who just bludgeoned you with an umbrella .
20 .
Begin to apply for a job at NPR , only to realize that you need eight years of radio experience .
21 .
Mourn the eight years that you ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Glare at the successful flash mob dancing all the way at the front of the line .
24 .
Come to terms with the fact that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and that this section of the line just isn ’ t your chosen community .

1. Check in on family.
2. Pay your utility bill.
3. Call your estranged cousin, Cynthia, and finally confront her about everything she’s done.
4. Take up knitting!
5. Stare down the woman in front of you who remembered to bring an umbrella.
6. Blast “Happy,” by Pharrell, from your phone speakers and choreograph a flash mob!
7. Scream at everyone in line for not participating in aforementioned flash mob.
8. Try to build a lawn chair out of loose sticks and autumn leaves.
9. Think about your cousin, Cynthia, and all that went wrong.
10. Accept free water from a volunteer.
11. Accept the fact that the volunteer was most likely the love of your life and, ultimately, the one that got away.
12. Disassociate.
13. Relive that one time in the seventh grade when you tried to flirt by cracking a glow stick in front of your crush’s eyes, thereby blinding him for the rest of his birthday party.
14. Contemplate Shia LaBeouf and all the boundaries he’s broken.
15. Decide who to vote for!
16. Fake a pleasant phone call with Cynthia to assure your linemates that everything turned out fine!
17. Propose to the woman in front of you, in the hope that this gives you access to her umbrella.
18. Let forty-five people cut in front of you so that you can get in the background of Eyewitness News and away from the woman who just bludgeoned you with an umbrella.
19. Finally Google “Who is Jerry Springer?”
20. Begin to apply for a job at NPR, only to realize that you need eight years of radio experience.
21. Mourn the eight years that you’ve wasted on non-radio experience.
22. Write a song about hope, faith, and taking chances.
23. Glare at the successful flash mob dancing all the way at the front of the line.
24. Come to terms with the fact that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and that this section of the line just isn’t your chosen community.
25. Vote :)


newyorker--2020-11-03--George Saunders Reads “Ghoul”

George Saunders Reads “Ghoul”

George Saunders reads his story from the November 9 , 2020 , issue of the magazine .
Saunders won the @ @ @ @ @ , for his novel “ Lincoln in the Bardo.
” He is the author of @ @ @ @ @ “ CivilWarLand in Bad Decline ” and “ Tenth of December .
”

Photograph by Basso Cannarsa / Opale / Alamy
George Saunders reads his story from the November 9, 2020, issue of the magazine. Saunders won the Man Booker Prize in 2017, for his novel “Lincoln in the Bardo.” He is the author of four story collections, including “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” and “Tenth of December.”


newyorker--2020-11-03--The Election Is a Morality Play in Which Biden Must Defeat Not Only Trump but Trumpism

