Jun 24, 2016 | Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Extremism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Race and Racism, Republicans
Published: Quartz (June 24, 2016) If Britain’s decision to leave the European Union is any indication, Americans cannot become complacent about Donald Trump. Trust me, I understand why many of my fellow political writers on the North American side of the Atlantic are breathing early signs of relief. Trump is behind Hillary Clinton in all but a handful of recent national polls and has been far...
May 26, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), History, mic, Race and Racism
Published: Salon (May 23, 2016) When HBO announced in 2014 that it was going to release a cinematic adaptation of “All the Way,” Robert Schenkkan’s Tony Award-winning play about President Lyndon Johnson’s successful mission to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it’s unlikely they knew how prescient their film would be. The politics of the 1964 election are uncannily similar to those of 2016:...
May 19, 2016 | Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Immigration, Jewish Experiences, Race and Racism
Published: Salon (May 18, 2016) It’s hardly surprising, that Breitbart recently referred to William Kristol as a “renegade Jew” in one of its headlines. The conservative website has been shilling pretty hard for Donald Trump over the past year, so it makes sense that the less savory aspects of Trump’s political style would eventually rub off on them. What is that style, though? Outlets from The...
Apr 26, 2016 | Conservativism, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Extremism, Gender and Sexism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Race and Racism, Republicans
Published: Salon (April 26, 2016) There is an element of the Shakespearean to the Donald Trump campaign. Comedy and tragedy are often inextricably linked in melodrama, and as Trump rambles and bloviates his way through the American presidential election process (and perhaps, one fears, to the presidency itself), an intriguing narrative arc is taking shape. It began almost exactly five years ago,...
Apr 21, 2016 | Foreign Policy, History, mic, Race and Racism
Published: Salon (April 21, 2016) It’s official: Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew has announced that abolitionist Harriet Tubman will replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. And, while Jackson will still reportedly remain on the reverse side of the bill, the move is nonetheless a momentous one. Naturally there are many people who will complain about this decision, but since Tubman’s...
Mar 29, 2016 | Education, Gay Rights and Other LGBTQIA Issues, Gender and Sexism, mic, Race and Racism
Published: The Good Men Project (March 29, 2016) Let’s talk, for a moment, about the Wall of Hate. It may not look like much, but it was enough to grab my attention as I walked home from the Fairchild-Martindale Library at Lehigh University. Various students were standing in front of it with markers, scribbling words that I could not as of yet discern, and several more were present to hand out...
Mar 16, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, Gender and Sexism, mic, Race and Racism
Published: Salon (March 16, 2016) Like most millennials, I’m absolutely psyched that Steven Spielberg is making a fifth “Indiana Jones” movie. The 1980s trilogy was a staple of my childhood, and after the disappointment of 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” I’m hoping with bated breath that this new (and presumably final) chapter will offer a fitting close to the...
Mar 11, 2016 | Conservativism, Elections - Presidential (2016), Extremism, Jewish Experiences, Other Media, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Race and Racism, Republicans
Interview with Kris Welch. Want to hear what I had to say (cue it up to around the 23:30 mark for my section)? Radio Interview
Mar 10, 2016 | Autobiographical, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Jewish Experiences, mic, Political Parties, Race and Racism, Republicans
Published: Quartz (March 10, 2016) With 458 delegates under his belt so far (and counting), Donald Trump is now more than one-third of the way toward receiving the Republican presidential nomination. Although millions of Americans both inside and out of the Grand Old Party are reacting to this prospect with justifiable disgust, millions more find nothing wrong with a frontrunner reluctant to...
Feb 11, 2016 | Democrats, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Jewish Experiences, Liberalism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Race and Racism, Religion and Religious Issues
Published: Salon (February 11, 2016) With his New Hampshire primary victory now in the books, Bernie Sanders has done more than simply guarantee that Hillary Clinton won’t have a free ride to the Democratic nomination. Indeed, even if Clinton ultimately bests Sanders in the upcoming primaries, the Vermont senator has still achieved something of lasting significance: He is the first Jewish...