Bill Clinton was described as the first black president. Barack Obama was, though actually black, somehow therefore only the second. Now, Joe Biden wants to be the third. “I come out of the black community in terms of my support,” he said in his characteristically bizarre performance during the most recent Democratic debate.
All the Oval Office aspirants are pitching for African American support. The Dem nominee will need 90% of this minority’s votes, plus a high turnout, if he or she is to oust President Trump. Sen. Elizabeth Warren touts massive monetary reparations for slavery, and several others think this ruinous policy acceptable, too.
Whatever the differences between their pitches to African Americans, however, the candidates are united in subscribing to the pernicious falsehood that systemic racism blocks opportunity for black citizens.
In our cover story, “Rhetoric Versus Reality,” Ben Carson, the renowned brain surgeon-turned-HUD-secretary, refutes this bunk, and his own life story eloquently buttresses the case he makes. In conversation with reporter Rob Crilly, Carson says, “This is a country where people can come from virtually any socioeconomic level and rise to the top.” He guffaws at the gap between reality and Democratic presidential rhetoric.
You’ve probably started to hear recently of a group calling itself Extinction Rebellion. Nic Rowan skewers this uniquely absurd group of climate alarmists whose antics are so unappealing to Americans that they richly deserve the sobriquet, “Rebels Without Applause.”
If you watched any of Rep. Adam Schiff’s impeachment theatrics, you probably became aware of a young Republican congresswoman whom you perhaps had not noticed before. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is no enthusiast for Trump’s persona or policies, nevertheless effectively defended him both on evidentiary grounds and because the proceedings amounted to a show trial rather than a respectable inquiry. She is profiled by James Antle.
Elsewhere in the magazine, Scott Beauchamp discusses the cynical romanticism of D.H. Lawrence, Eric Felten ponders the competing claims of documentary and dramatized history, Angela Nagle celebrates the wonders of the In Our Time podcast hosted by the venerable Melvyn Bragg, and Daniel Ross Goodman looks back on a tennis season that set up a future clash between the next “big three” and Raphael Nadal, Novak Djokavic, and Roger Federer, who have dominated the sport for the past 15 years. Naomi Schaeffer Riley lays out the excellent work on adoption being done by the Trump administration, and Jon Brown examines the political implications of young Americans’ waning interest in evangelical Christianity.
