Thank you for your cautious optimism. I am terrified about what’s to come. Terrified that half the nation thinks it is acceptable to let someone run the country that tried to overthrow it. Terrified that half this country has forgotten that we were not told about a healthcare crisis that loomed in front of us and killed millions. I am also terrified that a democracy is supposed to be for the people and by the people about the people. Not about using the platform to get your own way and fatten your bank book. There are people in jail now who have stolen classified documents and not paid taxes. There are people in jail who have been responsible for the death of one police officer - let alone 7 innocent people at the Capitol Building. Yet there is one person above the law who threatens those who want to enforce the law. That to me makes no sense. What does make sense is that no one is talking about Elon Musk who seems to be inside this miracle bubble. The only reason he is a right wing hero is because of what he might have done to cement a felon in chief. What was his role in this election? I also wonder how the price of eggs will go down because of new leadership. With government agencies on the chopping block and authoritarianism a real possibility how can anyone with common sense have hope for a future democracy. I would like to believe that journalists will come to the rescue. But i know better. Most people don’t read newspapers. They use social media as their truth bearer. But i do agree that Democrats need to have a media outlet on TV and print that can neutralize Fox News and the New York Post. Thank you for your guidance and common sense approach to what lies ahead. I am collecting masks and gloves in case they outlaw healthcare protocols. If you remember we were told Covid was nothing. It would go away they said. Well it didn’t. I hope that people like you can tip the scales of justice to its rightful place. I have yet to see anyone enforce the emolument clause. Soon the White House and our government will be for sale to the highest bidder. Apprentice 3.0 is on the horizon.
Thank you Margaret. I live in KY. Really red state. Most here are Fox News type people. They say they watch it because everything else is so liberal. When I read about building a Democrat media empire, I remember their words. How do I have a conversation with them? I dread the next 4 years of news coverage. I have had thoughts that I wish they wouldn’t cover him at all, but it would mean my head was buried in the sand. “The People” are like children in a very dysfunctional family. We are tired, we are turning more dysfunctional to deal with it.
Also, when I hear about young men looking for a place to belong, it was reminiscent of many years ago when gangs were being studied for that same reason.
It was liberating to finally end my subscription to the Washington Post after a quarter century. I just subscribed to The Guardian, not least of all because of Ms. Sullivan, but especially their model of reader support. I was passionately invested in the Post and recoiled with revulsion and refusal at their non-endorsement. It is a pity their fine reporters must suffer for the complicity, complacency, and ultimately cowardice of their Opinions editors, but that business model—appeasement of power and contempt for readers and subscribers—needs to be destroyed. It was dismaying to hear even excellent columnists like Ruth Marcus or Erik Wemple so fatalistically resigned to the provably corrupt idea that the owner has every right to see his editorial reviews reflected. No. The Post, and any prestigious institution of journalism, is a public good. If The Post made its subscribers and readers the owners it would have 50 million in this political moment instead of the 2.5 diminishing it has now. Let’s figure out a way to make that happen for the antifascist press; we can start by punishing the legacy press with their boards of errand boys for billionaires.
It would be a huge public service for Bezos to turn the Post into a nonprofit. There are models for this in the US. I have retained my Post subscription but I do understand your decision.
Here’s the list of the worst I recall (doubtless superseded since by editors and columnists falling over themselves to accommodate the new regime):
1. Charles Lane’s 2018 blood-and-soil defense of the electoral college. Sophomoric and slapdash, yet a sublime distillation of the urge to appease the right.
2. Karen Tumulty’s 2020 column offering that “it would be alright” if Trump held the Republican National Convention at our White House. Anticipatory obedience at its most demoralizing and destructive.
3. Karen Tumulty’s 2020 column demanding that Joe Biden yield his Delaware records in response to Tara Reade’s accusations. In her defense, it at least demonstrates she’s gullible and naive about foreign intelligence operations, not malicious.
