- Who are these young Republicans who find MAGA insufficiently radical?
- Myths that endure: utopia, invisibility, magic, the immortal soul;
- Trump is going to read the Bible, out loud??
- How Pro-Trump avatars are infecting social media;
- The evidence for the Trump’s administration’s engaging in insider trading;
- That Kash Patel article in The Atlantic;
- Peter Gabriel: Passion: With This Love.
Catching up on a few days.
The New Yorker, Antonia Hitchens, 6 Apr 2026: How the Internet Fringe Infiltrated Republican Politics, subtitled “Inside the battle for the post-MAGA G.O.P.”
Caption on photo: “The crowd at an event for James Fishback, a Florida gubernatorial candidate, who, like many other young conservatives, considers MAGA insufficiently radical.”
Long, 30+ screens. Not going to read it all. My thought: who are these kids to have learned to be very selfish (and/or racist, etc.) at such a young age? What do they want? Let’s see if I can spot anything.
They’re into Nazis. They’re Groypers, fans of Nick Fuentes, “the white-nationalist shock jock, who, on a nightly streaming show, opines to an audience of several hundred thousand about the state of politics—along with the virtues of Hitler, the nuisance of women and minorities, and the truths the media conceal.” So they’re racist, misogynist, and conspiracy theorists. This means they are not too bright. They believe in some mythical glorious past. They feel immigrants are replacing genuine Americans.
And that’s as much as I can take. They’re tribalistic and self-centered and dumb.
And there will always be people like this.
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An odd cross-genre piece, part psychology, part cultural studies. Primarily how enduring narratives reveal human nature.
NY Times, Rose Courteau, 17 Apr 2026: 6 Myths That Endure, subtitled “Stories that remain essential to understanding literature and the human psyche — according to three writers.”
The writers are Ben Okri, Aatish Taseer, and Yiyun Li, and they touch on everything from Harry Potter to The Odyssey, on these 6 ideas:
- The myth of meeting oneself
- The myth of utopia
- The myth of invisibility
- The myth of steadiness vs. speed
- The myth of magic
- The myth of the immortal soul
The writers understand that these are *myths* of course.
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Trump will be reading from the Bible. It should be a hoot. How many of those words will he be able to pronounce? And will he read in his signature droning voice, as when he reads off teleprompters?
Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, 19 Apr 2026: After angering Christians all week, Trump will read from the Bible as a publicity stunt, subtitled “The ‘America Reads the Bible’ stunt reveals everything wrong with Christian Nationalism
Covered elsewhere in recent days. It’s been often said that people who do actually read the Bible all the way through find themselves disabused of their religious assumptions. Or even become atheists, as more than one pundit has claimed.
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Is this any surprise? Conservatives, presuming a higher calling, have no problem lying about mundane matters. So much for “thou shalt not bear false witness.” As with their other commandments, it only applies to their in-group.
NYT, Tiffany Hsu, 17 Apr 2026: Hundreds of Fake Pro-Trump Avatars Emerge on Social Media, subtitled “The artificial-intelligence-generated fake influencers have surged on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube in an apparent bid to hook conservative voters.” [gift link, because it’s worth clicking through to see the videos shown in the following screen capture.]
In one TikTok video, a blonde films herself with a group of women at a racetrack. “If you support Trump, you just made a friend,” she says.
In another video, it’s a brunette, this time with a group at a stadium. “If you support Trump, you just made a friend,” she says.
In a third post, a redhead is with a group at a basketball court. “If you support Trump, you just made a friend,” she says.
Each video features an identical, grammatically awkward caption: “I’m new here and love God, America,and Trump!!”
All are the work of artificial intelligence.
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Something similar is going on here.
BBC, yesterday: The insider trading suspicions looming over Trump’s presidency
Via JMG: BBC Finds “Consistent Pattern” Of Suspicious Trades Made Just Before Trump Makes Major Announcements
Quoting BBC:
Throughout US President Donald Trump’s second term in office, traders have been betting millions of dollars just before he makes major announcements. The BBC has examined trade volume data on several financial markets and matched them to some of the president’s most significant market-moving statements.
It found a consistent pattern of spikes just hours, or sometimes minutes, before a social media post or media interview was made public.
Not a surprise. Rules are for other people.
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This is the article that Kash Patel is suing The Atlantic for $250 million.
The Atlantic, Sarah Fitzpatrick, 17 Apr 2026: The FBI Director Is MIA, subtitled “Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”
But Trump always hires the best people, right? So how can this be true?
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Beautiful melody from the score by Peter Gabriel for the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ. (A film I’ve never seen.)
