TLP Weekend Edition (July 13-14, 2024)
What we're reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.
📚 Her Privates We, by Frederick Manning. Author Michael Korda recommended this recently in the Wall Street Journal as one of the best books on World War I: "Manning survived life in the trenches and the First Battle of the Somme—no mean feat—and went on to write a brilliant, unsparing novel that initially had to be published anonymously because of its profane, bracing dialogue. Manning captures the everyday language of the soldiers, for whom the enemy is not the Germans, but their own senior officers and the politicians at home. Ernest Hemingway called Manning’s book ‘the finest and noblest novel to come out of World War I.’ To learn about that war, this is the place to start."
📖 “How 1980s Yuppies Gave Us Donald Trump,” by Tom McGrath. McGrath argues in Politico that the internal Democratic fight between Walter Mondale and Gary Hart in 1984, where Hart was accused of representing “yuppies,” presaged the shift in the party away from its traditional working-class concerns and more towards those of educated urban professionals. A trend Trump honed in on decades later:
[The] eye-rolling over yuppies in the mid-’80s hardened into a deeper resentment of what became known as “the elites,” and in many respects it was understandable. By 2016, families at the top of the economic pyramid controlled 79 percent of all wealth in America, up from 60 percent in the 1980s. The percentage of wealth owned by the middle class dropped from 32 percent to 17 percent.
Ironically, it was Donald Trump—if not a yuppie himself, then at least a walking symbol of 1980s glitz and excess—who spotted the political opportunity, persuading many working‐class Americans that he was on their side.
📖 “I warn you Labour…An open letter to my Labour party colleagues,” by Paul Embery. Trade unionist and Blue Labour strategist Paul Embery lays out a good list of things for his party to watch out for—on matters like immigration, energy policy, crime, and culture—after its huge electoral success on July 4th.
We have been handed a second chance by the electorate. It is more than we might conceivably have expected and, frankly, more than we deserved. The trust that these voters have placed in us will quickly dissipate if we fail to recognise and act upon their desire for both economic and cultural security.
We went badly wrong last time because we forgot that our historical mission was to speak for the mainstream working-class. Far from speaking for them, we ended up regarding them with contempt.
We must never make that mistake again.
🎧 TLP Podcast with Henry Olsen, from The Liberal Patriot. If you didn’t catch our latest episode of the TLP Podcast, please give it a listen this weekend—you’re sure to learn something new about French, British, and American politics from the always astute political analyst and TLP friend, Henry Olsen. Will the Brahmin Left hold or fold? Listen and find out!
⚽️ Copa América Finals, Argentina vs. Colombia, in Miami. After a long and exciting month of battles for CONMEBOL supremacy, defending champions Argentina take on Colombia in what is most likely Lionel Messi’s final international game for his country. Colombia have only won one of their last twelve matches against Argentina, but Liverpool striker Luis Díaz and his teammates will fight hard on Colombia’s third try for the Copa América crown. The match starts at 8PM Sunday on Fox—a great closer to a superb day of soccer with the European Championship final between Spain and England also on earlier in the day.