In the course of the one thousand four hundred and fifty-seven terrible and , just as often , terrifying days since the last Presidential election , people began to view the date November 3 , 2020 , as a distant finish line at the end of an ultramarathon .
Runners know that endurance is a matter of setting small , achievable goals , and , against the headwinds in this generally hostile climate , Democrats—and , more broadly , people concerned with democracy—have often seemed to be pacing their strides , counting down the miles to the midterm elections , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 election .
The congenitally conservative New Hampshire Union Leader , in offering its endorsement of Joe Biden , noted that “ Biden may not be the president we want , but in 2020 he is the president we desperately need .
He will be a president to bring people together and right the ship of state.
” That statement fit into the closing theme of Biden ’ s campaign : this election is only secondarily about competing policy ideas ; it is , fundamentally , a contest between decency and indecency .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the campaign , Biden has taken to standing before a banner that reads “ Battle for the Soul of the Nation.
” Normalcy , we ’ ve come to understand , is on the ballot .
True to form , Donald Trump appears to have unwittingly played into the script that Biden has written for him , barnstorming the country in a spree of indulgence , holding mass rallies amid a pandemic , offering up his people as collateral damage in his drive to maintain power .
“ We ’ re rounding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each stop on his Hot Spot 2020 tour .
The fatalities from the coronavirus have dwindled to “ almost nothing , ” Donald Trump , Jr. , lied to Fox News ’ s Laura Ingraham last week , on a day when more than a thousand Americans succumbed to COVID-19 .
Trump decried “ American carnage , ” in his Inaugural Address , but he seeks reëlection while enabling that very thing .
So , it seems that the bizarre , dysfunctional , and dangerous times we live in have been distilled into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of three hundred and thirty million people .
The disastrous impacts of Trump ’ s coronavirus denialism are already apparent .
Nearly eight months after lockdowns began , hospitals in many places are once again at capacity , and case numbers are spiking like a symptomatic fever .
This would be dangerous enough , but we ’ ve seen the consequences of his other forms of denial come to bear this year : his absurdly agnostic climate-change perspective , while wildfires made the state of California look like the set of an epic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the importance of the Affordable Care Act , while millions of Americans suffer through the effects of the pandemic ; a magical belief that the economy can prosper despite the latter concerns .
But there is another form of denial that may be just as crucial to our future .
Science is increasingly worried that the virus will become endemic , a permanent part of our lives going forward .
We should hold the same concern about the anarchic forces of Trumpism .
All Presidential tickets are alliances of convenience , but that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Biden-Harris ticket , which has won the support of a broad array of voices , from moderate Republicans to Democratic Socialists .
This unlikely coalition is held together by the belief that the former Vice-President and the California senator represent the nation ’ s best—and likely sole—hope for a return to normalcy .
In a scathing speech in Pennsylvania aimed at Trump ’ s many deficiencies , Barack Obama noted how exhausting it is to have to constantly think about this President and what absurdities he may be up to .
Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ welcome respite from this .
But the idea of turning the corner on the volatile contempt that Trump has unleashed is just as unduly optimistic as Trump ’ s fool notion that the novel coronavirus is going to one day just vanish .
In recent days , the President has downplayed the significance of the plot hatched by a Michigan militia group to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer , and has said that a caravan of his supporters in pickup trucks that surrounded and seemed to try to obstruct a Biden-Harris campaign bus on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In Fort Worth , on Friday , a group of Trumpists drove through a Black community , in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate voters .
On Sunday , another caravan reportedly drove through the only predominantly minority community in California ’ s Marin County , just north of San Francisco , shouting racist epithets .
There is a troubling question of what Trump might do if he loses the election ; the more enduring question concerns what his people will do .
Bereft of representation in the White House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likely to become a more dangerous movement during a Democratic Administration—Trumpists could let their fury explode in any of a thousand ways .
The Texas highway incident was particularly ominous , raising yet again the question of Trump ’ s most extreme supporters ’ willingness to commit acts of violence on his behalf .
For eight years , many Americans feared for Barack Obama ’ s life , simply because he was both a Black man and the President , and it was clear that some portion of the public would never reconcile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such is the state of affairs that it now seems only prudent to share some of that concern for an older white man who is the former Vice-President , and who won the nomination , in part , because many Black voters thought that he ’ d be the Democrat most palatable to white voters .
For all these reasons , the hope is that return-to-normalcy rhetoric is something that Biden says publicly but doesn ’ t truly believe privately .
Sincere belief would ignore not only the lessons that four years of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also the lessons that should have been gleaned from Biden ’ s eight years in the Obama Administration .
On issue after issue , Obama sought to carve out a non-ideological middle ground , in order to bring Republicans on board and negotiate deals .
And , as Republican intransigence on immigration , climate change , health care , and the Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination attest , the G.O.P .
was not opposed to Obama ’ s policy ideas ; it was opposed to Obama .
Trump made that opposition the central @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no reason to believe that the situation would change if Biden takes office , and there are many reasons to believe that it would not .
For the past four years , people on the left have assailed Republicans for cowering before Trump .
In fact , they were cowering before the people behind him .
A Republican Party still beholden to that group would reflect its prerogatives .
This is not to say that voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will make no difference , but , as with the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our expectations when people talk about magical cures for complex problems .
It is not an exaggeration to say that our survival depends in some large measure on Donald Trump being defeated in this election .
But we should not conflate a Democratic victory with a return to normalcy .
It won ’ t be .
And we should recall that normalcy , as we called everything before Trump ’ s regime , is what got us here in the first place .
Read More About the 2020 Election • Live election results @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Presidential , Senate , House , and gubernatorial races .
• The New Yorker endorses a Biden Presidency .
What he must do to repair our democracy .
• Donald Trump has survived impeachment , twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct , and thousands of lawsuits .
His luck may well end if Joe Biden wins .
• What happens if Trump fights the election results ?
• Here is what you can do if Trump stages a coup .
• To understand the path Trump has taken to the 2020 election , look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ class .
• The refusal by Mitch McConnell to rein in Trump is looking riskier than ever .
• Sign up for our daily newsletter for insight and analysis from our reporters and columnists .

