Headwaters: August 24

The weekly roundup of what we’ve done at Liberal Currents includes a rejection of America’s excuses for its failure to rein in elite impunity plus two pieces describing and assessing elites’ continued struggles to adjust, personally and politically, to the era of social media.

Articles:

“Elites Need Some Emotional Distance from Social Media,” Adam Gurri: Twenty-plus years on, it’s time they started adapting to the realities of the era.
“Extremely Online: A Definition,” Katherine Alejandra Cross: Becoming Extremely Online is a choice: one that fewer of us should make.
“The Trump Trainwreck,” Nicholas Grossman: The president’s choices at home and abroad are boosting Democrats’ chances in November.
“A Republic of Excuses,” Justin Briley: You will not like it here and it will get worse until we get better.
“What Comes After Mistrust? Liberalism Needs a Theory of Repair,” Pamilerin Samuel: Liberals need practical approaches to earn trust through visible, messy, and ongoing responsiveness.

Podcasts:

“How Taylor Sheridan's Fever Dreams Explain MAGA Foreign Policy” (Neon Liberalism #88, with SecDef Rock): The demented politics of "Lioness" have infected the Pentagon.
“Esther's Army: The Women Who Make Up MAGA” (Half the Answer #100, with Katie Gaddini): Who are they?
“Exploring the Sea of Liberal Media” (Out of the Jaws #10): Meet the creatures of the deep.
“J. K. Rowling and the Problem of the Extremely Online Elites” (Liberal Currents Live #4): So much can be explained by the overcooking of these people's brains on X.

Videos and shorts:

“You’re Just Taking a Little Crack”: Toby Buckle on Jon Ossoff, Joe Manchin, and the politician’s art of not making an argument.
“The Effect of Lindsey Graham’s Political Career on Civil Liberties”: Caitlin Green and Maya Rupert on what he helped do.
“Scheming Viziers and Imperial Concubines”: Samantha Hancox-Li and Adam Gurri find that tropes of personalist rule are alive and well in the Trump administration.

Selections from The Reconstruction Papers:

Chapter 4: “Guardrails for Democracy: How Congress Can Reinforce Privacy Rights and Independent Oversight,” by Judith Starr.
Chapter 3: “Reconstructing the Executive Branch,” by Patrick J. Sobkowski.

What we’re reading and watching elsewhere:

Janet Bufton, on the formation of political organizations: “Coalitions have never needed to suppress every disagreement… Coalitions only need to make cooperation worthwhile despite disagreements.”
Bret Devereaux, on the importance of seaborne trade: “Only the United States maintains the kind of navy that traditionally has been necessary to keep sea lanes open. … This makes the United States’ apparent turn away from freedom of navigation troubling.”
Alan Elrod, on Kennedy’s predatory project: “It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the HHS secretary sees deaths from outbreaks of diseases we had beaten or contained, like measles and cyclosporiasis, as a form of social hygiene.”