Choice bits from Jack Smith’s filing

I find some of the details of Mike Pence’s efforts to persuade Donald Trump to accept an election loss bizarre and illuminating. These moments make me think of a parent trying to soothe an angry, tantrum-prone toddler:

A call between the defendant and Pence on November 7, the day that media organizations began to project Biden as the winner of the election. Pence “tried to encourage” the defendant “as a friend,” reminding him, “you took a dying political party and gave it a new lease on life.”

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A private lunch on November 12 in which Pence reiterated a face-saving option for the defendant: “don’t concede but recognize process is over.”

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A private lunch on November 16 in which Pence tried to encourage the defendant to accept the results of the election and run again in 2024, to which the defendant responded, “I don’t know, 2024 is so far off.”

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A December 21 private lunch in which Pence “encouraged” the defendant “not to look at the election ‘as a loss — just an intermission.’” This was followed later in the day by a private discussion in the Oval Office in which the defendant asked Pence, “what do you think we should do?” Pence said, “after we have exhausted every legal process in the courts and Congress, if we still came up short, [the defendant] should ‘take a bow.’”

And on January 6, when Mike Pence’s life was endangered:

Upon receiving a phone call alerting him that Pence had been taken to a secure location, [Person 15] rushed to the dining room to inform the defendant in hopes that the defendant would take action to ensure Pence’s safety. Instead, after [Person 15] delivered the news, the defendant looked at him and said only, “So what?”

You can read and search the document via The Washington Post.

Yesterday in Wisconsin

Aaron Rupar:

The vice presidential debate will be a main topic of political conversation today, but far more important (and disturbing) things happened before it took place.

That would be Donald Trump in Wisconsin, lying, rambling, and rasping his way through the day.

The New Grown-Ups: “Franklin Roosevelt Is Back Again”

I can think offhand of one other FDR-themed song: Raymond Quevodo’s “FDR in Trinidad,” recorded by Attila the Hun and, years later, by Ry Cooder and Van Dyke Parks. And of course there’s Milton Ager and Jack Yellen’s “Happy Days Are Here Again,” which became Roosevelt’s campaign song.

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Another, suggested by Kevin Hart at harvest.ink: “Tell Me Why You Like Roosevelt (Parts I and II),” by the Evangelist Singers, and covered by Jesse Winchester. Thanks, Kevin.

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And Stefan Hagemann mentioned Steve Earle’s “Christmastime in Washington,” which mentions Woody Guthrie. Thanks, Stefan.

Related posts
“Cumberland Gap” : “My Heart’s Own Love” : “The Devil’s Nine Questions” : “William Blake’s Dead” : “Lonesome Pine” : “Tom Paine’s Bones” : “You Were on My Mind This Morning” : “The Hills of Isle au Haut” : “Treehopper” : “I’d Jump the Mississippi” : “What Will Become of Me” : “Early” : “When I Stop Dreaming” : “Taxman Salamander” : “Cheese Closet”/“Billy in the Lowground” : The New Grown-Ups at Bandcamp

A complaint

“Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check.”

[“An obnoxious, offensive, or disgusting person”: that’s J.D. Vance, all night long.]

Frankie & Johnny and Al’s

I knew I knew it: The Late Show opening bit last night borrowed the storefront of Frankie & Johnny, the now-defunct New Orleans furniture store whose television commercials became an Internets sensation. Someone in the writers’ room was having fun.


[Click for a larger store.] [Click for a larger store.]

The New Grown-Ups: “Cheese Closet”/“Billy in the Lowground”

Related posts
“Cumberland Gap” : “My Heart’s Own Love” : “The Devil’s Nine Questions” : “William Blake’s Dead” : “Lonesome Pine” : “Tom Paine’s Bones” : “You Were on My Mind This Morning” : “The Hills of Isle au Haut” : “Treehopper” : “I’d Jump the Mississippi” : “What Will Become of Me” : “Early” : “When I Stop Dreaming” : “Taxman Salamander” : The New Grown-Ups at Bandcamp

“Is Reading Over for Gen Z Students?”

College Matters is a podcast from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here’s an episode that seems urgently relevant: “Is Reading Over for Gen Z Students?” But the light, cheery tone is often weirdly at odds with the topic.

Listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos — two suggestions offered in this podcast — don’t replace the work (and joy) of reading. Podcasts and YouTube videos might, on occasion, supplement the work (and joy) of reading in worthwhile ways. But without the reading, what’s the point? If instructors are unwilling to assign “an entire novel,” exactly what are podcasts and YouTube videos supposed to be supplementing? And what happens when the work of listening and watching becomes odious?

One more question, unasked in this podcast: how can students be passing classes if they don’t do the reading?

In my last year of teaching (2014–2015) an ace student of mine told me about being in an American lit class in which she was one of just two students who did the reading from class to class. The other reader: another ace student (and former student of mine). People, it’s bad.

Related reading
All OCA reading in college posts (Pinboard)

“A September to remember”

The historian Timothy Snyder writes about “Trump’s Hitlerian month,” or “a September to remember.” With a discussion of the objection to making comparisons.

Recently updated

Animal house Now with added mayhem.

Forty

[Drawing by me. Click for a larger view.]

Elaine and I were married forty years ago today. Our son Ben recently told us that he thinks of me as forty and Elaine as thirty-five. Which would mean that when we married, I was a newborn — zero. And Elaine was negative five.

Happy anniversary, Elaine, at all ages.

[I made this drawing with an Apple Pencil and and iPad last year. I’ve altered it to remove my glasses. I’m still not sure how to draw myself minus glasses.]