I miss Tim Russert. Been thinking about him a lot lately, in part because I miss his acuity as a Sunday morning interviewer. There was a solid, working class sanity girding his lawyerly cross-examinations on Meet the Press. But mostly I miss him as a friend, and especially in summer. There was a year, back when we were pups, when we shared a house with our wives, in Sag Harbor—and then more years, after the kids came, when we rented houses near each other in northwestern Connecticut. We came from the same part of the jungle; our parents weren’t fancy. Tim liked to check in with my mom, to see what she was thinking politically—or maybe just to hear her Queens accent. He introduced me to Daniel Patrick Moynihan—his boss at the time—who gave me books to read and changed my life. Tim and I had a tradition: We’d travel through New Hampshire together, watching the presidential candidates on the last weekend before the primary. It was as intense as presidential politics gets. In 1992, we were both brought to tears by Bill Clinton, who got down on his knees to hug a woman who was devastated by the high cost of her prescription drugs at a senior citizens center. We looked at each other, started to laugh. “Damn him,” Tim said, or something along those lines, red-eyed. He was trying to keep his skepticism intact, but Clinton was just so good at retail politics.
But that’s not why I’m thinking about Tim today. We once had a conversation, lakeside, beers in hand, about the fickle nature of the news in summer. Stuff always happened in August, when everyone was taking some time off—wars, riots, scandals. We’d sit around through somnolent Julys, struggling to find stories…and then as soon as the car was packed and it was time to head off to the woods, bang. Back to work.
So it’s July now, and nothing much is happening. The political stasis continues, with DeSantis sucked into the quicksand of his own puny banality …and, lacking anything better to do, I’m tempted toward speculation: We’re in desperate need of a flavor of the month. Someone to step into the role we figured DeSantis would play. There has been some effort, including here in the Sanity sector, to throw some heat toward Chris Christie, just because he, like Clinton, is so good at this—and he may, if he gets the opportunity, land an Orange Crush haymaker if he ever gets to share a stage with Trump. But that will have to wait until the Republicans start debating—in August, of course.
Almost any candidate can be a flavor of the month, given the length of presidential campaigns; almost everyone gets his or her moment in the spotlight. But I have two prospective “flavor” possibilities: Tim Scott and Mike Pence. (Note here: I am not predicting either will be the Republican nominee, just that they’ll have their moment.) Scott should have his time to shine. He’s a fun speaker, with a transparent decency—his Senate colleagues love the guy. Decency may have its turn in Republican politics, given the prohibitively vile nature of Trump and DeSantis. And there is also—caution: this is going to seem politically incorrect—a recent tradition of black candidates catching fire in Republican primaries for a brief season. Herman Cain and Ben Carson had their flings—in part, I suspect, because Republicans are so surprised, and even grateful, to hear conservative principles pronounced by a black man. Scott is more solid, and plausible, than Cain or Carson. I’m betting his personal qualities will be apparent, and attractive, when the time comes. People like likable pols. (I’m desperately hoping that neither he nor Nikki Haley debase themselves by accepting the vice presidential sinkhole if Trump is the nominee).
And speaking of the vice presidential sinkhole: Pence? Yes, it’s true that core Trump nutters will never forgive him for upholding the Constitution in 2020—but that leaves 70% of the Republican Party to be won. And Pence has several big things going for him: his religion is real, for one. You may not agree with it—you may even scoff at his prissiness—but there is an utterly convincing midwestern blandness to the guy. He’s solid, in a crazy time. Pence’s most important credential, though, is that he’s smart…and he’s good at politics. Remember how he dismantled Tim Kaine in the 2016 vice presidential debate? There may be a moment for that sort of quiet competence in the months to come. He just seems so perfectly Republican. Will Saletan of the Bulwark starts the ball rolling today Pence, a palpable grownup, could turn out to be the most conspicuous adult in the room.