In the course of the one thousand four hundred and fifty-seven terrible and, just as often, terrifying days since the last Presidential election, people began to view the date November 3, 2020, as a distant finish line at the end of an ultramarathon. Runners know that endurance is a matter of setting small, achievable goals, and, against the headwinds in this generally hostile climate, Democrats—and, more broadly, people concerned with democracy—have often seemed to be pacing their strides, counting down the miles to the midterm elections, and then from the midterms to the 2020 election. The congenitally conservative New Hampshire Union Leader, in offering its endorsement of Joe Biden, noted that “Biden may not be the president we want, but in 2020 he is the president we desperately need. He will be a president to bring people together and right the ship of state.” That statement fit into the closing theme of Biden’s campaign: this election is only secondarily about competing policy ideas; it is, fundamentally, a contest between decency and indecency. In his appearances in the closing days of the campaign, Biden has taken to standing before a banner that reads “Battle for the Soul of the Nation.” Normalcy, we’ve come to understand, is on the ballot.
True to form, Donald Trump appears to have unwittingly played into the script that Biden has written for him, barnstorming the country in a spree of indulgence, holding mass rallies amid a pandemic, offering up his people as collateral damage in his drive to maintain power. “We’re rounding the corner,” Trump claims at each stop on his Hot Spot 2020 tour. The fatalities from the coronavirus have dwindled to “almost nothing,” Donald Trump, Jr., lied to Fox News’s Laura Ingraham last week, on a day when more than a thousand Americans succumbed to COVID-19. Trump decried “American carnage,” in his Inaugural Address, but he seeks reëlection while enabling that very thing.
So, it seems that the bizarre, dysfunctional, and dangerous times we live in have been distilled into a morality play, with a cast of three hundred and thirty million people. The disastrous impacts of Trump’s coronavirus denialism are already apparent. Nearly eight months after lockdowns began, hospitals in many places are once again at capacity, and case numbers are spiking like a symptomatic fever. This would be dangerous enough, but we’ve seen the consequences of his other forms of denial come to bear this year: his absurdly agnostic climate-change perspective, while wildfires made the state of California look like the set of an epic disaster movie; an irrational rejection of the importance of the Affordable Care Act, while millions of Americans suffer through the effects of the pandemic; a magical belief that the economy can prosper despite the latter concerns. But there is another form of denial that may be just as crucial to our future. Science is increasingly worried that the virus will become endemic, a permanent part of our lives going forward. We should hold the same concern about the anarchic forces of Trumpism.
All Presidential tickets are alliances of convenience, but that is even more profoundly the case for the Biden-Harris ticket, which has won the support of a broad array of voices, from moderate Republicans to Democratic Socialists. This unlikely coalition is held together by the belief that the former Vice-President and the California senator represent the nation’s best—and likely sole—hope for a return to normalcy. In a scathing speech in Pennsylvania aimed at Trump’s many deficiencies, Barack Obama noted how exhausting it is to have to constantly think about this President and what absurdities he may be up to. Biden, Obama said, would offer a welcome respite from this. But the idea of turning the corner on the volatile contempt that Trump has unleashed is just as unduly optimistic as Trump’s fool notion that the novel coronavirus is going to one day just vanish.
In recent days, the President has downplayed the significance of the plot hatched by a Michigan militia group to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and has said that a caravan of his supporters in pickup trucks that surrounded and seemed to try to obstruct a Biden-Harris campaign bus on a busy Texas highway did nothing wrong. In Fort Worth, on Friday, a group of Trumpists drove through a Black community, in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate voters. On Sunday, another caravan reportedly drove through the only predominantly minority community in California’s Marin County, just north of San Francisco, shouting racist epithets. There is a troubling question of what Trump might do if he loses the election; the more enduring question concerns what his people will do. Bereft of representation in the White House but still clinging to conspiracy theories—QAnon seems likely to become a more dangerous movement during a Democratic Administration—Trumpists could let their fury explode in any of a thousand ways.
The Texas highway incident was particularly ominous, raising yet again the question of Trump’s most extreme supporters’ willingness to commit acts of violence on his behalf. For eight years, many Americans feared for Barack Obama’s life, simply because he was both a Black man and the President, and it was clear that some portion of the public would never reconcile itself to those two facts. But such is the state of affairs that it now seems only prudent to share some of that concern for an older white man who is the former Vice-President, and who won the nomination, in part, because many Black voters thought that he’d be the Democrat most palatable to white voters.
For all these reasons, the hope is that return-to-normalcy rhetoric is something that Biden says publicly but doesn’t truly believe privately. Sincere belief would ignore not only the lessons that four years of Donald Trump should have taught us but also the lessons that should have been gleaned from Biden’s eight years in the Obama Administration. On issue after issue, Obama sought to carve out a non-ideological middle ground, in order to bring Republicans on board and negotiate deals. And, as Republican intransigence on immigration, climate change, health care, and the Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination attest, the G.O.P. was not opposed to Obama’s policy ideas; it was opposed to Obama. Trump made that opposition the central theme of Republican policy.
There is no reason to believe that the situation would change if Biden takes office, and there are many reasons to believe that it would not. For the past four years, people on the left have assailed Republicans for cowering before Trump. In fact, they were cowering before the people behind him. A Republican Party still beholden to that group would reflect its prerogatives. This is not to say that voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will make no difference, but, as with the pandemic, we’ve learned to manage our expectations when people talk about magical cures for complex problems.
It is not an exaggeration to say that our survival depends in some large measure on Donald Trump being defeated in this election. But we should not conflate a Democratic victory with a return to normalcy. It won’t be. And we should recall that normalcy, as we called everything before Trump’s regime, is what got us here in the first place.
Read More About the 2020 Election


