 | | Federal agents in Portland, Ore., on July 20.Noah Berger/Associated Press |
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I wrote my Tuesday column on the federal government’s troubling actions in Portland, Ore., using a novel and largely unaccountable paramilitary force. It went through a few drafts before I sent it to my editor, and one passage I dropped was an observation on the relationship between events in Portland and those in Iraq and Afghanistan and on America’s southern border. Here’s what I wrote: |
| How should we understand the paramilitary garb and occupation tactics of federal law enforcement in Portland? Not as an innovation from the Trump administration, but as a recapitulation of those tactics and techniques the American security state has used on the border and abroad. |
Because I was on a deadline — and it would have taken a few hundred words to unpack this statement — I dropped the paragraph from the piece. But I’ve been thinking about it all week and brainstorming a future piece that might try to make the argument at length. Unfortunately for me — but fortunately for you, — the author and history podcaster Patrick Wyman has written a long piece on exactly this dynamic. |
| When we see Border Patrol agents wearing camouflage and helmets, carrying M4s with optics, rigged up like they’re about to go on patrol in Ramadi or the Korengal Valley (or deal with a migrant caravan in the southwest), that’s empire coming home. The viciousness of their handling of immigration during the Trump era, complete with threats of gunfire, concentration camps, and consistent dehumanization, has been a preview of their handling of American citizens. So too have been the various misdeeds of American soldiers overseas. |
I recommend you read the entire essay. What I’ll say, for now, is that the underlying processes at work in this phenomenon — the rapid expansion of the national security state, the militarization of the border, austerity and the long-term erosion of public services — transcend this administration. What we’re witnessing, what we’re living through, is the product of a generation of political choices, many made by people who currently stand against this administration. Should Trump lose in November, Americans will have far more to unravel than simply Trumpism. |
I wrote about events in Portland and the creation of an internal security force, controlled by the president and his minions. |
| A secretive, nationwide police force — created without congressional input or authorization, formed from highly politicized agencies, tasked with rooting out vague threats and answerable only to the president — is a nightmare out of the fever dreams of the founding generation, federalists and antifederalists alike. It’s something Americans continue to fear and for good reason. It is a power that cannot and should not exist in a democracy, lest it undermine and destroy the entire project. |
I also wrote about the real “silent majority” and how it is very different from the one imagined by President Trump: |
| There is a silent majority in this country, and it is arrayed against a radical, extremist minority. But it stands against Trump, not the other away around. He and his allies are and always have been in the minority, acting in ways that frighten and disturb the broad middle of the electorate. And as long as Trump cannot see this — as long as he holds to his belief in a secret, silent pro-Trump majority — he and his campaign will continue to act in ways that diminish his chance of any legitimate victory in the 2020 presidential election. |
Vinson Cunningham on the philosopher Frank B. Wilderson III’s new book “Afropessimism” in The New Yorker. |
Nikhil Pal Singh on the early-20th-century American gadfly Randolph Bourne in the New Statesman. |
John Ganz on the free speech debate in The Guardian. |
Priscilla Page on Martin Scorsese’s film “The Irishman” on her personal blog. |
If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to friends. They can sign up here. If you want to share your thoughts on an item in this week’s newsletter or on the newsletter in general, please email me at jamelle-newsletter@nytimes.com. |
 | | Doug Jones’s victory celebration in Birmingham, Ala.Jamelle Bouie |
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I have a memory card’s worth of photos to edit as well as several rolls and a few dozen sheets of film to scan, so instead of sharing anything new, I am going to pull from the archives again. I took this almost three years ago, in 2017, at the victory celebration for Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who won, it suffices to say, unexpectedly. |
Now Eating: Cornmeal Poundcake |
Now is the time for simple desserts involving fresh summer fruit. We have been eating this poundcake — which is incredibly easy to make — with fresh, ripe peaches and freshly whipped cream. It’s incredible. The recipe comes from The New York Times Cooking section. |
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- An orange, lime or lemon (optional)
- ½ cup liquid fat (olive oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, melted butter, whatever you’ve got)
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup plain yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, or ½ cup whole milk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- A dash of vanilla or almond extract, or brandy (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
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Heat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan. (Or grease and line it with parchment.) |
In a big bowl, add the sugar and grate the zest from the orange, lemon or lime into the bowl. If you need a little aromatherapy, work the zest into the sugar with your fingers. (This technique is supposed to infuse the citrus into the sugar.) |
Add the fat, eggs and yogurt to the bowl, along with the extract and nutmeg, if you like. |
Whisk in the salt, baking soda, baking powder and cornmeal. Once smooth, whisk in flour. |
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Let it cool in the pan. Slice and serve. |
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