{"id":25672,"date":"2025-09-05T17:31:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T00:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=25672"},"modified":"2025-09-17T10:35:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:35:21","slug":"and-the-moon-rose-over-an-open-field-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2025\/09\/05\/and-the-moon-rose-over-an-open-field-2\/","title":{"rendered":"And the Moon Rose Over an Open Field"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Paul Krugman, with graphs, wonders why the right rejects progress;<\/li>\n<li>Robert Reich on why we don&#8217;t trust Donald Trump &#8212; because he disregards the truth;<\/li>\n<li>Hemant Mehta on how the &#8220;nones&#8221; aren&#8217;t exactly &#8220;godless&#8221;;<\/li>\n<li>How Trump is a Russian asset; how MAGA is rehabilitating Hitler (!); Tom Nichols on how the world no longer takes Trump seriously; and a piece about RFK Jr.&#8217;s testimony today before the Senate;<\/li>\n<li>And a lovely cover of Simon and Garfunkel&#8217;s &#8220;America.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Again today the usual batch of items, a sort of &#8220;Goings On Around MAGA USA.&#8221; Of them, here&#8217;s one that digs deepest into fundamental principles.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!MhAE!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4a4e0586-546a-4f65-9f06-07c1c9e432ab_1431x1071.png\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Paul Krugman, 3 Sep 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/paulkrugman.substack.com\/p\/why-does-the-right-reject-progress\">Why Does the Right Reject Progress?<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;The perverse push to make America miserable again&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He begins by discussing vaccines, and the resistance to them.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>What I realized after our conversation is that the problem they discuss, of reactionaries who both refuse to accept progress and try to block it, goes well beyond their specific fields, and even science in general. America is now ruled by people who hate progress of all kinds, economic and social as well as scientific. They refuse to acknowledge the progress we\u2019ve made on multiple fronts and are doing their best to reverse it.<\/p>\n<p>Why? I don\u2019t have a full theory, only some scattered thoughts, which I\u2019ll get to at the end. First, though, let me explain the progress I have in mind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He discusses progress since the early 1990s, with several charts like the one shown here. That chart shows that things have gotten much better over the past thirty years.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Clearly, something went right \u2014 very, very right \u2014 in America\u2019s big cities. The truth is that we don\u2019t know exactly <em>what<\/em> went right, but the progress in public safety and, I would say, the general quality of urban life should be undeniable.<\/p>\n<p>You may say, never mind the statistics, cities don\u2019t <em>feel<\/em> safer. But they do. Try reading descriptions of urban life from the late 1980s or early 1990s \u2014 say, Tom Wolfe\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1987\/11\/01\/books\/the-bonfire-of-the-vanities.html\" rel=\"\">The Bonfire of the Vanities<\/a>,\u201d published in 1987, a bit early for my comparison, but close enough. The whole plot centers on how dangerous New York was or was perceived to be. A colleague tells the novel\u2019s protagonist, \u201cIf you want to live in New York, you\u2019ve got to insulate, insulate, insulate\u201d \u2014 that is, separate yourself from the \u201ctrenches of the urban wars.\u201d Well, I\u2019m writing this from an outdoor caf\u00e9 in New York, watching the pedestrians go by, and I don\u2019t see people trying desperately to insulate themselves from city life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I read THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES and remember it primarily for depicting the Byzantine complications of New York City law.<\/p>\n<p>Then we get to Krugman&#8217;s gist, as he concludes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Why can\u2019t the right accept progress when it happens, and try to build on it? Some of it is special-interest politics, notably fossil fuel interests trying to stop the rise of alternative energy. But a lot of it, I believe, is visceral. I\u2019ve written before that MAGA types see renewable energy as woke and insufficiently masculine: <a href=\"https:\/\/paulkrugman.substack.com\/p\/real-men-burn-stuff\" rel=\"\">real men burn stuff<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Relatedly, Trump and MAGA see everything in terms of punishment and fear. They can\u2019t accept the idea that America prospered, not by using its power to dominate other nations, but by making and adhering to international agreements that kept world markets open. They can\u2019t accept the idea that we can manage the economy by leaving monetary policy in the hands of technocrats who don\u2019t take Trump\u2019s orders. They can\u2019t accept the idea that cities can be relatively safe, not because armed men are keeping everyone in line, but because most Americans \u2014 whatever their national origin or the color of their skin \u2014 are decent people more inclined to get along with their neighbors than to hate them.<\/p>\n<p>America isn\u2019t utopia, by a long shot. But we\u2019ve made a lot of progress. Unfortunately, the people now in charge are determined to ruin as much as they can.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Goings on.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/media-library\/u-s-president-donald-trump-speaks-at-mar-a-lago-in-palm-beach-florida-u-s-february-18-2025-reuters-kevin-lamarque.jpg?id=56544483&amp;width=1245&amp;height=700&amp;quality=85&amp;coordinates=0%2C306%2C0%2C307\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>AlterNet, Robert Reich, 3 Sep 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/here-s-why-we-really-dont-trust-donald-trump\/\">Opinion | Here&#8217;s why we really don\u2019t trust Donald Trump<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is about Trump defunding museums and accusing them of being corrupt. Attacking universities. Defunding PBS, NPR, the Voice of America, and Radio Free Europe. It should all be pretty obvious. Reich concludes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We don\u2019t trust Trump because he has shown a brazen disregard for the truth.