The people wielding the money power need to find mechanisms through which they can do it, and the modern money power has settled on cruelty, meanness, and misogyny as its defensive weapons, and its primary delivery system in Donald J. Trump, president-elect of the United States. And he's been worth every dime they've poured into him just as the conservative network of think-tanks and other intellectual chop shops have been worth however many millions they've spent to set it up. |
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| Tested and reviewed by our expert dad and his sick kids. |
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There's nothing quite like the feeling of putting on a great T-shirt. It's an instant mood-booster and a huge dose of confidence, especially for such a seemingly simple garment. But here's the thing: The T-shirt isn't all that simple. Not these days, when pretty much every version that your mind can conjure is just a few clicks away. It's overwhelming. if you like your tees with an aura of old-school cool but don't feel like spending an eye-watering amount of money to get it, Madewell's Vintage Tee should absolutely be on your radar. In fact, it should be in your closet or dresser, too. Here's why. |
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In excavating our weekly tradition after becoming new parents, my wife and I found something else. |
| The humble accessory shouldn't be overlooked. |
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There will be no asterisk this time around. Donald J. Trump is the president-elect of the United States. The asterisk came at the suggestion of my wife. In 2016, I was struggling with a way to describe a president whose ascent came via what I believed to be dubious means. Four years of typing some elaborate and derisive descriptive seemed like a dreadful prospect. So when my wife suggested the asterisk, it seemed so brilliant in its simplicity, and so popular once it appeared, that it was clear that it had been a magnificent choice.
Not this time. The asterisk is not coming back. Donald J. Trump is the chosen president-elect of the United States in every possible way you can be, a winner in the popular vote and a winner in that marble mausoleum called the Electoral College. The asterisk is not coming back, because this time I am absolutely sure that a majority of my fellow citizens will get exactly what they want. |
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 We'll Get What We Voted For |
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| There will be no asterisk this time around. Donald J. Trump is the president-elect of the United States. The Asterisk came at the suggestion of my wife. In 2016, I was struggling with a way to describe a president whose ascent came via what I believed to be dubious means. Four years of typing some elaborate and derisive descriptive seemed like a dreadful prospect. So when my wife suggested the asterisk, it seemed so brilliant in its simplicity, and so popular once it appeared, that it was clear that it had been a magnificent choice. |
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Not this time. The asterisk is not coming back. Donald J. Trump is the chosen president-elect of the United States in every possible way you can be, a winner in the popular vote and a winner in that marble mausoleum called the electoral college. The asterisk is not coming back because, this time, I am absolutely sure that a majority of my fellow citizens will get exactly what they want. They will get pardons for the January 6 insurrectionists and an end to any federal prosecution of the incoming president, now and forever. They will get the attacks of the free press and on political dissent that they have been slavering for. They will get the validation for their rage, and the outlet for their promised vengeance, beyond their wildest fantasies. They will get the chaos for which they voted, and which they apparently fervently desire. And there is absolutely nothing that god, man, or the Constitution can do about it, because we did it to ourselves. With the Senate gone, because Sherrod Brown lost to a car salesman and Jon Tester to a guy who can't remember how he shot himself, we will get J.D. Vance one occluded coronary artery away from the Oval Office, Stephen Miller as Secretary of State, Alina Habba as Attorney General, RFK, Jr. at HHS, and Elon Musk as Secretary of Breaking Shit. (The Democrats better renew their love for the filibuster in one quick hurry.) We will get at least an attempt at mass deportation, 200 percent tariffs, which the new president now has permission never to understand, and blowback congressional investigations until hell won't have them. (The latter threat will be mitigated somewhat if the Democrats manage to flip the House of Representatives.) We will get all these things because we have expressed our earnest desire for them all through the only true means allowed to us—our votes. We will get all these things, but we may not be getting Social Security checks much longer. |
Here's President Trump in Raleigh, North Carolina the day before the election. |
We have decided that science and learning don't count as much as misogyny and racism. We have decided that democratic institutions making reasoned decisions on matters of national policy don't count as much as goofy nicknames and sixth-grade invective. We have traded engaging in the work of self-government for entertaining ourselves with a freak show, and don't it feel...gooooooooood? There's no blaming the Russians this time around. There's no blaming media malpractice. There's still some blame to attribute to voter-suppression, but majorities elect the people who suppress the votes, which means that majorities accept the fantastical bullshit that is the rationale for those laws in the first place. The American people, which is all of us, got together on Tuesday and chose everything that's coming for close to the next decade. This mandate was not seized. It was not conjured up by some trickeration on the part of Balkan teenagers. It was granted in the way it all legitimate mandates are granted—by the vote of a majority of the people. Coming Up Next: on November 26, the president-elect is due to be sentenced in a New York courtroom on 34 felony counts. The asterisk is dead because we murdered it. With malice aforethought. You're receiving this sample of Esquire's weekly politics newsletter, The Last Call With Charles P. Pierce. To get our lead politics blogger's take every Saturday morning, subscribe here. |
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