In the final, critical days of his campaign, who does the US president call on? The vestigial tail on Britain’s body politicHow poignant to see Kent garagiste Nigel Farage interfering in the US election, much in the way a drop interferes in the ocean. Farage i... More »
The overthrow of Guyana’s ruling party by colonial forces fomented a racial divide that continues to blight its politicsFor generations, a parable involving outside intervention has circulated in Guyana, formerly British Guiana, in South America. The story goe... More »
Responses to the news vary from person to person. Mine just happens to include sleepwalkingFour days out from the US election, and everyone is feeling tired and emotional. It is hard to focus, easy to agonise, and soothing – if the volume of pain on social med... More »
If you aren’t terrified both by Covid-19 and by its economic consequences, you haven’t been paying attention.Even though social distancing may be slowing the disease’s spread, tens of thousands more Americans will surely die in the months ahead (and official a... More »
Dear Friends,Last week I asked you to tell me about your mental health — how you are faring in this hard time. I don’t know what I expected; maybe some jaunty stories about families pulling together in a crisis. What you sent gutted me. There have been over 5,... More »
So. It’s all settled. Joe Biden versus Donald Trump. We’ve got the candidates for the 2020 presidential race, people. Now all we have to do is make sure we have an election.Aren’t you a little worried about this? The huge mess in Wisconsin this week showed wha... More »
This is less of a newspaper column for general readers than an open letter to public health officials in America — a missive, really: Figure out if majority-black cities are suffering more than others, and if so focus a significant part of your fight against t... More »
This article is part of Frank Bruni’s free newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.Of course President Trump is getting advice about the pandemic from Mehmet Oz, and of course Dr. Oz is eager to provide it. They’re a match made in rating... More »
In the last Democratic debate, Joe Biden declared that he would nominate a woman as his vice-presidential running mate. That felt right at the time. But times have changed. Biden needs to go much, much further: At the Democratic convention he needs to name not... More »
Since the election of Donald Trump, the American media has become invested in the idea that the modern information landscape is defined by a great struggle between truth and falsehood, facts and misinformation, the real news and the fake. In this drama, there ... More »
Just a month ago Donald Trump was still insisting that Covid-19 was a trivial issue, comparing it to the “common flu.” And he dismissed economic concerns; after all, during flu season, “nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on.”But pandemics come at you ... More »
Do you remember President George W. Bush’s remarks at Ground Zero in Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks? I can still hear him speaking of national grief and national pride. This was before all the awful judgment calls and fatal mistakes, and it doe... More »