I was on Morning Joe earlier this week, and had been planning to defend my editorial in the previous issue claiming Donald Trump was exceedingly unlikely to be the Republican presidential nominee. As I walked into the green room at 30 Rockefeller Center, one of the show’s producers mentioned they were looking forward to discussing the new Washington Post poll. I hadn’t seen it yet, I said. Oh, she said cheerfully: Trump is now at 38 percent, more than double his nearest competitor.

 

I took the bull by the horns on the show: “I’ve just decided to be in denial,” I said. “I’m pretending that poll doesn’t exist.” And I went on to explain that denial is an underrated life strategy.

 

Denial is also an underrated holiday strategy. I still don’t think Trump will be the nominee, but apart from a few sallies on Twitter, I intend to let the argument rest until we’re back at work. Indeed, I decided this week’s magazine could do without an editorial from me (partly because we already had excellent editorials in galleys by Jonathan Last on what’s happening on college campuses, Mark Hemingway on the Obama administration’s failure to enforce the Iran deal, and Stephen Hayes on Obama’s lies about Gitmo). I did get the Trump bug a little at work Thursday, but was able to confine myself to a minor poetic effort for the Scrapbook, which I hope you’ll find diverting. (I reproduce it below, since Christmas mail may be delaying the print magazine, and some of you– unaccountably–may not yet have checked out the whole magazine online.)

 

In any case, what to do while in denial over the holidays? Family, friends, food, and football surely come first.  But if you need some diversionary reading, I’m told the new Lee Child (Make Me) and the new Michael Connelly (The Crossing) are both up to snuff. I’ve been swamped so haven’t gotten to them yet, but hope to read both over the break. And since I’ve read everything else by both writers (as have many Americans), here’s something you can do: Tell me–if one likes Lee Child, who else who’s similar would you recommend? And the same question for Michael Connelly. This would be a service to me–and to your fellow newsletter readers, as I’ll share your suggestions. (Send them here.)

 

What else? I hear there’s a new movie out about some galaxy far, far away. If you want to dip a toe in just a tiny bit of the commentary on the politics of Star Wars, read Mike Warren’s post from Friday and take a look at the contributions by Matt Continetti, Sonny Bunch and Jonathan at the Washington Free Beacon. Is it a little odd that I enjoy reading about the movie while being relatively indifferent to actually seeing it?

 

Don’t answer that.

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