TLP Weekend Edition (December 7-8, 2024)
What we're reading and checking out.
📖 “Speaking Trumpian: Persuasion in a post-oratorical age,” by Chris Caldwell. How Trump reaches—and persuades!—so many voters is mysterious to most of his opponents on the left. This essay will get you closer to understanding this mystery than anything else we’ve read. Highly recommended.
Trump seized on these new capabilities and tendencies to say the kinds of things politicians hadn’t been able to say even in 2016 or 2020. It turned out there were countervailing arguments against woke that were not available then. The powerful campaign ad showing a clip of Kamala Harris arguing for state-funded sex-change operations for prisoners—“Kamala is for They/Them; Trump is for you”—broke a taboo. Even his most loyal voters must have asked: Is he really going to go there? Is he really going to talk about the things that make me ashamed of this country? As that ad ran several times during seemingly every college and pro football game this fall, those Democrats who assumed that new media would give Trump enough rope to hang himself were shocked to see the public rallying to his side. A new political technology was bringing forth a new kind of “messaging”—it’s not even clear yet that we ought to call it oratory. What is clear is the upshot. If it is getting harder for a politician to maintain what used to be called “message discipline,” it also seems to be getting harder for his opponents to twist his words to make a trap for fools.
📰 “We Wanted a ‘Grand New Party.’ Trump Delivered,” by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. Douthat and Salam are two of the smartest analysts on the right. In this discussion, they delve into what happened to the “reformicons,” the movement they helped start, and how their idea of a “grand new party” turned into….Donald Trump. Fascinating and insightful on the evolution of the Republican Party in the last couple of decades.
📕 Differ We Must, by Steve Inskeep. At a time when the country feels irrevocably divided along political and cultural lines, it's worth remembering that America has been here before—and it has persevered. Perhaps the most glaring example of this was the Civil War period, during which time President Lincoln was forced to guide our young nation through turbulent waters, including a war that sometimes pitted brother against brother, to help it stay united. In a 2023 book, NPR's Steve Inskeep examined the ethos that carried Lincoln through this time and detailed lessons from the 16th president that may help us today. According to a review of the book:
"Inskeep has mastered the art of bridging divides and building constructive debate in interviews; in Differ We Must, he brings his skills to bear on a prior master, forming a fresh and compelling narrative of Lincoln’s life. With rich detail and enlightening commentary, Inskeep expands our understanding of a politician who held strong to his moral compass while navigating between corrosive political factions, one who began his career in the minority party and not only won the majority but succeeded in uniting a nation."
🕵️♂️ Karla’s Choice, A John le Carré Novel, by Nick Harkaway. Diehard fans of the late great John le Carré might have some trepidation picking up a book by his son, Nick, that takes on the spy novelist’s most beloved character, George Smiley. But Harkaway does a standup job of imaging Smiley as a recently retired agent who gets dragged back into service by Control to figure out some Moscow trickery:
It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only for a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumor in Whitehall—unconfirmed and a little scandalous—that George Smiley might almost be happy.
But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Szusanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But, as Smiley well knows, even the softest step in the shadows resounds with terrible danger. Soon, he is back there, in East Berlin, and on the trail of his most devious enemy’s hidden past.
Set in the missing decade between two iconic installments in the George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Nick Harkaway’s Karla’s Choice is an extraordinary, thrilling return to the world of spy fiction’s greatest writer, John le Carré.
A really fun read that is faithful to most of the great characters in the Karla trilogy, while offering us some “new” information.
🎶 “The Best Albums of 2024: Essential Releases,” by the Bandcamp Daily Staff. Most year-end “Best of” music features are the same 25 albums recycled in different orders on different lists. The music loving staff at Bandcamp instead offers up their favorites in no particular order including tons of unknown gems that don’t appear elsewhere. Find new stuff to listen to like the spaced-out Sun Ra tribute by the Kronos Quartet & Friends, pummeling metal action from Blood Incantation, or great melodic country/folk/rock songs from Rosali.
One of the reasons you will never understand MAGA is your perception that people like Ross Douthat on on the Right. He is one of the house conservatives that the NYT keeps around so they can pretend that they are balanced.
Speaking Trumpian was a lot of fun.
I actually watched Trump's press conference at Mara Logo and with the Association of Black Journalists, as well of course the one debate with Harris.
Trump does this stream of consciousness thing he calls "the weave". I was able to pretty much follow along at the press conference. Though I remained unenlightened. Lots of huckster.
The interview with the Association of Black Journalists was more fun. The crowd seemed to enjoy it too. Lots of hooting and hollering from the crowd there for the show and no one was disappointed. I mean he wasn't there to make intellectual arguments on policy and win over converts. I knew the "Kamala not black" comment wasn't off the cuff.
The debate cats and dogs struck me as it did Kamala. Laughable. It encompassed a blatant untruth as well as a common way to demean another ethnic group based on food most often leveled at Asians but this time against Black immigrants. It was simply too crazy. Harris was laughing, so was I, so was everyone. It was just wrong on so many levels. It won him the debate and kept immigration at the top of the news cycle for another week and a half.
Good review of little le carre's book, top of my to read list, thanks.