newyorker--2020-11-03--How to Draw Snails

How to Draw Snails

Snails have long appealed to cartoonists ( Sam Gross ’ s “ I don ’ t care if she is a tape dispenser .
I love her.
” remains an all-time favorite gag ) .
And also to me—as a kid , I had a pet snail named Milo who escaped in my Manhattan bedroom and lived a mysterious life behind my bookshelf till he was recaptured , and , loathing captivity , immediately perished .
Amy Hwang draws a great snail .
She also draws a great watermelon , a great cat in business casual , a great gourd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among many other great things .
But today we ’ re here to talk about snails , which , over the course of this conversation , it became clear we know little to nothing about .
If you are a snail scientist ( which I just Googled and apparently is called a “ malacologist ” ) , you may find our insights somewhat scientifically lacking .
But , if you ’ re a cartoonist , and you want to know the ins and outs of depicting our slimy shelled friend , you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Do you draw with your left or right hand ?
What art do you have hanging on your studio walls/above your drawing desk ?
I have art made by friends and my daughter , as well as a few New Yorker cartoonist friends ’ cartoons .
Do you snack while you draw ?
If so , on what ?
I usually have a mug of tea while I draw .
Less often , I have chocolate , nuts , and other food items .
Do you listen to music or podcasts while you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yes , to music .
I will listen to any songs I can tolerate across all genres except country and kids ’ music .
Right now , I have been playing episodes of “ The Office ” ( the U.S. version ) while I work , which I enjoy more now that I no longer work in an office .
This is possibly the least efficient way to get work done , but it keeps me entertained for long stretches of time .
What object or setting do you absolutely hate drawing ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people and traffic jams , both of which I also try to avoid in real life .
What ’ s your favorite New Yorker cartoon trope or cliché ( e.g.
, desert island , grim reaper , Rapunzel tower , etc. )
?
I ’ m not sure .
Maybe when two people having an affair are walked in on by the spouse ?
If you could have dinner with one cartoonist , living or dead , tonight , who would it be ?
I can ’ t answer this .
With @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risking spreading the coronavirus .
A dead cartoonist would want to know everything that has happened since they passed , and I ’ d rather not have to spend all of dinner talking about that .
What would you serve ?
Seeing that it would just be me , I ’ d find something in my fridge .
There would be wine .
What was your favorite cartoon ( strip or animation ) as a kid ?
What did you spend your first New Yorker cartoon sale check on ?
I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commemorate the sale .
Perhaps I should go spend that money now ?
If you had to get a tattoo ( or new tattoo ) right now , what would you get ?
A small , amorphous , flesh-colored tattoo in a body area with few nerve endings .

