Author, NYT bestsellers THE UNDERTOW: Scenes from a Slow Civil War & THE FAMILY, also a Netflix series. + other books. My fave is THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESS. Words & pics Vanity Fair. Professsing, Dartmouth. He/Him.
A refrain I hear from friends: "I just don't understand how anybody could even bear to *look* at the man." But reporting on fascism means developing a kind of double vision. Keep yr wits about you, but see also with fascist eyes. This is what Trump looks like to them. 17/
Thru fascist eyes: His people roar. He steps back. “Oh!” he says, his voice startled, because he’s humble even in his pride. He turns to take in the men behind him shouting bullshit like wind in his sails, the word making him strong. 18/
Back to my eyes & ears: the "bullshit" chanting lasted a long time in Vegas, standing in for every grievance they cld imagine. It's a powerful force. But this, friends, in closing, is the reality: fascism wobbles.
The image above: “Costumes of sorts,” proclaims one of the two broadcasters, Vanessa Broussard. Then, as if on cue, right behind her, a “costume”--the man in the sombrero. My article continues w/ the juxtaposition of the grotesque & the absurd in service of fascist hysteria: 2/
I never stick to the press pen when I report Trump rallies. I wait in line for hours like anyone else, the better to hear the ways in which fascist anger doesn't just stagnate, it expands. Lucky for me, my "proxies" on this obscure RW channel try the same: 3/
I'm not a fan of comedians who go to Trump rallies to collect funny-cuz-they're-dumb talk. That, to me, is a reassurance narrative. Trumpism is dumb; it's also dangerous. That said, I listen for the unintended comedy. My RW proxy doesn't, but it comes to him anyway 4/
If you stop at the absurd, as some do when mocking Trumpism, you miss both the danger &, yes, the tragedy. My RW proxy wants "illegal" horror stories; he finds one, but right behind it is a very different, genuinely heartbreaking story he can't hear. 5/
Another image I saw in the stream & snapped & bent into grainy B&W that I think lets us see simultaneously the absurd, the grotesque, and the sorrow of Trumpism. This is Chris at the rally. He thinks foreign armies are invading. He expects civil war. I think he wants it. 6/
Not long after Chris, comes one of the first speakers at Trump's Vegas rally, who back in '17 suggested the white supremacist murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville was a false flag, because no RWer "commits violence ever." But in Vegas, this guy was all about violence: 7/
Wayne Allen Root continued with his violent rhetoric from the stage of the Trump rally. As far as I saw, not one major news org mentioned it. So, in my little way, I did--and why it's important not just as violence but as a window into the nature of Trump worship. 8/
You know how Trump likes to say his hate-filled rallies are about "love"? The above, the identification of violent hysteria as "love," is what that means. Here's another capture I made from the Vegas stream: 9/
The most revealing part of the rally to me wasn't Trump himself but his herald of sorts, Marjorie Taylor Greene. I tried to see her with my own eyes and as I might if I believed. If I believed, this cornball song would be badass: 10/
A friend ask if I’m decoding Marjorie Taylor Greene. I don’t think so, I say. I think I’m tuning my dial. I think I’m receiving the transmission. I don’t like the tune but the signal is strong. 11/
It's not enough to know that MTG's a racist or a hypocrite. I think it's critical to stopping her to follow the logic in her own ugly mind, the better to understand how hatemongers bend minds. 12/
Some news orgs noted Trump's use of the term "bullshit." None I saw reported that chants of "bullshit" were the defining experience of the day in Vegas--starting with Trump's herald, MTG, who used the profan as prelude to the "sacred." 13/
My "portrait" of the junior demagogue, pointing up at Heaven from which she's saying Trump-like-Christ came. I'm not joking. Neither is she. Fascism is making real divinity claims. 14/
Speaking of divinity claims at Trump's rally The Nevada GOP chair, Michael McDonald, is such a nasty piece of work that "ex-cop linked to Proud Boys" only scratches the surface. He's been nvestigated more times than I could count. But he feels he knows God, and God's name: 15/
I was going to go to Vegas to report Trump's first rally as a felon--not for "news" but to listen for tone, for the mood of fascism as it mutates. But I decided it was too hot, so I stayed in VT & watched 5 hrs of it from an obscure rightwing network. And I made pictures... 1/
Trump says he now knows who "fighting generals" are and who "woke generals" are--which is seriously dangerous civil war talk. Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy almost jumps out of her chair: "Are you going to fire those generals? The woke generals?" Trump promises a purge. 6/
If you live anywhere NEAR Dartmouth College this is where you need to be tomorrow, to hear Erica Heilman of Rumble Strip, one of the great artists & humans of our time, 4:30, Sanborn Library, free.
Watched The House on Telegraph Hill (Robert Wise, 1951) last night. Astonishing; dread-filled. It's described as "slow"; I had to cover my eyes at one point. But like so many noirs, it'd be better if you turned it off five minutes before the end, when Hollywood puts a bow on it.
"When Rob thought about abortion, he started with guns." Rob Brumm, WI militia commander. P. 277, THE UNDERTOW. Bonus: gift link to focus group w/ lucky 13 independent voters, 11 for Trump/fascism, 0 rating reproductive rights as mattering. nytimes.com/interactive/...
Came home from teaching--that's what we call it, anyway--to 2 boxes of paperbacks THE UNDERTOW: SCENES FROM A SLOW CIVIL WAR w/ which to note impeachment of Mayorkas for not trying to razor wire families to death. Here's p. 1. Yeah, I'm gonna flog it. What else have I got?
New paperback covers of THE UNDERTOW and my previous book, THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESS, set for simultaneous release this March 5. UNDERTOW came out '23; tour for DARKNESS, in '20, was cut short by pandemic, & like many books it disappeared. It's my favorite book of mine. Resurrection.
Here's what I mean about TX posturing leading to real death: Jan 12, these kids, Yorlei Rubi, 10, and Jonathan Agustín Briones de la Sancha, 8, drowned with their mother after TX Nat Guard, on orders from Gov. Abbott, blocked Feds from assisting. Cld Feds have made a difference? We'll never know.
Banner news in RW & fascist media. Not mentioned in online NYT, WaPo, CNN front pages. I, too, think it's "political"; but it's also playing w/ matches. Ignoring it doesn't work. Ignoring it to cover Haley (WaPo) MoveOn (NYT) Trump's "political risks" (CNN) really doesn't work.
NYT, stretching out every bit of lame horse race drama it can, reports turnout for Haley's high in Bedford, NH. Doesn't mention it's one of the richest towns. Anyway, if you're feeling anxious, have I got a book for you--new paperback cover. Hardcover's half-price at *that site.*
I've been rambling online about @rumblestrip.bsky.social since last summer, and now I'm teaching a course @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social built around it. So I'm THRILLED that producer Erica Heilman is coming to talk at Dartmouth Feb. 22, free and open to public.
Skateboard graveyard on a chain link fence in Schenectady, alongside Mohawk River, where 38 years ago I found a waterlogged Penthouse I’ve never forgotten. Something like a broken skateboard. The imagination of the adult world, thick with dangers and temptations beyond my adolescent grasp.
