At Large
How, you ask, have I enjoyed my first week as “editor at large?”
The answer is–it’s been great. Of course, in a way it hasn’t been that different–I still wrote an editorial (which you can read here), did a podcast (which you can listen tohere), and am writing a newsletter–which are you are reading right here. And I hung around the office, exchanging random thoughts and observations, and giving some advice, solicited and unsolicited, to colleagues old and young. So nothing was dramatically different.
On the other hand, as Richard Starr pointed out to me Friday morning, this was almost the first time in twenty years when I either didn’t stay late at the officeThursday night as the print magazine was put to bed, or at least didn’t call to check and make sure all was well, see if there were any decisions he wanted counsel on, etc. So while the fact is that Richard and his colleagues have for years done 95% of the work anyway, it was a change–and a relief!–to leave the office for a meetingThursday afternoon, and then just head home without hitting him on speed dial. And, needless to say, if you look at the new issue, you’ll see no decline in quality from the previous 1,025 or so. (If you see that the magazine’s improved, I don’t want to hear about it.)
So I can report that being editor at large is fine. The main thing I have to deal with is smart-aleck suggestions from friends that I should modify the title to “editor at loose” or “editor on the run” or “editor on the lam.” Which may still happen….
By the way, I think Michael Graham and I do a pretty good job in our podcast at being thought-provoking, and sometimes amusing, about the events of the week. But our podcast fades by comparison with the new star podcast on the block: The Substandard Podcast, featuring Vic Matus, Jonathan Last and Sonny Bunch, in which all manner of topics in and around popular culture are discussed. The Substandard’s only been going a few weeks, and already a contributor to Forbes, David Shaywitz, has written this in his year-end review of his favorite podcasts:
For example, in the last episode Jonathan gave us his take on cruise-ship dating, Vic confessed his love for Melrose Place, and Sonny insisted there’s nothing guilty about his pleasures (!). Take a listen. This week the Substandard will focus on the just-released movie, “Rogue One”–could it be the best Star War movie yet? The rumor is that Jonathan thinks so, but that Sonny scoffs at Jonathan’s judgment–and since this is about Star Wars, not something trivial like Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin, the discussion could get heated. And in this week’s edition the three oracles will tell us the best movies, books, and TV shows of 2016. So you’ll certainly want to tune in–here’s where you’ll find it later in the week; and while you’re there, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends! Indeed, now that I’m an at large kind of guy, with nary a care in the world, I might even go to the trouble of listening! It’ll be useful to be able to keep track of the decline of American civic culture in real time….
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Mansfield on Trump
Meanwhile, here’s something else you’ll want to listen to or watch. The Foundation for Constitutional Government has released a new conversation with Harvey Mansfield, in which the Harvard professor discusses Donald Trump’s election and, in a way, how political philosophy can inform our understanding of Trump and what Trump’s victory reveals about American politics today. I’ve got to say that I learned as much from this conversation as any of the ones I’ve done. Mansfield penetrates way beyond the normal pro- and anti-Trump talking points to raise interesting and important questions about Trump’s success and how it fits into the present state of the American regime.
Here are just a couple of tidbits from Mansfield to whet your appetite:
“Now, a demagogue also has this characteristic which Trump has, for sure, in that he loves to be loved, and he doesn’t worry about the quality of the people who love him. He’s only worried about the quantity. He wants a lot of people to love him, so to speak, without discrimination. That bears a close resemblance to what we call a ‘celebrity’ in our democratic society now. A celebrity, I would say, is right next door to a demagogue. Trump qua celebrity had a good preparation in life for becoming in politics a demagogue. Not so worried about the quality as the quantity. That would imply that he has a kind of preference for what is directly popular and not so much for what some thinker or maker of doctrine works out.”
“[Trump] gives people the impression that he, as they say, ‘He tells it like it is.’ Meaning he goes beyond the barriers, or the boundaries of good taste and of good manners, of politeness, of gentlemanliness. But especially beyond the boundaries of political correctness, which are boundaries of our time, characteristic of our time. That makes people think that on this other side, beyond, he’s found something secret, or the hidden cause of things, and he brings that out in the people. He appeals to what is hidden in our thoughts. Really, [in] our feelings, and gives it formulation; brings it out, makes it public. He doesn’t exactly cause it in us, because it’s there already, but you might say a ‘precipitating cause.’ It’s a cause that makes the hidden cause – our dislike, our resentment, say, at political correctness – and brings it out.”
I’m very confident you won’t regret taking 45 minutes to watch or listen. (And you may want to take some extra time to read the transcript so as to ponder Mansfield’s points). And then take the next 45 minutes to listen to Last and Bunch go at it on Star Wars. And with a double issue of the magazine coming out Thursday–with, I gather, a feature piece from Joseph Epstein–what more do you need for the holidays?
Speaking of which: Happy Holidays!
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Onward!
Bill Kristol
