Jonathan Alter

3 weeks ago | oldgoats.substack.com | Jonathan Alter

With a tiny handful of exceptions, Republican politicians sold their souls to Donald Trump a long time ago. Now it’s the universities, the legal establishment, and the news media that are being subjected to Trump and Elon Musk’s extortion racket. The thuggery is moving so fast that even many liberal leaders are losing the moral courage they grew up thinking they possessed.

1 month ago | washingtonmonthly.com | Jonathan Alter

One evening in October 1962, Nikita Khrushchev attended a performance of Boris Godunov starring the American opera star Jerome Hines. Khrushchev led a standing ovation and congratulated Hines backstage. This might not sound like much, but it was in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

1 month ago | oldgoats.substack.com | Jonathan Alter

Raise your hand if — like Donald Trump — you believe a long recession may be necessary to achieve your larger aims. I have to admit: Mine’s up. I’m cool with the bad times rolling for 19 months, right to the 2026 midterms. Or even for three and a half years, so that Trump becomes Herbert Hoover and we can elect a Democratic president to repair at least some of the damage. Of course, it’s easy for me and other comfortable Democrats to be cavalier about this.

1 month ago | washingtonmonthly.com | Jonathan Alter

Stephen Colbert mocked the props Democrats brought to President Trump’s big boring speech. He joked that the paddles they raised—“Save Medicaid,” “Musk Steals” and “False”—made it seem as if they were bidding on an antique tea set. Whichever genius came up with that idea forgot to check whether the pool cameras in the chamber could pick up the words on the paddles. Most of the time they couldn’t. The pink outfits didn’t do much and even Rep.

1 month ago | oldgoats.substack.com | Jonathan Alter

Stephen Colbert mocked the props Democrats brought to President Trump’s big boring speech. He joked that the paddles they raised — “Save Medicaid,” “Musk Steals” and “False”— made it seem as if they were bidding on an antique tea set. Whichever genius came up with that idea forgot to check whether the pool cameras in the chamber could pick up the words on the paddles. Most of the time they couldn’t. The pink outfits didn’t do much and even Rep.