4. A column you published by Russell Vought’s wife, without even a disclaimer.
5. Publishing George Terwilliger’s legal stratagem on behalf of Mark Meadows in the guise of an “opinion” piece.
6. Your lead editorial conceding that there were “some differences” between the 2024 presidential candidates, without noting that one was a convicted felon and rapist also under indictment for insurrection,
espionage, and election tampering.
7. Shadi Hamid’s intuition of divine providence in Trump’s survival of an assassination attempt.
8. Ruth Marcus’s insistence that Harris, but not Trump, release the names of her “bundlers”—the quintessence of a double standard, self-sabotage, and reflexive internalization of right wing tropes. I regret having to put Marcus on this list, because she’s otherwise been such a fine columnist, if a terrible editor like the rest of you.
9. A defense of Elon Musk’s “free speech”and accompanying condemnation of Alexandre de Moraes, now a target of bombings at Musk’s instigation.
10. An unpublished presidential endorsement, and your failure to resign when it was suppressed.
How so? When Trump was in power the first time he corruptly denied AWS that huge DOD contract as retaliation for the Post’s journalism. His need to crawl for Trump cost him 250,000 subscribers, while also costing the prestige of the paper. People like me are likewise cancelling Amazon Prime (at the suggestion of a Post reporter, as a matter of fact). How’s it making him money? Genuinely asking.
You know, for a cohort that worships a guy who they think is the ultimate “tough guy” because of how he runs his mouth, this 18-23 male demographic sure does a lot of feeling sorry for itself. It is the opposite of the behavior they so clearly worship. Maybe if they put down their phones and got off hate Twitter and met some people in person they’d have better lives. After what they’ve done to this country out of spite by putting this fascist back in office, I will continue to have zero sympathy for them. Their loneliness is a choice.
In the immortal words of CSN, “Teach your children well….” The young men in this world looking for meaning and companionship are finding it in a lot of damaging places.
We all need to do our part to shepherd the next generation of these youngs, it seems many of them are being ill served by the people that chose to put them on the planet. I have long held that the majority of people that have kids are not remotely equipped to “raise” them.
Human to human contact IRL is essential. (IMHO, Zuckerberg, Musk, et al are to blame for so many ills)
We have 2 of these young men in our family, but unlike the young men everyone wants to reach out to, my grandsons (24 and 21) voted for Kamala Harris. Maybe it would be more instructive to speak with young men who didn’t fall for the toxic, fake, so-called masculine pod bros and their role model - the conman, grifter, and sexual predator in chief.
Shocked, shocked to hear that young people are alienated and that no one understands them. Once trump and his immigration czar has his way, maybe they can pick lettuce and mow golf courses instead of listening to Joe Rogen.
It is more pleasant to watch only 30 minutes of news on PBS at 6:00 with no silly Pharm commercials and to watch Documentaries of choice or none at all. We used to scratch our head that our next door neighbor here in this CCRC never watches TV and only has an old flip phone.
A propos of Thanksgiving, everyone: I have a recommended reading list (a very short one)—Since the Gettysburg Address is so connected with that holiday, here are his other great speeches, which will run through you like an electric current for their relevance:
1. His Lyceum Address, a prophetic 1840 speech about how our Republic would end. It’s a very early one, with antique prose, but great. The penultimate sentence jarringly includes the word “trump” (trumpet).
Finding one’s community in print, television, social platforms, and, perhaps most of all, our physical spaces, will help keep us informed and motivated during this dark time. Giving thanks to all those in my life, including you, for keeping me strong. Happy Thanksgiving.
Finding one's community in physical spaces is a lot more dangerous for some of us than most people grasp. COVID is still out there and for some of us with underlying conditions and/or suppressed immune systems, being in public spaces with a lot of other, unmasked individuals simply isn't a viable option. Five years into the pandemic, you'd think that would have sunk in. But then, you'd also think it would have sunk in that Donald Trump is a rapist, a swindler, a seditionist, and an agent of a hostile foreign power who belongs in prison, not the White House, and you'd be wrong about that, too. America is going to die of stupidity.