My Book Pages
This is not a summer reading list. In fact, most of the reading in question took place during the cool, cloudy, drizzly Spring. And these are, with a couple of exceptions, old books—I only read paperbacks. But here are some interesting things I’ve read recently:
At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell. Last year, I recommended her biography of Montaigne. Next year, I’ll probably recommend her history of humanism. She writes clearly, and with humor, about knotty philosophical problems. The cast of characters here—Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus et al—is fabulous. And I discovered this: I’m a phenomenologist by nature. Go figure.
My Man in Antibes by Michael Mewshaw. This is a classic, old-fashioned literary memoir. Young writer with a troubled past hunts and finds and befriends literary legend, Graham Greene. Gossip and persnickety writer feuds ensue. Fun.
A Dry White Season by Andre Brink. A quietly powerful and infuriating novel about an average white man trying to do the right thing for a black friend in apartheid South Africa. Later made into a movie, which I haven’t seen.
Plus, two books about American villains:
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler. A novel about the 19th century American acting family, including the assassin John Wilkes. This woman can write. I look forward to reading more of hers.
The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr by H.W. Brands. This is a lovely little book by one of our smartest and most accessible historians. It’s mostly about the epistolary relationship between Burr and his beloved daughter, Theodosia. But we also get a good look at Burr’s trial for treason—and, in the process, a glimpse of a brilliant American politician gone wrong.
And on television
The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix). Season 2. David E. Kelley has been creating clever shows about lawyers going all the way back to Ally McBeal. This takes the Michael Connelly character—played on the big screen by Matthew McConaughey—in a refreshing Latino direction. What is it about LA crime dramas—this, Perry Mason, Bosch, Goliath? All great.
And keep an eye out for The Gold (BBC). This hasn’t gotten cross the Atlantic yet, but it will—the story of the biggest gold heist in history, Brinks-Mat at Heathrow airport. Hugh Bonneville is superb as the lead cop, tracking down the bullion. But also lots and lots of familiar British actors, who are so good. And well-written, too. Those Brits. Speaking of…
FINALLY, the various Inspector Morse series: Morse, Lewis and Endeavor—we call them Morse, ReMorse and PreMorse—have just come to an end with the last season of Endeavor (Pre-Morse). A lifetime of classic British detective work in the town of Oxford. Years ago, upon arriving in the town, my friend Paul Solman asked, “Where are all the dead bodies?” There were dozens and dozens over the decades. And John Thaw was unforgettable as the clever, saturnine, music-loving Oxford-student-turned-copper.
A few years ago, a British publisher asked me to contribute to a collection called, Poems That Make Grown Men Cry. I chose one by A. E. Housman, recited at the end of the last episode of Morse, when the Inspector dies. My father had just passed on when Victoria and I watched that episode—we watched the 33 Morse episodes in chronological order—and, as Van Morrison might say, it stoned me:
How clear, how lovely bright,
How beautiful to sight
Those beams of morning play;
How heaven laughs out with glee
Where, like a bird set free,
Up from the eastern sea
Soars the delightful day.
To-day I shall be strong,
No more shall yield to wrong,
Shall squander life no more;
Days lost, I know not how,
I shall retrieve them now;
Now I shall keep the vow
I never kept before.
Ensanguining the skies
How heavily it dies
Into the west away;
Past touch and sight and sound
Not further to be found,
How hopeless under ground
Falls the remorseful day.
Vivek Ramaswamy nailed the interview yesterday in the series, led by Tucker Carlson. I think he is rising, keep an eye on him! Morning Consult polling has him now third place coming out of nowhere.
Pence is also not very charismatic and has very archaic views that should stay in Indiana, and honestly i don’t think he would be someone who would help with keeping elections very democratic either.
Him standing against Trump and the loonier people was the least he could do, though he likely watched as the ignorant moron damaged this country to the rest of the world, time and time again for four years.
But to the hardliners, evangelicals, and white supremacists, he is the establishment. He is likely DOA versus deSantis and Trump.
These people look at Trump as the guy that is going to get rid of their undesirables and sin so they don’t have to. He’s their clean slate, while he siphons as much money from them as possible with his merchandise and rallies and their love towards him. They’re not going to beat Trump.