De-Trumping America: A few lessons from my ride with Muhammad

De-Trumping America: A few lessons from my ride with Muhammad

The Uber driver—let’s call him Muhammad—was from Afghanistan. “So,” I asked, “how do you feel about Donald Trump?” I wasn’t going to take anything for granted. The Aryan in the White House might not like Muhammad’s skin color and his probable Muslim faith. But earlier I’d run across a religious African immigrant who cherished Trump […]

Read More
A Trump-era etiquette guide: How progressives can get along with Trumpists and respect themselves in the morning

A Trump-era etiquette guide: How progressives can get along with Trumpists and respect themselves in the morning

George Roper, my good friend from high school, is dead now. When alive, he was often as right-wing as they come—complete with a passionate anti-Obama blog. And yet George and I avoided hand-to-hand combat. Up to his death several years ago, we followed each other on Facebook. He even talked up my novel. Similarly my […]

Read More
Accountability: Why the press needs to ask ALL 538 electors about Donald Trump

Accountability: Why the press needs to ask ALL 538 electors about Donald Trump

A century from now, historians may well turn to the Trump Time Capsule series. The Atlantic’s James Fallows has told “what we knew, when we knew it, about the man who was trying to become president.” The series holds Republican politicians and others accountable to future generations. Donald Trump’s detractors regard him as a potential tyrant […]

Read More

Zelig and the art of winning a Pulitzer: Q&A with J. Ross Baughman, photojournalist

Imagine you’re with the Secret Service. A young Ohioan calls up and says he’ll be joining the Nazi Party. “I wanted you to know.” Wait—the story gets even better. The Ohio man already has been within shooting range of presidential candidates. J. Ross Baughman isn’t a real Nazi, however. Instead he is a photojournalist for […]

Read More
Sell Washington Post to Michael Bloomberg? Not so crazy an idea

Sell Washington Post to Michael Bloomberg? Not so crazy an idea

The New York Times, whether on global warming, the newest iPad or corruption in Mongolia, outdoes the Washington Post all too often. Underfunded for a hyper-competitive Internet era, the Post newsroom stints on local reporting, too. WaPo’s numbers could be much better. Future Grahams and others may not show the patience of Donald and kin. And the current […]

Read More