<\/p>\n<p>But we shouldn\u2019t trust any administration to decide what museums, universities, or the media tell us. It\u2019s not a matter of right or left or \u201cwoke.\u201d It\u2019s about the political independence of truth-tellers.<\/p>\n<p>A free people needs to know things that an administration may not want them to know and must be able to trust that the agents of truth \u2014 museums, universities, the media \u2014 are not compromised.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!mmaj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6c182dc-2009-48d7-9b21-9dbafd8ea309_1280x720.png\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, 4 Sep 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendlyatheist.com\/p\/americas-nones-arent-as-godless-as\">America\u2019s &#8220;Nones&#8221; aren\u2019t as godless as you think<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;A new report from the Pew Research Center finds that most U.S. Nones still cling to prayer, spirits, and the supernatural&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is not a surprise. When the &#8220;nones&#8221; say that aren&#8217;t aligned with any particular religion, that doesn&#8217;t mean they aren&#8217;t still subject to the biases of human nature &#8212; the perception of supernatural agents, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/61a40a07-012f-4b7a-b985-1c015ea44393.jpeg?crop=1560%2C1040%2Cx0%2Cy0&amp;width=1280\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Slate, Fred Kaplan, 4 Sept 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2025\/09\/trump-putin-russian-asset-portugal-president.html\">A European Leader Called Trump a \u201cRussian Asset.\u201d He\u2019s Right.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hasn&#8217;t this been obvious to many of us for years and years?<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>What? What?<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/9GemH5VEU5n2GtO3PZ_8kMT9E3s=\/0x0:2000x1125\/976x549\/media\/img\/mt\/2025\/09\/2025_09_02_maga_influencers_rehabilitating_hitler\/original.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Atlantic, Yair Rosenberg, 3 Sept 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2025\/09\/maga-hitler-anti-semitism\/684078\/\">The MAGA Influencers Rehabilitating Hitler<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;A growing constituency on the right wants America to unlearn the lessons of World War II.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Tom Nichols.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/OMz7p9POn6G3cjpsm52vqi7g1ig=\/0x0:4000x2250\/976x549\/media\/img\/mt\/2025\/09\/2025_09_04_Trump_Long_game\/original.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Atlantic, Tom Nichols, 5 Sept 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2025\/09\/trump-parade-china-putin-xi-kim\/684113\/\">The World No Longer Takes Trump Seriously<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;At parades and in the halls of global power, America has been sidelined.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Again, this has been increasingly obvious. MAGA doesn&#8217;t care.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Many stories the past couple days about RFK Jr. testifying before the Senate. Here&#8217;s one.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!FkmO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2a51d847-bf69-41a5-8775-3ec2e4208fe2_5015x3343.jpeg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Bulwark, Andrew Egger, 5 Sep 2025<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/the-arrogance-of-a-kennedy\">RFK Jr. Goes Mask-Off<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, he scoffed at the deep concerns of Republican senators, issuing a torrent of wild denunciations and ridiculous claims. The CDC, Kennedy said, had been perhaps the most corrupt agency in the entire federal government up until his arrival. It was impossible to know how many people had died during the COVID pandemic, \u201cbecause there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC.\u201d He said he was personally ensuring that U.S. vaccine guidance would be \u201cclear, evidence-based, and trustworthy for the first time in history.\u201d Forget about making HHS great again\u2014Kennedy insisted he was making it great <em>for the first time ever<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I can&#8217;t begin to explore the depths of this depravity. As one senator asked him, paraphrasing since I don&#8217;t have a link: So everyone in the CDC is corrupt except for you? RFK Jr responded, basically, yes. He thinks US health is beholden to the &#8220;pharmaceutical industries&#8221; without explaining why that is bad or how else it should work. Surely not government sponsored pharmaceutical manufacturers? That would be socialism.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy the Paul Krugman post &#8212; he&#8217;s been posting &#8220;musical codas&#8221; to his posts as I have been. Here&#8217;s a lovely cover of a Simon and Garfunkel song from the 1960s. The great songs survive after 60 years.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"America - Simon &amp; Garfunkel (Cover by Jack &amp; Daisy)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nq3SOK5-IQk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Krugman, with graphs, wonders why the right rejects progress; Robert Reich on why we don&#8217;t trust Donald Trump &#8212; because he disregards the truth; Hemant Mehta on how the &#8220;nones&#8221; aren&#8217;t exactly &#8220;godless&#8221;; How Trump is a Russian asset; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2025\/09\/05\/and-the-moon-rose-over-an-open-field-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,17,54,93,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-nature","category-music","category-politics","category-progress","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25672"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25771,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25672\/revisions\/25771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}