I'm contemplating the conversation I'm going to be having with my Adult children over the Holidays. In that If or When my Social Security gets Cut, how much are they going to be able to help me ?! I'm sure that I am not alone here, most folks I know are extremely anxious about this topic, and most, don't have family that are able to help them. With No social safety net in place, a lot of people are going to be effected moving forward. The cuts Project 2025 purposes will destroy children K-12 and All Senior citizens. Thank You for your article this morning ☕ and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
In these troubling times you have a lucidity that helps us to focus our energies in a constructive direction. We must encourage those individuals, no matter their age, sex or party affiliation, who have the ability and inclination to get involved in either rebuilding the Democratic Party or forming a new party that will put the needs of the lower financial half of our country before their desire for power or be beholden to the oligarchs.
Young people (girls too!) are so damaged by this social media experiment that was unleashed upon them when they were very young and no one knew how bad it was. They get their "news" from the TicTok algorithm that feeds them what they want. This is the cohort that broke for the #DirtyOldMan -- terrifying.
Margaret thank you for this article. Brilliant!! People need to understand what is happening to our young men. Joe and Meka are saving their jobs just incase Musk buys comcast.
Thanks again, Margaret. I am very grateful for the First Amendment. And for you. I appreciate your tip to snd precious donation dollars to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (and a local refugee agency).
I'll still keep my subscription to WaPo. Can't see punishing hard-working reporters for the sins of the owner. And I'll still keep all my many other subscriptions to fact-based news organizations. I completely ageree with your statement that we need good journalism now more than ever. I've been saying that for years. (And wishing my own alma mater would reinstate the word "journalism" to the name of its communications school. But that's another story.)
Thank you for dropping the pay wall. Though I have no comment today, one of my major irritants is when I get that popup saying I must pay to comment. Not exactly conducive to sharing opinions.
Thank you for your cautious optimism. I am terrified about what’s to come. Terrified that half the nation thinks it is acceptable to let someone run the country that tried to overthrow it. Terrified that half this country has forgotten that we were not told about a healthcare crisis that loomed in front of us and killed millions. I am also terrified that a democracy is supposed to be for the people and by the people about the people. Not about using the platform to get your own way and fatten your bank book. There are people in jail now who have stolen classified documents and not paid taxes. There are people in jail who have been responsible for the death of one police officer - let alone 7 innocent people at the Capitol Building. Yet there is one person above the law who threatens those who want to enforce the law. That to me makes no sense. What does make sense is that no one is talking about Elon Musk who seems to be inside this miracle bubble. The only reason he is a right wing hero is because of what he might have done to cement a felon in chief. What was his role in this election? I also wonder how the price of eggs will go down because of new leadership. With government agencies on the chopping block and authoritarianism a real possibility how can anyone with common sense have hope for a future democracy. I would like to believe that journalists will come to the rescue. But i know better. Most people don’t read newspapers. They use social media as their truth bearer. But i do agree that Democrats need to have a media outlet on TV and print that can neutralize Fox News and the New York Post. Thank you for your guidance and common sense approach to what lies ahead. I am collecting masks and gloves in case they outlaw healthcare protocols. If you remember we were told Covid was nothing. It would go away they said. Well it didn’t. I hope that people like you can tip the scales of justice to its rightful place. I have yet to see anyone enforce the emolument clause. Soon the White House and our government will be for sale to the highest bidder. Apprentice 3.0 is on the horizon.
Thank you Margaret. I live in KY. Really red state. Most here are Fox News type people. They say they watch it because everything else is so liberal. When I read about building a Democrat media empire, I remember their words. How do I have a conversation with them? I dread the next 4 years of news coverage. I have had thoughts that I wish they wouldn’t cover him at all, but it would mean my head was buried in the sand. “The People” are like children in a very dysfunctional family. We are tired, we are turning more dysfunctional to deal with it.
Also, when I hear about young men looking for a place to belong, it was reminiscent of many years ago when gangs were being studied for that same reason.
