Trump exudes joyfulness within his own Trumpian version of the world. Even when he's mocking someone, he seems to be enjoying himself. Vance doesn't have that. At all. Kamala can be joyful when campaigning. If she can keep that up...
People who have attached themselves to Trump always seem to lose in the end. Vance is unlikely to be an exception. Marrying Trump politically is like marrying Henry VIII.
Natasha Joukovsky: Dorothy Parker redivivus? Vance is "out there beta-testing whether it is possible for an audience to die of second-hand embarrassment."
Ah! Thank you for reminding me of this piece, which I recalled in general but forgot its specific landing on Helprin. Gotta say Vance seems like a far more competent writer, too—I picked up In Sunlight and in Shadow at the recommendation of a work colleague once and abandoned halfway it was so unfathomably bad.
I agree about Vance. And Helprin's prose is...expansive. John Ganz might say he's a little less scary, too, a neocon looking for a hero. Vance is very fashy. Your remarks on blue jeans and second-hand embarrassment made me laugh out loud in public.
There’s no denying that, in a vacuum, Trump is wildly funny. My dream is for him to be able to do his little electoral performance art (Stump speeches, debates, long digressions about Hannibal Lecter) but to not actually be on the ballot come November 5th.
Vance is closely associated with both opus dei and the First Things cabal. It is interesting to note than a well known writer who is lauded as a prophetic voice for our time and place recently gave the First Things 2024 Erasmus lecture.
Great piece! But I don't know...I hope he's just Synergy Greg, but that's Junior's role...I think he's more like the guy who wrote that amazing screed, but substitute "participatory democracy" for "AI."
Trump exudes joyfulness within his own Trumpian version of the world. Even when he's mocking someone, he seems to be enjoying himself. Vance doesn't have that. At all. Kamala can be joyful when campaigning. If she can keep that up...
People who have attached themselves to Trump always seem to lose in the end. Vance is unlikely to be an exception. Marrying Trump politically is like marrying Henry VIII.
100%. As Andy Borowitz put it, he’s likely to end up a “hillbilly effigy” https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/you-didnt-hear-this-at-the-rnc
Natasha Joukovsky: Dorothy Parker redivivus? Vance is "out there beta-testing whether it is possible for an audience to die of second-hand embarrassment."
Oh wow honored!
Thanks for this excellent and very funny piece. Though he's not nearly as prominent or powerful, Mark Helprin might fit the bill of a writer-turned-pol: https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/why-dont-republicans-write-fiction/ . He's also an odious figure.
Ah! Thank you for reminding me of this piece, which I recalled in general but forgot its specific landing on Helprin. Gotta say Vance seems like a far more competent writer, too—I picked up In Sunlight and in Shadow at the recommendation of a work colleague once and abandoned halfway it was so unfathomably bad.
I agree about Vance. And Helprin's prose is...expansive. John Ganz might say he's a little less scary, too, a neocon looking for a hero. Vance is very fashy. Your remarks on blue jeans and second-hand embarrassment made me laugh out loud in public.
Totally--& glad you had a laugh. Too often we take frivolous things lightly & serious ones gravely.
Yes, and vice versa.
There’s no denying that, in a vacuum, Trump is wildly funny. My dream is for him to be able to do his little electoral performance art (Stump speeches, debates, long digressions about Hannibal Lecter) but to not actually be on the ballot come November 5th.
Right! He’s the guy you’re perversely rooting for on reality tv
Two essays on the worse-than-awful-ultra-weirdo-creep and the company that he keeps
http://www.thenerdreich.com/unhumans-jd-vance-and-the-language-of-genocide
http://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2024/03/08/cpac-attendees-america-under-attack
Vance is closely associated with both opus dei and the First Things cabal. It is interesting to note than a well known writer who is lauded as a prophetic voice for our time and place recently gave the First Things 2024 Erasmus lecture.
Great piece! But I don't know...I hope he's just Synergy Greg, but that's Junior's role...I think he's more like the guy who wrote that amazing screed, but substitute "participatory democracy" for "AI."
I do not think Junior is close to competent enough to be Synergy Greg, nor Vance anywhere close to as astute as the AI guy!