Matt, you always have clear eyed views and some heartachingly beautiful ones too.
My impression of Mr. Meadows, is of, as you used the word for another, a florid faced sot.
Maybe I just see sots everywhere (I don’t really but it helps me explain some of what is erupting here on airplanes and in our body politic). I imagine Mr. Meadows inside a bottle with a mirrored interior and everywhere he looks all he sees is himself. Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony sort of confirmed this for me. Why do we keep electing people like this? I tell people that we like the sick ones, that there’s something about them that fascinates and intrigues us. Yikes! Scary stuff.
Hard agree. Every word. My only criticism is that Matt may be too kind to Mr. Meadows, who supports another man's perpetual self-interest and infinite betrayal to country.
I honestly do not get how someone who could write something as gloriously beautiful as the blue bird story or the Semper Fly piece could write this. (I re-read those from time to time (translate: a lot) just so I can cry and remember so many people in my own life who know the two-plane crash theory.) Those pieces (grammar errors aside) were the stuff of novels (the right stuff!) (Tom Wolfe or Kurt Vonnegut-worthy (banana fish)), but this is just, well.
About infatuation with his phone while Rome was burning, I can’t help but wonder whether Meadows was doing what British lawmaker Neil Parish was doing for which he resigned - watching porn in the House of Commons.
Two comments seems selfish but Christine (American Hero) Hutchinson needs it. This hero is now enduring the full measure of GOP wrath after spreading a great dollop of the butter of truth all over Trump Toast. For this national patriotic service the GOP is stringing her up, metaphorically speaking, and allowing her to spin in the fetid wind of lies and imaginings that is now GOP discourse, Liz Cheney excused. Please, let at least a few other Republicans show some courage. Just a few. Any identifiably decent and moral souls.
Another great piece. I've been away too long, saving your columns for when I have time to read them. I 100 percent agree with your assessment, so it still gives me a little comfort knowing there are others out there who grew up as Republicans but don't recognize this iteration of the party. Will this new breed of Republicans wake up and realize this? I doubt it.
My only reservation here is the hagiography arising around Cassidy Hutchinson.
1) She worked for Meadows. (That doesn't raise ANY questions? At all?)
2) She's so brave and a hero and whatever NOW... at what cost? Death threats? Meh. Along with how many other public figures? Even I've been on the receiving end of that stuff. Unpleasant, but....
At what benefit? Well, she's the darling of the hour, praised from all corners, recipient of countless perks and financial advantages, heralded by....
She may be a saint for all I know.
But she's a Christine-Blasey-Ford hero, an Anita-Hill hero. Both have benefited enormously from their testimonies. (A quick Google of Ford's net worth shot up from $1.5M a few years ago to $2.5M now.)
Let the abuse toward me begin, but let's get REAL here about cost/benefit.
Of all the great lines in the piece, this was by far my favorite: “You know you’ve entered an ethical abyss when Laura Ingraham and DJT Jr, are your voices of conscience.”
@Rick: It continues to baffle me how intelligent, rational, educated people who pay attention to things continually need to, absolutely can't avoid, tying themselves in knots to justify not just what happened on J6 but the entire campaign and 4 year tenure of DT. As a republican and conservative I was only able to ever understand the Trump thing as far as the anyone-but-Hilary vote. What a steep price to keep Hilary out, and we, republicans and conservatives, continue today that price. I'm glad to see it (hopefully, please lord god of all that is good in heaven and the world) unravelling. Hopefully.
Usually enjoy reading these essays but this one made me glad I'm a subscriber. The shining city on the hill is growing dimmer by the day - if it's not already cloaked in the gloom of darkness.
Is Mark Meadows a perfect example of the leadership that has driven 50% of the country insane with frustration and outrage?
Yes.
Are there more examples of this opportunistic, self-promoting profiteer species still mucking up what was at one point a pretty decent place to build a life?
Yes.
Is it at all possible to turn the corner and reimagine what we could become again if we embraced the Preamble of the Constitution?
Possible but we haven't quite hit bottom yet. We will need to do that to be fully disabused of the dick-measuring illusions that drive our downward spiral.
So we have that to look forward to.
Stellar profile. You are Cyrano because 'then when I end the refrain . . . ' Nicely done, Labash.
Jonah Goldberg often uses the phrase "feckless crapweasel" - and Meadows is uncut, undiluted, cask strength feckless crapweasel.
Matt, this article is complete, comprehensive, and well-deserved destruction. I have nothing to add.