Snails have long appealed to cartoonists (Sam Gross’s “I don’t care if she is a tape dispenser. I love her.” remains an all-time favorite gag). And also to me—as a kid, I had a pet snail named Milo who escaped in my Manhattan bedroom and lived a mysterious life behind my bookshelf till he was recaptured, and, loathing captivity, immediately perished. Amy Hwang draws a great snail. She also draws a great watermelon, a great cat in business casual, a great gourd, and a great wine bottle, among many other great things. But today we’re here to talk about snails, which, over the course of this conversation, it became clear we know little to nothing about. If you are a snail scientist (which I just Googled and apparently is called a “malacologist”), you may find our insights somewhat scientifically lacking. But, if you’re a cartoonist, and you want to know the ins and outs of depicting our slimy shelled friend, you’re in luck.
—Emma Allen, New Yorker cartoon editor
Do you draw with your left or right hand?
Right.
What art do you have hanging on your studio walls/above your drawing desk?
I have art made by friends and my daughter, as well as a few New Yorker cartoonist friends’ cartoons.
Do you snack while you draw? If so, on what?
I usually have a mug of tea while I draw. Less often, I have chocolate, nuts, and other food items.
Do you listen to music or podcasts while you draw? If so, specify.
Yes, to music. I will listen to any songs I can tolerate across all genres except country and kids’ music. Right now, I have been playing episodes of “The Office” (the U.S. version) while I work, which I enjoy more now that I no longer work in an office. This is possibly the least efficient way to get work done, but it keeps me entertained for long stretches of time.
What object or setting do you absolutely hate drawing?
This would be a tie between crowds of people and traffic jams, both of which I also try to avoid in real life.
What’s your favorite New Yorker cartoon trope or cliché (e.g., desert island, grim reaper, Rapunzel tower, etc.)?
I’m not sure. Maybe when two people having an affair are walked in on by the spouse?
If you could have dinner with one cartoonist, living or dead, tonight, who would it be?
I can’t answer this. With a living cartoonist, we would be risking spreading the coronavirus. A dead cartoonist would want to know everything that has happened since they passed, and I’d rather not have to spend all of dinner talking about that.
What would you serve?
Seeing that it would just be me, I’d find something in my fridge. There would be wine.
What was your favorite cartoon (strip or animation) as a kid?
“The Far Side” by Gary Larson.
What did you spend your first New Yorker cartoon sale check on?
I don’t recall buying anything in particular to commemorate the sale. Perhaps I should go spend that money now?
If you had to get a tattoo (or new tattoo) right now, what would you get?
A small, amorphous, flesh-colored tattoo in a body area with few nerve endings.
Dogs or cats?
Cats.


newyorker--2020-11-03--Live 2020 Presidential-Election Results

Live 2020 Presidential-Election Results

To claim the Presidency of the United States , a candidate must win two hundred and seventy votes in the Electoral College .
The New Yorker will be tracking the results above as part of our comprehensive Election 2020 coverage .
This year , with the coronavirus pandemic changing voting conditions across the country , there is a strong likelihood that neither President Donald Trump nor his challenger , the former Vice-President Joseph Biden , will be declared the winner on Election Night .
A number of states have allowed voters , many of whom may be reluctant to visit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their ballots or to vote early .
The deadlines for ballot delivery vary by state , as do the rules that determine when election officials can begin to count the votes .
The expectation is that , in many states , counting will continue well after November 3rd .
In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin , which Trump narrowly won in 2016 , election officials begin counting mail-in ballots on Election Day .
Michigan , which Trump won in 2016 by fewer than eleven thousand votes , the slimmest margin of any state , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pennsylvania , Ohio , and North Carolina , all of which are expected to be close , have set individual deadlines that allow mail-in ballots to arrive after November 3rd ; Ohio will accept ballots until November 13th , ten days after the election .
If early returns in some of these states overwhelmingly favor one of the candidates , it ’ s possible that a winner could be projected on or soon after Election Day .
A few key states are expected to report results much more quickly .
Florida , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is perhaps the most significant .
Election officials there have been processing ballots from the start of early voting—which , most observers believe , will allow the state to report a final result on Election Night .
Arizona , which has been processing mail-in and early-voting ballots since October 7th , is another swing state expected to declare a winner on November 3rd .
You can see the latest election returns by state on our election map , which will continue to update until the last vote is tallied .

