This Is Not a Feel Good Story

The Republican National Convention reprised some of the worst Trumpist tropes Tuesday night, but one moment highlighted a problem that predates this era. If you have trouble reading this message, view it in a browser.       This Mother Having to Work Three Jobs Is Not a Feel-Good Story   The second night of the RNC provided yet another sign of the rot in the American experiment, one which predates this unfortunate era. It came in a throwaway line during what appeared to be a Mike Pence 2024 commercial that was thrown into the broadcast. Pence met up with a number of people at the site of Abraham Lincoln's childhood home in Indiana, one of whom was a mother, Sarah, who is raising a kid named Jack. With pride, the vice president reported that she'd been working three jobs to support her child. This story was meant to impart the wisdom of "school choice," where a student in public school can switch to a private institution and the public funds will "follow" them. But the off-hand reference from Pence to the fact that an American citizen has to work three jobs to make a living is telling in its own right. This is not some parable of individual American striving, says Politics Editor Jack Holmes, or of the bootstrapping spirit persevering over tough circumstances. It's a sign of a society that is broken. Read More           These Stealthy Sneakers Are Hiding a Whole Lot of High-Tech Comfort Under the Hood   On's CloudTec cushioning system lives up to the hype. It's responsive, but supportive. Cushy, but bouncy. And, yeah, really comfortable. It's also helped along mightily by the built-in Speedboard, which is a fancy way of saying "panel of material designed to create more energy return"—which itself is a fancy way of saying, "there's a piece in this sneaker that'll make everything from walking to running a little easier and more satisfying." (Not that you have to run, of course.) This is a shoe that delivers on comfort—but also on coolness. Style Director Jonathan Evans explains why he made it the latest edition of our Esquire Endorsement. Read More           Fact Checking Is the Core of Nonfiction Writing. Why Do So Many Publishers Refuse to Do It?   When Emma Copley Eisenberg set out to write her first book, she wanted to write a book that examined the very nature of facts and how we turn them into stories. To do this, she knew, she would have to get every fact that was verifiable correct. The more you want to ask the big, shifty questions, the more your foundation must be rock solid. From reading up on the subject and talking to friends who had published books of nonfiction, Eisenberg knew that she would be responsible for hiring and paying a freelance fact checker herself. This is the norm, not the exception; in almost all book contracts, it is the writer's legal responsibility, not the publisher's, to deliver a factually accurate text. As a result, most nonfiction books are not fact checked; if they are, it is at the author's expense. Here, Eisenberg unpacks every reason why that's dangerous. Read More           The Golden Commode Era of American Decline Is Upon Us   During Tuesday night's RNC events, Donald Trump treated the pardon power as though he were a cut-rate game-show host bestowing the Grand Prize ("A complete living room suite!") on the contestant who'd remembered the name of Lake Titicaca. He turned a citizenship ceremony, one of the few truly uplifting things government does anymore, into what Norman Mailer would have called an advertisement for himself. He arranged to have his Secretary of State deliver a psalm of praise over the darkened streets of Jerusalem, thereby profaning the entire American diplomatic corps, even those members of it untouched by his personal corruption. And he treated the White House worse than anyone has since the Royal Marines torched the joint in 1814. He turned it into his personal soundstage, and then handed it over to his wife, who delivered an overripe speech about nothing while dressed like Fidel Castro. Here's more from Charles P. Pierce on how during the second night of the 2020 Republican National Convention, even the hypocrisy was in bad taste. Read More           The Suede Chelsea Boot Is a Fan Favorite Style That Always Steals the Scene   After months of sticking exclusively to your comfiest slip-ons, the Chelsea boot's signature elastic paneling and casual-leaning silhouette makes it the perfect shoe to help ease yourself back into wearing, uh, any shoes at all. Scoop a pair in a soft, buttery suede with a crepe sole—or up the formality ante by opting for a more tapered toe and a substantial hard bottom—and remind yourself why the whole damn country fell in love with the style to begin with. Don't give up on this season of Menswear yet, man. Sure, the plot line got a bit stale for a few episodes there but we swear it's still gearing up to be one of the best in a while. Trust us, it's worth sticking it out. (Spoiler alert: The suede Chelsea boot makes a comeback.) Read More           The Crisis in American Law Enforcement Is Heading Into a Perilous New Phase   This can't go on. A black man gets shot seven times for walking to his car, but armed white goons can break into a legislative chamber and nobody gets clicked. And yes, it all will impact the presidential campaign, and yes, the president's campaign will use video from the unrest to reinforce the bloody fantasies that they're peddling to their nervous white base, and yes, the Biden campaign will be pestered by idiots to deplore, and distance, and renounce people and things. All of that will be as it will, but this can't go on, says Charles P. Pierce. Something very important will break. Cooler heads may prevail, but that's not the way to bet any more. 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