Our Looking Glass world
by Tom Sullivan
On any given day since the Twitterer-in-Chief took office, it is hard to tell up from down, left from right. This morning? Don't try.
From the landing pages:
Trump Now Says He Backs Deal to Protect ‘Dreamers’ — New York Times
There Is No DACA “Deal” Yet — Slate
Did Trump and Democrats strike DACA deal or not? — Washington Post
DACA is alive. Is the GOP dead? — The Week
Trump signs resolution condemning bigotry and violence in Charlottesville — Politico
Trump Again Claims Both Sides to Blame in Charlottesville — New York Times
And dammit, there's no Dramamine in my toiletries kit. Or bourbon.
Guess Whether These Headlines Came From Breitbart or 1920s KKK Newspapers — Slate
Go ahead. I dare you. (I did no better than average.)
After all that, the prize for clear thinking this morning goes to Jay Nordlinger for wading into the Confederate monuments debate at the National Review:
Every so often, I’m reminded how bad slavery was. Consider: For generations, Americans had the right to own other people as chattels. They could work them, rape them, torture them, and kill them with impunity. Earlier this year, I interviewed George Walker, a nonagenarian American composer. His grandmother was an ex-slave. She had had two husbands. She lost the first when he was sold at auction.Nordlinger concludes, "For ages, the Republican party was known as the Party of Lincoln. It would be a shame if it became the Party of Lee."
Walker knew this grandmother, very well. She never talked about slavery — ever. Except for one time, when her grandson’s curiosity got the better of him and he asked her about it. She uttered one sentence, only: “They did everything except eat us.” That is the reality that the Confederates fought to preserve.
That is the reality that they seceded from the Union to preserve. Dress it up all you want — states’ rights and all — but that is the core of it.