Joseph R. Biden has won the Presidency, defeating Donald J. Trump. Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, declared on November 7th, four days after Election Day, lifted him above the two hundred and seventy Electoral College votes necessary to secure the White House, with final tallies still to come in several states. His running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, became a history-making Vice-President, as a woman and as the daughter of a Black father and a mother of South Asian descent. On the day the race was called, more than a hundred and forty-four million votes had been counted, surpassing 2016’s total of a hundred and thirty-seven million. Biden was leading the popular vote by more than four million votes, comfortably exceeding Hillary Clinton’s 2016 popular-vote margin over Trump.
Control of the U.S. Senate was decided on January 5th, when voters in Georgia returned to the polls to choose a winner in runoff races for both of the state’s seats. The Republican incumbents, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both lost to their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. For Democrats, who had already gained a seat in the Senate with Mark Kelly’s defeat of Martha McSally, in Arizona, the victories by Ossoff and Warnock secured a fifty-fifty Senate split with Republicans, leaving Vice-President Harris to cast tie-breaking votes in the chamber.
In the House, the blue wave of Democratic support that some observers had predicted didn’t materialize. Although the Party easily retained its majority, Republicans were able to reclaim several congressional districts that Democrats had flipped in the 2018 midterm elections.
You can see complete election returns, state by state, as reported by the Associated Press, on our election map, and read our full coverage of the Trump-Biden transition and President Biden’s Inauguration.


newyorker--2020-11-05--How to Support Your Friend Who Wants to Run a Marathon

Avoid sharp comments like “ Why ?
” or open mockery , such as “ You ?
Really ?
!
” Your friend needs to know that you believe in him .
You ’ re not here to question your friend ’ s motives .
You ’ re here to tell him that he can do anything , and that he ’ s right—he does deserve the most expensive running shoes .
Your friend is now part of a long history of human achievement stretching back to Pheidippides , who ran from Marathon to Athens , not because he ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was still single but because there was a terrible war , and he died as soon as he arrived .
Your friend is doing that—for fun .
As a general rule , it ’ s not a great idea to compare your friend ’ s marathon with racing experiences you ’ ve had in the past , especially if the only race you ’ ve ever entered was last year ’ s Gobble and Giggle 5K Fun Run .
Don ’ t tell your friend about how you passed out and collapsed into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And definitely don ’ t mention that you were carried across the finish line by a band of kind children dressed as pilgrims .
Your friend will likely have a different experience with his race because he won ’ t eat an entire pumpkin pie right before he starts .
Don ’ t Believe a Word Your Friend Says Runners are incapable of talking honestly about running .
Remember that .
If you ask your friend about the hour he spent escalating his cardiac rhythm to Morse-code speed , he will look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ I got to witness such an amazing sunrise !
” As if his run was a meditative experience .
It wasn ’ t .
He looked like a baby deer learning to walk .
Don ’ t believe your friend , or else you ’ ll end up out there , too , greeting the sun ’ s gentle jeté over the pastel horizon with a dry heave .
You may notice some differences in your friend as he approaches his race day .
He may get laser-focussed on nutrition .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ waking second talking about training strategies .
You need to accept these changes .
Your old friend once snuck an entire rotisserie chicken into a movie theatre .
Now this new person wants to run a distance so great that incontinence is a genuine possibility .
Let it happen .
Many people would consider the new version of your friend to be improved .
Those people , of course , are wrong and have clearly never enjoyed half a rotisserie chicken during a matinée .
Support Your Friend to the Bitter End Running @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human aging process into a few hours .
At the start , your friend will be self-assured and full of energy .
By mile fifteen , he ’ ll seem ready for a nap and say things like , “ Where are my sunglasses ?
Oh , right , they ’ re on my head.
” By mile twenty , he will need help drinking water , and it will appear that his clothes don ’ t fit properly .
Your friend will need you for emotional support .
Then he ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cramps !
Then he ’ ll need emotional support again , because an untied shoelace is making him cry .
Don ’ t remind your friend that this is how he chose to spend his Saturday .
Support him to the bitter end .

