Nazis, Trump, And Kelela: See / Read / Listen To This: Issue #14

Donald Trump has now officially been nominated by the Republican Party as their candidate for President. This is a shockingly terrible idea, both for the Republicans and for the country. He is unfit to be president, lacking the temperament, resume, or basic policy understanding to lead a luncheon, let alone a world superpower.

Before this gets any more rant-y, I’m going to stop and let smarter people argue the point more articulately than I can. Today’s whole “Read” section is dedicated to Trump writing, so if you’re put off by politics you might want to skip that.

See:

The Rise of Conservationism (15:00 on Youtube)

Another entry in the entertaining-but-educational Youtube video space comes from the exceptional Crash Course channel. The entire playlist of US History is worth watching, as each episode distills an entire week of a high school history class into 10 minutes or so. Funny graphics + rapid facts = nice video to watch during lunch. This video in particular is relevant (or not?) to the political climate today, but they have videos covering every aspect of US history going back to the revolution itself.

Green Room (Movie | In Theaters)

Early on in this newsletter I recommended Blue Ruin, a stripped-down revenge thriller on Netflix. Jeremy Saulinier, the director, is back with another thriller called Green Room that I recommend to anyone who enjoys kicks of adrenaline. In it, a punk band is help captive by some bad folks, but beyond the classic “trapped in a room” plot, I loved the intensity, unpredictability, and rawness of the action.

Read:

The Dangerous Acceptance of Donald Trump (~4 Minutes)

“Those who say ‘Well, he would not really have the power to accomplish that’ is to misunderstand the nature of thin-skinned authoritarians in power.  They arrive, and then make their power as large as they can.” Wise words from Adam Gopnick about the dangers of accepting Donald Trump as an elected representative.

Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All (~20 Minutes)

Hilarious. The guy who wrote “The Art of the Deal” for/with Donald Trump comes forward to vehemently condemn Trump and make clear Trump’s role in writing the book was limited. “If he were writing “The Art of the Deal” today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, “The Sociopath.”

Donald Trump’s nomination is the first time American politics has left me truly afraid (~35 Minutes)

Ezra Klein, as usual, comes in to bat cleanup with some of the best political writing around. Here, he makes an uncharacteristic (but increasingly necessary) departure from “journalistic objectivism” to explain clearly why Trump should not be president. There are dozens of references to evidence supporting his claims, so this is not a fluffy take down piece. Perhaps most worrying: “It’s not just that Trump admires these authoritarians; it’s that the thing he admires about them is their authoritarianism — their ability to dispense with niceties like a free press, due process, and political opposition.”

Listen to:

Allude – Oxley (Music)

I’m far from a professional, but in my free time I occasionally like making music for fun under the name “Allude”. While I was traveling these last few weeks, I had a bit of free time and put together this genre-less song. So far, descriptions include: “out of a Tarantino soundtrack”, “deep mariachi”, “delta waves”, “lounge” and “chill”. If you have an idea for a genre to use, shoot me an email.

Song Exploder: Kelela – Rewind (15:00| Podcast)

Song Exploder asks musicians to explain their creative process in their own words. Each episode starts with a new musician explaining how the instrumental for a song came together, how the lyrics were formed, and the process of releasing the track. It provides fascinating insight into the mind of a wide range of musicians, so even if you’re not into Kelela, U2, Wilco, Chet Faker, Joey Bada$$ and more have all done episodes for you to enjoy.

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” – Donald Trump

‍