Views from Crestmont Drive

• Rebecca Solnit on how the US is destroying itself;
• The significance of Victor Orbán’s loss;
• How Trump thinks religion is about power, not morality;
• Trump’s grotesque AI image depicting himself as a Jesus figure.

I’ve gradually become aware of another savvy political commentator and essayist, Rebecca Solnit, to set along with the three of four others I check out daily. (Richardson, Reich, Krugman, Pavlovitz.) David Brin posts highly about her. This piece was linked from Facebook this morning, and captures the moment. She has a Substack, Meditations in an Emergency, since Jan. 2025. She’s published a number of short books, of which I just bought a couple.

The Guardian, Rebecca Solnit, yesterday: The United States is destroying itself, subtitled “The daily news can’t adequately convey the administration’s sabotaging of our government, economy, alliances and environment”

I’ve mentioned more than once that the actions of the Trump administration are not unlike what a group of infiltrators or saboteurs would do to undermine everything that has until recently made America great. Solnit:

The United States is being murdered, and it’s an inside job. Every department, every branch, every bureau and function of the federal government is being fatally corrupted or altogether dismantled or disabled. All this is common knowledge, but because it dribbles out in news stories about this specific incident or department, the reports never adequately describe an administration sabotaging the functioning of the federal government and also trashing the global economy, international alliances and relationships, and the national and global environment in ways that will have downstream consequences for decades and perhaps, especially when it comes to climate, centuries.

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