Manage Your Initial Response
Avoid sharp comments like “Why?” or open mockery, such as “You? Really?!” Your friend needs to know that you believe in him. You’re not here to question your friend’s motives. You’re here to tell him that he can do anything, and that he’s right—he does deserve the most expensive running shoes. Your friend is now part of a long history of human achievement stretching back to Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens, not because he’d recently turned thirty or because he was still single but because there was a terrible war, and he died as soon as he arrived. Your friend is doing that—for fun.
Don’t Compare Apples and Oranges
As a general rule, it’s not a great idea to compare your friend’s marathon with racing experiences you’ve had in the past, especially if the only race you’ve ever entered was last year’s Gobble and Giggle 5K Fun Run. Don’t tell your friend about how you passed out and collapsed into a decorative arrangement of pumpkins and cornstalks. And definitely don’t mention that you were carried across the finish line by a band of kind children dressed as pilgrims. Your friend will likely have a different experience with his race because he won’t eat an entire pumpkin pie right before he starts.
Don’t Believe a Word Your Friend Says
Runners are incapable of talking honestly about running. Remember that. If you ask your friend about the hour he spent escalating his cardiac rhythm to Morse-code speed, he will look you straight in the eye and say, “I got to witness such an amazing sunrise!” As if his run was a meditative experience. It wasn’t. He looked like a baby deer learning to walk. Don’t believe your friend, or else you’ll end up out there, too, greeting the sun’s gentle jeté over the pastel horizon with a dry heave.
Accept Change
You may notice some differences in your friend as he approaches his race day. He may get laser-focussed on nutrition. Or maybe he’ll spend every waking second talking about training strategies. You need to accept these changes. Your old friend once snuck an entire rotisserie chicken into a movie theatre. Now this new person wants to run a distance so great that incontinence is a genuine possibility. Let it happen. Many people would consider the new version of your friend to be improved. Those people, of course, are wrong and have clearly never enjoyed half a rotisserie chicken during a matinée.
Support Your Friend to the Bitter End
Running a marathon is like compressing the entire human aging process into a few hours. At the start, your friend will be self-assured and full of energy. By mile fifteen, he’ll seem ready for a nap and say things like, “Where are my sunglasses? Oh, right, they’re on my head.” By mile twenty, he will need help drinking water, and it will appear that his clothes don’t fit properly. Your friend will need you for emotional support. Then he’ll need you for literal support, because cramps! Then he’ll need emotional support again, because an untied shoelace is making him cry. Don’t remind your friend that this is how he chose to spend his Saturday. Support him to the bitter end.


newyorker--2020-11-04--The Disbelief and Horror of Election Night Were Captured by a Russian Poet in 1933

A line from a Russian poem kept flashing and burrowing in my mind as I sat , like so many of us , glued to all my screens , the MSNBC electoral map on the wall , the Times ’ s needles on a screen in my lap , and the running commentary of Twitter in my hand : “ We live without sensing the country beneath us.
” ( The poem , “ Stalin ’ s Epigram , ” by Osip Mandelstam , has been translated many times with slight variations ; you can see a number of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different translations , based on what hews most closely to the original Russian and on the reasons that I kept coming back to this poem all night . )
It seemed the best way of describing the state of disorientation and disbelief that marked Tuesday night .
Too much of the country wasn ’ t what any of us thought or hoped it was , whether “ we ” were my friends and family and me , the mainstream media , the pollsters , or almost anyone I ’ d heard speak about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mandelstam ’ s poem , written in November of 1933 , is probably his best-known work .
“ Our speech is inaudible at ten paces , ” reads the next line .
We not only don ’ t know what happens in our country—we can not speak and be heard ; we are deaf to one another , and we are mute .
In the time of social isolation , we are indeed almost inaudible at ten paces .
We are also barely visible to one another , with half of our faces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enough meet for half-conversation / The Kremlin hillbilly is our preoccupation ” is how Scott Horton translated the next two lines .
“ They ’ re like slimy worms , his fat fingers , / His words , as solid as weights of measure.
” The brute in charge is inescapable : he is our common obsession and our shared reality .
Even as he continues to tear us apart , he brings us together in what conversation there is .
The second stanza of the poem , as translated by Clarence Brown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ These images , too , have grown familiar : the spectacle of sycophancy , the unceasing performance of dominance .
David McDuff translated the next lines as follows : “ He forges his decrees like horseshoes— / some get it in the groin , some in the forehead .
/ some in the brows , some in the eyes.
” These lines evoke not only rule by decree but government as attack , as daily bodily assault .
“ He rolls the executions of his tongue like berries , ” the translation by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the penultimate line of the poem : “ He wishes he could hug them like big friend back home.
” It is believed that “ Stalin ’ s Epigram ” led to Mandelstam ’ s arrest , in 1934 .
The poet died in the Gulag in 1938 .
His poem was preserved by friends , started circulating underground in Russia in the nineteen-sixties , and was ultimately published in the West in the seventies .
Every line is recognizable six decades later : the sense of not knowing where we live and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the stultifying feeling of not hearing and not being heard , of the isolation that is both the precondition and the product of totalitarianism ; and most of all , the daily exercise of demonstrative humiliation and deliberate cruelty .
It has all happened before ; it has been described .
Read More About the 2020 Election • Live election results : see the latest updates from the Presidential , Senate , House , and gubernatorial races .
• The New Yorker endorses a Biden Presidency .
What he must do to repair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ survived impeachment , twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct , and thousands of lawsuits .
His luck may well end if Joe Biden wins .
• What happens if Trump fights the election results ?
• Here is what you can do if Trump stages a coup .
• To understand the path Trump has taken to the 2020 election , look at what he has provided the executive class .
• The refusal by Mitch McConnell to rein in Trump is looking riskier than ever .
• Sign up for our daily newsletter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and columnists .