Funny and sad all rolled into one.
Matt, you always have clear eyed views and some heartachingly beautiful ones too.
My impression of Mr. Meadows, is of, as you used the word for another, a florid faced sot.
Maybe I just see sots everywhere (I don’t really but it helps me explain some of what is erupting here on airplanes and in our body politic). I imagine Mr. Meadows inside a bottle with a mirrored interior and everywhere he looks all he sees is himself. Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony sort of confirmed this for me. Why do we keep electing people like this? I tell people that we like the sick ones, that there’s something about them that fascinates and intrigues us. Yikes! Scary stuff.
Found this article linked on another site. It convinced me to subscribe. Keep fighting the good fight; I’ll be there with you!
Hard agree. Every word. My only criticism is that Matt may be too kind to Mr. Meadows, who supports another man's perpetual self-interest and infinite betrayal to country.
I honestly do not get how someone who could write something as gloriously beautiful as the blue bird story or the Semper Fly piece could write this. (I re-read those from time to time (translate: a lot) just so I can cry and remember so many people in my own life who know the two-plane crash theory.) Those pieces (grammar errors aside) were the stuff of novels (the right stuff!) (Tom Wolfe or Kurt Vonnegut-worthy (banana fish)), but this is just, well.
Thank you for the laughs today. I really needed that.
About infatuation with his phone while Rome was burning, I can’t help but wonder whether Meadows was doing what British lawmaker Neil Parish was doing for which he resigned - watching porn in the House of Commons.
Two comments seems selfish but Christine (American Hero) Hutchinson needs it. This hero is now enduring the full measure of GOP wrath after spreading a great dollop of the butter of truth all over Trump Toast. For this national patriotic service the GOP is stringing her up, metaphorically speaking, and allowing her to spin in the fetid wind of lies and imaginings that is now GOP discourse, Liz Cheney excused. Please, let at least a few other Republicans show some courage. Just a few. Any identifiably decent and moral souls.
Another great piece. I've been away too long, saving your columns for when I have time to read them. I 100 percent agree with your assessment, so it still gives me a little comfort knowing there are others out there who grew up as Republicans but don't recognize this iteration of the party. Will this new breed of Republicans wake up and realize this? I doubt it.
My only reservation here is the hagiography arising around Cassidy Hutchinson.
1) She worked for Meadows. (That doesn't raise ANY questions? At all?)
2) She's so brave and a hero and whatever NOW... at what cost? Death threats? Meh. Along with how many other public figures? Even I've been on the receiving end of that stuff. Unpleasant, but....
At what benefit? Well, she's the darling of the hour, praised from all corners, recipient of countless perks and financial advantages, heralded by....
She may be a saint for all I know.
But she's a Christine-Blasey-Ford hero, an Anita-Hill hero. Both have benefited enormously from their testimonies. (A quick Google of Ford's net worth shot up from $1.5M a few years ago to $2.5M now.)
Let the abuse toward me begin, but let's get REAL here about cost/benefit.
Of all the great lines in the piece, this was by far my favorite: “You know you’ve entered an ethical abyss when Laura Ingraham and DJT Jr, are your voices of conscience.”
@Rick: It continues to baffle me how intelligent, rational, educated people who pay attention to things continually need to, absolutely can't avoid, tying themselves in knots to justify not just what happened on J6 but the entire campaign and 4 year tenure of DT. As a republican and conservative I was only able to ever understand the Trump thing as far as the anyone-but-Hilary vote. What a steep price to keep Hilary out, and we, republicans and conservatives, continue today that price. I'm glad to see it (hopefully, please lord god of all that is good in heaven and the world) unravelling. Hopefully.
Usually enjoy reading these essays but this one made me glad I'm a subscriber. The shining city on the hill is growing dimmer by the day - if it's not already cloaked in the gloom of darkness.
Is Mark Meadows a perfect example of the leadership that has driven 50% of the country insane with frustration and outrage?
Yes.
Are there more examples of this opportunistic, self-promoting profiteer species still mucking up what was at one point a pretty decent place to build a life?
Yes.
Is it at all possible to turn the corner and reimagine what we could become again if we embraced the Preamble of the Constitution?
Possible but we haven't quite hit bottom yet. We will need to do that to be fully disabused of the dick-measuring illusions that drive our downward spiral.
So we have that to look forward to.
Stellar profile. You are Cyrano because 'then when I end the refrain . . . ' Nicely done, Labash.