I think it's a good exercise to return to your past predictions and analyses and take stock of what you got right and what you got wrong. In my case, looking back at what I wrote during the Democratic presidential primaries, I got one big thing wrong. |
In 2019, I wrote that "the possibility of defeating Trump without defeating Trumpism looms over Joe Biden's possible run for the 2020 Democratic nomination." That a campaign centered on Biden's appeal to white, blue-collar workers was a campaign that would recapitulate the conceit of "Make America Great Again" under the guise of rejecting it. And I worried, throughout the campaign, that Biden was simply not inclined to make the changes and force the confrontations necessary to de-Trumpify the government, much less push the country away from its austerity mind-set. |
Looking at Biden's nominations, appointments and executive actions thus far — looking at the size and scope of the relief bill and the extent to which he outright ignored Republican demands to make it smaller and less generous — it turns out I was wrong! I greatly underestimated Biden's inclination and ability to do these things. |
It is clear that Biden sees the presidency not as a capstone to a long career, but as a final opportunity to make his mark on the country, and he intends to do so. If these first 50 days are a sign of what's to come, then his mark will be a much greater one than I could have ever anticipated. |
My Tuesday column was a dialogue of sorts with my friend Jelani Cobb, who wrote an essay for The New Yorker on the future of the Republican Party. I disagreed with a few of his analogies and wrote about it. |
There are ways in which I think this comparison works. Like the Federalists then, the Republican Party now is struggling to reorient itself to a new era of mass politics, its reinvention held back by its aging white base. Rather than broaden their appeal, many Republicans are fighting to suppress the vote out of fear of the electorate itself. And just as the Whigs struggled internally and failed to forge a cross-sectional compromise over slavery, the Republican Party does risk fracturing over its commitment to democracy itself. |
My Friday column was on the American Rescue Plan, President Biden's Covid relief bill, which does much more than just address the panic. |
I would even say that the American Rescue Plan compares favorably with the signature legislation of Roosevelt's first 100 days, in that its $1.9 trillion price tag dwarfs the mere tens of billions (in inflation-adjusted dollars) spent by Congress during the earliest period of the New Deal. The challenge is very different — a Great Depression and its attendant unemployment and immiseration versus a health crisis and its economic impact — but the ambition is of similar scope. |
I also did a Twitter live chat, which you can watch here. |
Timothy Noah on the end of welfare reform in Politico magazine. |
Jeff Weiss on the rapper Freddie Gibbs for The Ringer. |
Katy Waldman interviews the actress Kathryn Hahn for The New Yorker. |
Zeeshan Aleem on the impossibility of productive dialogue on the internet, in his personal newsletter. |
I recently picked up a very small and fairly old digital point-and-shoot from my local camera store. Now, "old" here means "released in 2006," but that still leaves it far behind compared with modern cameras. It's slow, with poor battery life and a small sensor. But those are exactly the qualities I'm interested in. I've been in a rut lately, and the limitations of an older camera are exactly what I need to spur some inspiration and creativity. It helps, as well, that the native aspect ratio on the sensor is 16:9, like a high-definition film. It's a slightly different way of framing the world, and it helps as I look for scenes or objects to photograph. |
All of that out of the way, this is a photo of one of my favorite corners in downtown Charlottesville, Va., framed in a somewhat cinematic way with the wide angle and narrow aspect ratio. |
Now Eating: Swiss Chard and Herb Tart |
I made this for dinner earlier in the week and it was a huge hit with the toddler. The recipe comes (slightly modified) from Deborah Madison's "The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone." The main difference is I did not have cheese on hand, but I did have heavy cream, so I used that instead of her combination of Gruyère and milk. I also added a handful of chopped parsley and an additional egg. |
As always, you should make your own pie (or tart) crust! I use this technique from Serious Eats, scaled up or down depending on how many crusts I want to make. I also substitute half the butter for leaf lard, which helps with rolling out the dough and makes for a flakier crust. You can get leaf lard from your local butcher if you have one. |
- One pie crust
- 2 bunches of Swiss chard, leaves blanched, drained and chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 cup chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon lightly toasted fennel seeds
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- a little less than 1 cup heavy cream
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Prepare the greens and set aside. Heat a wide skillet and add the olive oil. Add the onion and fennel seeds and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the parsley and cook another 2 minutes. Add the chopped chard leaves, season with salt and pepper, and cook a few minutes more. Remove from heat and allow to cool. |
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. |
You can pre-bake your pie crust if you'd like, but I don't think it's necessary here. |
Combine the green mixture and the eggs and add the heavy cream. Pour the mixture into the crust. If pre-baked, the tart just needs 30 minutes. If not, it needs 50 minutes. You can tent the tart with aluminum foil at the 30-minute mark to make sure it doesn't brown too much. Let cool and serve warm or at room temperature. |
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