Articles by Robert Zaller
Aug. 7, 2020
Good Trouble: The final gift of John Lewis
There is never a good day to die, but everyone’s time comes anyway. It came for John Lewis on July 17, 2020, and it marked…
Jul. 24, 2020
On Living in a Pariah Nation
America was a curious country in the 19th century, attracting such figures as Alexis de Tocqueville, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling. By the end of…
Jul. 10, 2020
Donald Doubles Down on his Base
So, what’s a fellow to do these days? Donald Trump was riding high a few months ago. He had what he liked to call a…
Jul. 10, 2020
A battered republican, a tattered Constitution
An oft-told tale: Ben Franklin, when asked what kind of government the Founding Fathers had given us after months of secret conclave, famously replied, “A…
Jun. 5, 2020
The man without a mask
A dark wind is blowing through this country, and we can only await what destruction it will finally bring. Before the coronavirus descended on us,…
May. 29, 2020
Death has a Salesman in the White House
Donald Trump had the most famous line of the 2016 presidential campaign. He said that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue…
May. 22, 2020
How the Grand Old Party Became the Grim Old Reaper
The historian Joseph J. Ellis defines a political faction succinctly as “an organized minority whose very purpose [is] to undercut the public will, usually by…
May. 15, 2020
American Amnesia: Kent State, Star Wars, and the Fourth of May
Let me begin with a confession: I know nothing about “Star Wars” except that it is a movie franchise created by George Lucas that has…
May. 8, 2020
Making the Worst Worse: Trump at Warp Speed
We weren’t ready for COVID-19, even though we could have been. Donald Trump eliminated the joint task force with China, established to get a quick…
May. 1, 2020
Forgot the Kool-Aid—Try Lysol Instead!
For those of you not of a certain age, a reference to drinking Kool-Aid may not ring a bell. In November 1978, 918 members of…