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| Writers on the Right and Left React to Trump in Europe | Writers on the Right and Left React to Trump in Europe |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. | The political news cycle is fast, and keeping up can be overwhelming. Trying to find differing perspectives worth your time is even harder. That’s why we have scoured the internet for political writing from the right and left that you might not have seen. |
| Has this series exposed you to new ideas? | Has this series exposed you to new ideas? |
| Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com. | Tell us how. Email us at ourpicks@nytimes.com. |
| • Rod Dreher in American Conservative: | • Rod Dreher in American Conservative: |
| “Elites [...] wish to deny the religious basis of their respective cultures, and pretend that we’re all a bunch of universalists. We’re not, and never will be.” | “Elites [...] wish to deny the religious basis of their respective cultures, and pretend that we’re all a bunch of universalists. We’re not, and never will be.” |
| Mr. Dreher, a columnist who often writes about religious issues, found President Trump’s speech in Warsaw “not a bad speech, if somewhat anodyne.” However, to read the left’s response to the speech, he writes, you would think “it had been drafted by Dr. Goebbels.” The heart of the issue for Mr. Dreher and the president’s critics is Mr. Trump’s rhetorical and ideological positioning of Western civilization. Mr. Dreher defends the president’s “standing up for the West” against accusations that to do so is a “vicious, racist act.” (We’ve corrected this item after mistakenly writing that Mr. Dreher is Catholic. He’s Eastern Orthodox.) Read more » | |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Jonah Goldberg in National Review: | • Jonah Goldberg in National Review: |
| “Trump often does say crazy things. He does make stuff up — but usually not in prepared texts at big events.” | “Trump often does say crazy things. He does make stuff up — but usually not in prepared texts at big events.” |
| According to Mr. Goldberg, some of the critical reactions to Mr. Trump’s speech in Poland can be attributed to historical ignorance — a factor that also contributes to our political polarization. He adds, “The instantaneity of TV and Twitter only amplifies the problem.” Read more » | |
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| • Charles Lipson in Real Clear Politics: | • Charles Lipson in Real Clear Politics: |
| “Trump showed a clear-eyed recognition of the threats from Russia and radical Islam, promised continued U.S. engagement in Europe, offered to support Poland against Moscow, and wrapped it all in a full-throated defense of Western civilization and its achievements.” | “Trump showed a clear-eyed recognition of the threats from Russia and radical Islam, promised continued U.S. engagement in Europe, offered to support Poland against Moscow, and wrapped it all in a full-throated defense of Western civilization and its achievements.” |
| Mr. Lipson applauds Mr. Trump’s “Reaganesque defense” of the West, and is heartened by the president’s articulation of the threat of Russia and of support for NATO. Seeing it as a foreign policy reversal of sorts, Mr. Lipson writes, that Mr. Trump’s words “not only rejected President Obama’s tentativeness, they reversed Trump’s own inward-looking nationalism on the campaign trail.” Read more » | Mr. Lipson applauds Mr. Trump’s “Reaganesque defense” of the West, and is heartened by the president’s articulation of the threat of Russia and of support for NATO. Seeing it as a foreign policy reversal of sorts, Mr. Lipson writes, that Mr. Trump’s words “not only rejected President Obama’s tentativeness, they reversed Trump’s own inward-looking nationalism on the campaign trail.” Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Roger Kimball in American Greatness: | • Roger Kimball in American Greatness: |
| “I have no idea who wrote the rousing speech that Donald Trump delivered Thursday in Warsaw. But I think I know who might have provided a model: Pericles of Athens.” | “I have no idea who wrote the rousing speech that Donald Trump delivered Thursday in Warsaw. But I think I know who might have provided a model: Pericles of Athens.” |
| Mr. Kimball sees an ancient Greek antecedent for the president’s speech: the funeral oration of Pericles at the onset of the Peloponnesian War. He admires the Greek statesman’s “frank and manly self-confidence,” and quotes his address to the people of Athens on what sets their city, and their form of government, apart. Read more » | Mr. Kimball sees an ancient Greek antecedent for the president’s speech: the funeral oration of Pericles at the onset of the Peloponnesian War. He admires the Greek statesman’s “frank and manly self-confidence,” and quotes his address to the people of Athens on what sets their city, and their form of government, apart. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Peter Beinart in The Atlantic: | • Peter Beinart in The Atlantic: |
| “The most shocking sentence in Trump’s speech — perhaps the most shocking sentence in any presidential speech delivered on foreign soil in my lifetime — was his claim that ‘the fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive.’” | “The most shocking sentence in Trump’s speech — perhaps the most shocking sentence in any presidential speech delivered on foreign soil in my lifetime — was his claim that ‘the fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive.’” |
| Many of the columnists featured in the right section of this roundup took issue with Mr. Beinart’s take on the Warsaw speech. He understood Mr. Trump’s emphasis on the survival of the West to be the ultimate “statement of racial and religious paranoia,” and a marked departure from the foreign policy of both Republican and Democratic presidents before him. Read more » | Many of the columnists featured in the right section of this roundup took issue with Mr. Beinart’s take on the Warsaw speech. He understood Mr. Trump’s emphasis on the survival of the West to be the ultimate “statement of racial and religious paranoia,” and a marked departure from the foreign policy of both Republican and Democratic presidents before him. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post: | • Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post: |