It was liberating to finally end my subscription to the Washington Post after a quarter century. I just subscribed to The Guardian, not least of all because of Ms. Sullivan, but especially their model of reader support. I was passionately invested in the Post and recoiled with revulsion and refusal at their non-endorsement. It is a pity their fine reporters must suffer for the complicity, complacency, and ultimately cowardice of their Opinions editors, but that business model—appeasement of power and contempt for readers and subscribers—needs to be destroyed. It was dismaying to hear even excellent columnists like Ruth Marcus or Erik Wemple so fatalistically resigned to the provably corrupt idea that the owner has every right to see his editorial reviews reflected. No. The Post, and any prestigious institution of journalism, is a public good. If The Post made its subscribers and readers the owners it would have 50 million in this political moment instead of the 2.5 diminishing it has now. Let’s figure out a way to make that happen for the antifascist press; we can start by punishing the legacy press with their boards of errand boys for billionaires.
It would be a huge public service for Bezos to turn the Post into a nonprofit. There are models for this in the US. I have retained my Post subscription but I do understand your decision.
Here’s the list of the worst I recall (doubtless superseded since by editors and columnists falling over themselves to accommodate the new regime):
1. Charles Lane’s 2018 blood-and-soil defense of the electoral college. Sophomoric and slapdash, yet a sublime distillation of the urge to appease the right.
2. Karen Tumulty’s 2020 column offering that “it would be alright” if Trump held the Republican National Convention at our White House. Anticipatory obedience at its most demoralizing and destructive.
3. Karen Tumulty’s 2020 column demanding that Joe Biden yield his Delaware records in response to Tara Reade’s accusations. In her defense, it at least demonstrates she’s gullible and naive about foreign intelligence operations, not malicious.
4. A column you published by Russell Vought’s wife, without even a disclaimer.
5. Publishing George Terwilliger’s legal stratagem on behalf of Mark Meadows in the guise of an “opinion” piece.
6. Your lead editorial conceding that there were “some differences” between the 2024 presidential candidates, without noting that one was a convicted felon and rapist also under indictment for insurrection,
espionage, and election tampering.
7. Shadi Hamid’s intuition of divine providence in Trump’s survival of an assassination attempt.
8. Ruth Marcus’s insistence that Harris, but not Trump, release the names of her “bundlers”—the quintessence of a double standard, self-sabotage, and reflexive internalization of right wing tropes. I regret having to put Marcus on this list, because she’s otherwise been such a fine columnist, if a terrible editor like the rest of you.
9. A defense of Elon Musk’s “free speech”and accompanying condemnation of Alexandre de Moraes, now a target of bombings at Musk’s instigation.
10. An unpublished presidential endorsement, and your failure to resign when it was suppressed.
What are the prospects of someone or something buying it off him? It’s not doing him any good.
Doubtful anyone would buy. And I'm not sure I agree that it's not doing him any good.
How so? When Trump was in power the first time he corruptly denied AWS that huge DOD contract as retaliation for the Post’s journalism. His need to crawl for Trump cost him 250,000 subscribers, while also costing the prestige of the paper. People like me are likewise cancelling Amazon Prime (at the suggestion of a Post reporter, as a matter of fact). How’s it making him money? Genuinely asking.
You know, for a cohort that worships a guy who they think is the ultimate “tough guy” because of how he runs his mouth, this 18-23 male demographic sure does a lot of feeling sorry for itself. It is the opposite of the behavior they so clearly worship. Maybe if they put down their phones and got off hate Twitter and met some people in person they’d have better lives. After what they’ve done to this country out of spite by putting this fascist back in office, I will continue to have zero sympathy for them. Their loneliness is a choice.
Trump is the ultimate in self pity. He wallows in it all the time so he is a good role model for that.
They are also easy marks.
In the immortal words of CSN, “Teach your children well….” The young men in this world looking for meaning and companionship are finding it in a lot of damaging places.
We all need to do our part to shepherd the next generation of these youngs, it seems many of them are being ill served by the people that chose to put them on the planet. I have long held that the majority of people that have kids are not remotely equipped to “raise” them.
Human to human contact IRL is essential. (IMHO, Zuckerberg, Musk, et al are to blame for so many ills)
We ignore this at our peril.