A line from a Russian poem kept flashing and burrowing in my mind as I sat, like so many of us, glued to all my screens, the MSNBC electoral map on the wall, the Times’s needles on a screen in my lap, and the running commentary of Twitter in my hand: “We live without sensing the country beneath us.” (The poem, “Stalin’s Epigram,” by Osip Mandelstam, has been translated many times with slight variations; you can see a number of them here. I have chosen lines from different translations, based on what hews most closely to the original Russian and on the reasons that I kept coming back to this poem all night.) It seemed the best way of describing the state of disorientation and disbelief that marked Tuesday night. Too much of the country wasn’t what any of us thought or hoped it was, whether “we” were my friends and family and me, the mainstream media, the pollsters, or almost anyone I’d heard speak about the election in the last weeks.
Mandelstam’s poem, written in November of 1933, is probably his best-known work. “Our speech is inaudible at ten paces,” reads the next line. We not only don’t know what happens in our country—we cannot speak and be heard; we are deaf to one another, and we are mute. In the time of social isolation, we are indeed almost inaudible at ten paces. We are also barely visible to one another, with half of our faces obscured by masks.
“But where enough meet for half-conversation / The Kremlin hillbilly is our preoccupation” is how Scott Horton translated the next two lines. “They’re like slimy worms, his fat fingers, / His words, as solid as weights of measure.” The brute in charge is inescapable: he is our common obsession and our shared reality. Even as he continues to tear us apart, he brings us together in what conversation there is.
The second stanza of the poem, as translated by Clarence Brown and W. S. Merwin, begins,
Ringed with a scum of chicken-necked bosses
He toys with the tributes of half men.
One whistles, another meouws, a third snivels.
He pokes out his finger and he alone goes boom.
These images, too, have grown familiar: the spectacle of sycophancy, the unceasing performance of dominance.
David McDuff translated the next lines as follows: “He forges his decrees like horseshoes— / some get it in the groin, some in the forehead. / some in the brows, some in the eyes.” These lines evoke not only rule by decree but government as attack, as daily bodily assault. “He rolls the executions on his tongue like berries,” the translation by Brown and Merwin goes, and then the penultimate line of the poem: “He wishes he could hug them like big friends back home.”
It is believed that “Stalin’s Epigram” led to Mandelstam’s arrest, in 1934. The poet died in the Gulag in 1938. His poem was preserved by friends, started circulating underground in Russia in the nineteen-sixties, and was ultimately published in the West in the seventies. Every line is recognizable six decades later: the sense of not knowing where we live and who we share a country with; the stultifying feeling of not hearing and not being heard, of the isolation that is both the precondition and the product of totalitarianism; and most of all, the daily exercise of demonstrative humiliation and deliberate cruelty. It has all happened before; it has been described.
Read More About the 2020 Election