| “In giving such a speech in such a place, Trump has confirmed Poland’s nationalist government in its isolationist and anti-democratic course.” | “In giving such a speech in such a place, Trump has confirmed Poland’s nationalist government in its isolationist and anti-democratic course.” |
| If Mr. Goldberg wants greater context in evaluations of the president’s trip to Europe, Ms. Applebaum’s column delivers both the historical and political conditions that frame Mr. Trump’s speech in Poland. The country, according to Ms. Applebaum, is run by a political party that has “launched an assault on the country’s democratic institutions.” She also explains why the location for Mr. Trump’s speech — a monument to the Warsaw uprising — is ironic. Read more » | If Mr. Goldberg wants greater context in evaluations of the president’s trip to Europe, Ms. Applebaum’s column delivers both the historical and political conditions that frame Mr. Trump’s speech in Poland. The country, according to Ms. Applebaum, is run by a political party that has “launched an assault on the country’s democratic institutions.” She also explains why the location for Mr. Trump’s speech — a monument to the Warsaw uprising — is ironic. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Jeva Lange in The Week: | • Jeva Lange in The Week: |
| “It has been said that Trump has ‘no doctrine,’ or that his doctrine is putting ‘America first.’ On Thursday, Trump proved it to be something else entirely: A war against an undefined, and perhaps even nonexistent, ‘other.’” | “It has been said that Trump has ‘no doctrine,’ or that his doctrine is putting ‘America first.’ On Thursday, Trump proved it to be something else entirely: A war against an undefined, and perhaps even nonexistent, ‘other.’” |
| Ms. Lange connects Mr. Trump’s inaugural speech to his speech in Poland, offering what she sees as a sequel to the brutal “American carnage” imagery. To Ms. Lange, the Warsaw speech is a reflection of nationalist thinking espoused by advisers like Stephen K. Bannon, where radical Islam, Russia and other unnamed “powers” and government bureaucracy come together to form a “strange axis of evil.” Read more » | Ms. Lange connects Mr. Trump’s inaugural speech to his speech in Poland, offering what she sees as a sequel to the brutal “American carnage” imagery. To Ms. Lange, the Warsaw speech is a reflection of nationalist thinking espoused by advisers like Stephen K. Bannon, where radical Islam, Russia and other unnamed “powers” and government bureaucracy come together to form a “strange axis of evil.” Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Jen Psaki in CNN: | • Jen Psaki in CNN: |
| “Putin may have less of a warm diplomatic bedside manner, but he understands the art of presentation and how to set a trap. And set a trap is exactly what he just did.” | “Putin may have less of a warm diplomatic bedside manner, but he understands the art of presentation and how to set a trap. And set a trap is exactly what he just did.” |
| Ms. Psaki worked for the Obama administration as the White House communications director and as the State Department spokeswoman. According to her, the meeting between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had a predictable outcome: “The Russians just played the president.” She describes the Russian art of public manipulation and stage management — something the Trump administration should have expected and rebuked, but didn’t. Read more » | Ms. Psaki worked for the Obama administration as the White House communications director and as the State Department spokeswoman. According to her, the meeting between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had a predictable outcome: “The Russians just played the president.” She describes the Russian art of public manipulation and stage management — something the Trump administration should have expected and rebuked, but didn’t. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Jonathan Swan in Axios: | • Jonathan Swan in Axios: |
| “Trump and Putin perfectly staged their first meeting so that both men could get what they needed out of it, politically.” | “Trump and Putin perfectly staged their first meeting so that both men could get what they needed out of it, politically.” |
| Mr. Swan reads between the lines of the meeting with Mr. Putin and declares victory for both sides. Read more » | Mr. Swan reads between the lines of the meeting with Mr. Putin and declares victory for both sides. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
| • Matt Latimer in Politico: | • Matt Latimer in Politico: |
| “So how, in fact, might history have changed if Trump descended that infamous golden escalator and declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination? And how would it be (depressingly) the same?” | “So how, in fact, might history have changed if Trump descended that infamous golden escalator and declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination? And how would it be (depressingly) the same?” |
| Take a break from reactions to the president’s trip abroad with this provocative thought experiment by Mr. Latimer: What if Donald J. Trump had won as a Democrat? The answer might encourage you to re-evaluate the way you think about our political culture. Read more » | Take a break from reactions to the president’s trip abroad with this provocative thought experiment by Mr. Latimer: What if Donald J. Trump had won as a Democrat? The answer might encourage you to re-evaluate the way you think about our political culture. Read more » |
| _____ | _____ |
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| Have thoughts about this collection? Email feedback to ourpicks@nytimes.com. | Have thoughts about this collection? Email feedback to ourpicks@nytimes.com. |