Sep 7Member-onlyKafka Would BlushTrump’s latest legal gambit is the height of absurdity and contempt for the law — even for him. Hey, hive mind: is there an app for keeping track of Trump’s various criminal and civil trials? (Ideally one that does not require me to update my operating system.) Between the Mar-a-Lago…Politics11 min readPolitics11 min read
Aug 30Member-onlyWhat Is the Best Case Scenario?Suppose we beat Trump in ’24, and even convict him of major crimes. What then? This blog is not known for its sunny optimism. In my experience, the light at the end of the tunnel usually turns out to be the headlamp of an oncoming train. That said, I am…Politics10 min readPolitics10 min read
Aug 23Member-onlySmiles of a Summer Night (Sorta)Another summer’s end, and another great unknown ahead. I hate the end of summer. That’s because — simple math — I love summer. Like the song goes, it’s my time of year. Part of it is just me, part of it is being a water sports guy (ha ha, I…Politics10 min readPolitics10 min read
Aug 15Member-onlyReason’s EndIs there any point in taking the high road when the other side denies there’s such a thing as a “road” at all? On the heels of a federal judge rejecting the Hunter Biden plea deal, Merrick Garland has announced the appointment of a special counsel to look into the…Politics13 min readPolitics13 min read
Aug 7Member-onlyThe Fast and the FuriousPoor people gonna rise up and take what’s theirs? Faithful readers of this blog would be forgiven for thinking that, after a week that saw the long-awaited Big Indictmentof Trump, one could turn to these pages for some pontification about it it. It’s coming, trust me. For now, The Washington…Pop Music8 min readPop Music8 min read
Aug 1Member-onlyThe Last Day of Our AcquaintanceThere are pop stars, and then there are artists for whom the audience’s personal connection and emotional investment go way beyond mere fandom, and not always in a healthy way. That can be a testament to the power of the art, but it’s not always great for the artist either. …Music13 min readMusic13 min read
Jul 26Member-onlyMy One-Way Rivalry with Christopher NolanThe second act of Robert Oppenheimer’s life might be the seminal American story of the postwar era. Trust me. Christopher Nolan does not know who I am, but he has been messing with me for the better part of two decades. The Batman Movie That Never Was Around 2002, when Warner Bros. decided to reboot the…Nuclear Weapons23 min readNuclear Weapons23 min read
Jul 15Member-onlyThe Air Crash Inspector: An Interview with Martin AmisA never-before-published interview with Martin Amis, on the Holocaust as literary terrain, that my wife Ferne Pearlstein and I conducted in 2014. In October 2014, my wife Ferne Pearlstein and I interviewed Martin Amis for The Last Laugh, our 2016 feature documentary about humor and Holocaust. At the time, Amis…Martin Amis11 min readMartin Amis11 min read
Jun 28Member-onlyOne Bullet DodgedWith its decision in Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court rejects one of the gravest legal threats to the republic. Almost exactly a year ago in these pages, I wrote a two-part piece on Moore v. Harper, the case before the Supreme Court that tested the so-called “independent state legislature…Politics10 min readPolitics10 min read
Jun 21Member-onlyNotes for the National Portrait GalleryThe verdict that matters most is history’s. In March of 2019, a year before the pandemic, my wife and I took our eight-year-old daughter to DC for her spring break. We hit the usual tourist spots — the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Air and Space Museum, and also…Politics13 min readPolitics13 min read