Thank you for raising the issue of the loneliness being experienced by young men. I’ll be in the lookout for opportunities to connect and be kind.
I think you may find them. Thanks.
We have 2 of these young men in our family, but unlike the young men everyone wants to reach out to, my grandsons (24 and 21) voted for Kamala Harris. Maybe it would be more instructive to speak with young men who didn’t fall for the toxic, fake, so-called masculine pod bros and their role model - the conman, grifter, and sexual predator in chief.
Shocked, shocked to hear that young people are alienated and that no one understands them. Once trump and his immigration czar has his way, maybe they can pick lettuce and mow golf courses instead of listening to Joe Rogen.
It is more pleasant to watch only 30 minutes of news on PBS at 6:00 with no silly Pharm commercials and to watch Documentaries of choice or none at all. We used to scratch our head that our next door neighbor here in this CCRC never watches TV and only has an old flip phone.
A propos of Thanksgiving, everyone: I have a recommended reading list (a very short one)—Since the Gettysburg Address is so connected with that holiday, here are his other great speeches, which will run through you like an electric current for their relevance:
1. His Lyceum Address, a prophetic 1840 speech about how our Republic would end. It’s a very early one, with antique prose, but great. The penultimate sentence jarringly includes the word “trump” (trumpet).
2. Cooper Union Address
3. House Divided speech
4. Second Inaugural—his greatest
Finding one’s community in print, television, social platforms, and, perhaps most of all, our physical spaces, will help keep us informed and motivated during this dark time. Giving thanks to all those in my life, including you, for keeping me strong. Happy Thanksgiving.
Very kind. Thank you!
Finding one's community in physical spaces is a lot more dangerous for some of us than most people grasp. COVID is still out there and for some of us with underlying conditions and/or suppressed immune systems, being in public spaces with a lot of other, unmasked individuals simply isn't a viable option. Five years into the pandemic, you'd think that would have sunk in. But then, you'd also think it would have sunk in that Donald Trump is a rapist, a swindler, a seditionist, and an agent of a hostile foreign power who belongs in prison, not the White House, and you'd be wrong about that, too. America is going to die of stupidity.
I'm contemplating the conversation I'm going to be having with my Adult children over the Holidays. In that If or When my Social Security gets Cut, how much are they going to be able to help me ?! I'm sure that I am not alone here, most folks I know are extremely anxious about this topic, and most, don't have family that are able to help them. With No social safety net in place, a lot of people are going to be effected moving forward. The cuts Project 2025 purposes will destroy children K-12 and All Senior citizens. Thank You for your article this morning ☕ and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
In these troubling times you have a lucidity that helps us to focus our energies in a constructive direction. We must encourage those individuals, no matter their age, sex or party affiliation, who have the ability and inclination to get involved in either rebuilding the Democratic Party or forming a new party that will put the needs of the lower financial half of our country before their desire for power or be beholden to the oligarchs.
Young people (girls too!) are so damaged by this social media experiment that was unleashed upon them when they were very young and no one knew how bad it was. They get their "news" from the TicTok algorithm that feeds them what they want. This is the cohort that broke for the #DirtyOldMan -- terrifying.
Margaret thank you for this article. Brilliant!! People need to understand what is happening to our young men. Joe and Meka are saving their jobs just incase Musk buys comcast.
Thanks again, Margaret. I am very grateful for the First Amendment. And for you. I appreciate your tip to snd precious donation dollars to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (and a local refugee agency).
I'll still keep my subscription to WaPo. Can't see punishing hard-working reporters for the sins of the owner. And I'll still keep all my many other subscriptions to fact-based news organizations. I completely ageree with your statement that we need good journalism now more than ever. I've been saying that for years. (And wishing my own alma mater would reinstate the word "journalism" to the name of its communications school. But that's another story.)
Journalism is a better word. Medill, too.
Thank you for dropping the pay wall. Though I have no comment today, one of my major irritants is when I get that popup saying I must pay to comment. Not exactly conducive to sharing opinions.
I understand the need for paywalls, but I too find them hard to take. It seems as if those who are able are contributing here, and that's appreciated.