A portable typewriter that belonged to Ernest Hemingway. Unfortunately, much of what is “written” on the internet today is not Hemingway-caliber prose but rather what H.L. Mencken or Truman Capote once referred to as merely typing. Photograph by Jim Heaphy.

Donald J. Trump, former blogger

June 6, 2021

Lost in all the hoopla surrounding former President Donald J. Trump being banned from Facebook for two years is the news that his blog and website are kaput after 29 days. As a blogger myself, I was more than intrigued by this. Apparently, it was due to lack of interest on the part of the public. But could it also be that domain contracts, like prenups, have shelf lives? Maybe 30 days was the free trial.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) in 2016. Courtesy Office of Liz Cheney.

Liz Cheney -- martyr to our illogical times

May 23, 2021

You have to wonder what Nathaniel Hawthorne would’ve made of ousted House Republican Party Conference chair Liz Cheney. Would she have been standing on the scaffold with Hester Prynne and her out-of-wedlock baby, Pearl, wearing a big scarlet “O” for ousted or a scarlet “B” stabbed with an interlocking “L” for “Big lLie”?

Horsing around with the truth

May 12, 2021

It’s Triple Crown season, and once again controversy is afoot — or rather, a-hoof.

After the gallant win of little Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby, news broke that the horse had tested positive for Betamethasone, a steroid used to treat inflammation but banned on race day. throwing a cloud of suspicion on trainer Bob Baffert. The trainer of TC winners American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018) — who was also involved in a banned substance charge that was ultimately dismissed — Baffert has denied the allegations, claiming foul play, sour grapes and “cancel culture” were behind them. (More on “cancel culture” in a bit.) Turns out the anti-inflammatory was in an antifungal ointment that was being used to treat Medina Spirit’s dermatitis. But what Baffert knew and when he knew it remains subject to question.

A man leaves flowers at a makeshift memorial for George Floyd on May 27, 2020, two days after he was murdered by then Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Photograph by Lori Shaull.

The George Floyd verdict and the choices we make

April 24, 2021

“A man has a choice. That’s what makes him different from an animal,” Raymond Massey’s Adam tells James Dean’s Cain-like Cal in the 1954 film of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.”

But some men choose to act like animals. Derek Chauvin made a choice to murder George Floyd in cold blood. He did it, because he could do it. Power: The English historian Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But he had it backwards. Power doesn’t corrupt people. People corrupt power by the choices they make for selfishness and against responsibility and service.

Then Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend church at Sandringham on Christmas Day, 2017. Photograph by Mark Jones.

A bridge too far? The Harry-Meghan interview

March 7, 2021

Just how damaging was the interview Oprah Winfrey did with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, on Sunday, March 7 on CBS? Put Prince Charles’ revelations about him never loving Diana, Princess of Wales, together with Diana’s “there were three in this marriage”, multiply it a gazillion times and you have an idea of the damage quotient not only for the royal family but for the Sussexes as well.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (top left) meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden on former President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12, 2021 at the Oval Office to discuss the American Rescue Plan. Less than a month later his… — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (top left) meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden on former President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12, 2021 at the Oval Office to discuss the American Rescue Plan. Less than a month later his career is threatened by his coverup of nursing home deaths and inappropriate behavior with women. Photograph by Adam Schultz/White House.

Born for the storm: Cuomo and the conundrum of context

March 7, 2021

Context drives perception. And, in the words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “there’s nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

The manipulative charm that enabled former President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prepare his frightened, ill-equipped countrymen for World War II and lead them through it also devastated his wife, Eleanor. The arrogant titling at windmills that made former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani look so petty in dealing with his wife, Donna Hanover, and the Rev. Al Sharpton seemed Churchillian on 9/11.

Some people are, in the words of former President Andrew Jackson, “born for the storm.” That they are just as good at securing the peace is less certain.

Which brings us to embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The Senate Republicans — led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, he of the closed-mouth smile — could rid themselves of former President Donald J. Trump, at his second impeachment trial. They won’t do it. Photograph courtesy United States Senate.

The Republicans and fear itself

February 7, 2021

Seven years ago when the Greenleaf Book Group was preparing to publish my novel “Water Music,” about the personal relationships and professional rivalries of four gay athletes, one of their estimable editors sent me a question that I think about to this day.

One of the story arcs that is ultimately woven into the other three concerns an Iraqi boy, Alí Iskandar, who is taken under the wing of an American contractor during the height of the Iraq War with the promise of mentorship in the United States. Instead the contractor abuses him, enabled by the man’s family. My editor wanted to know why the boy doesn’t at this point run away, call the police, try to get back to his family. By way of answer I told him the story of one of my boss’ West Highland terriers, all rescues. This particular little fellow was kept in a cage all his life. Often in the office, he sits under her desk or, in moments of high energy, retreats to a corner. Once in a space it is hard to coax him out of it. He’s free and yet he’s still in the cage of his mind.

I often think about this when I think about the Republicans. Of all the many questions raised by the last four years, few are more confounding than these two: Why has former President Donald J. Trump attracted such a cult following and why do the Republicans stick with him?