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11 Mar, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Woodrow Wilson used the phrase "America First" as an isolationist slogan in the election of 1916 to imply that his Republican opponent Charles Evans Hughes sympathy for Britain in the First World War was influenced by Hughes' father's English birth.
A pro-Wilson writer, Breckenridge Long, argued that Hughes was ineligible for the presidency - not a "natural born citizen" - because of Hughes' father's British birth. Long's arguments against the Republican Hughes were rediscovered a century later by anti-Obama birthers.
Here's the Long essay on "natural born" citizenship scribd.com/doc/68922032/N…
Anyway, at the time of the centennial of the sinking of the Lusitania, I wrote this for @TheAtlantic about why the US was right to enter the First World War. theatlantic.com/international/…

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David Frum Profile picture
3 Mar
Many news organizations are tonight referencing a "possible plot against the US Capitol" EG washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/… Image
The headlines tend to be vague about who the plotters are and what they are plotting, reserving specifics for deeper into the text of the story. EG Image
Back in 2016, candidate Donald Trump had harsh words for media and politicians who played coy with the identity and motives of terrorist groups.

"Now, to solve a problem, you have to be able to state what the problem is or at least say the name."

debates.org/voter-educatio…
Read 5 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
3 Mar
For a year, Trump types on Fox etc. have argued: "Public health authorities urge masks and vaccination is so they can tyrannize human beings forever. They will never allow a return to normal life. Instead, ignore them and instead rely on fake cures and magical thinking." 1/x
As red-state governors yielded to demands from Republican-leaning industries to disregard health and safety, they relied on the "Dr Fauci wants shut downs forever" complaint for justification. 2/x
As the Biden vaccination program gains the upper hand over the virus in 2021, we'll see a real-world test: Did public health authorities issue their mask guidance out of a mysterious sudden eagerness to close the US economy for no good reason? Or ... 3/x
Read 14 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
27 Feb
Much of @HawleyMO CPAC speech self-advertised his suffering for the pro-Trump cause. Big mistake. For the pro-Trump movement, victimhood is not an end in itself. For them, their victimhood is a justification for abusing others. They don't want martyrs. They want righteous bullies
@HawleyMO Trumpism is not a system of ideas. It's simple bully worship, the kind you saw in schoolyards. Nobody in pro-Trump world cares about any of @HawleyMO half-cooked policy ideas. They only care about Big Tech to the extent that Big Tech is getting in the way of their bullying fun.
@HawleyMO And just as a schoolyard bully will one day target this kid, and the next day target that one - and the third day target the most sycophantic suck-up in his entourage ... so Trump can and will take almost any position on almost any issue, and the pro-Trump movement will follow.
Read 5 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
23 Feb
In an early episode of "Mad Men," the young striver Peggy Olson faces a traumatic experience. The principal character, a man whose life is built upon falsehood and evasion, offers his life advice: "It never happened. It will amaze you how much it never happened." 1/x
With the Tanden nomination, we are watching congressional Republicans put Don Draper's advice into effect.

They supported a profoundly corrupt, cruel, vituperative, and generally immoral and unethical president at the head of an inept and unethical administration. They knew it!
But of course those senators never said so. They were scared and they were shamed. Maybe they stopped some bad things - or at least they tell themselves they did. But the experience had to have been profoundly humiliating for almost all of them. And these are not humble people.
Read 8 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
22 Feb
It's like when distilled alcohol arrived in Europe after 1400. Human beings had long experience of wine and beer. But distilled liquor spread carnage through unprepared societies. Took a long time to learn to cope with it. Broadcast media => social media an almost equal shock
George Allen's "macaca" remark went viral in August 2006 - powered by YouTube, which had launched in February 2005. abcnews.go.com/Nightline/stor…
.@WindsorMann reminds me of Michael Richards' viral infamy - November 2006. cbsnews.com/news/kramer-ap…
Read 4 tweets
David Frum Profile picture
21 Feb
Question I've been thinking about today. Was Ingrid Bergman a victim of "cancel culture" when she was caught in a firestorm of scandal in 1950 for having a child with one man while married to another? If not, why not? thevintagenews.com/2018/02/07/ing…
I don't mean this question as a random puzzle, it's helping me develop an idea about why so many feel that it's different to lose a movie career in 2021 for posting conspiracy theories on social media than to lose a movie career in 1951 for an unsanctioned love affair.
When John Lennon was quoted that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, he triggered a wave of boycott against the band (even though he was expressing worry about declining spirituality, not boasting about his success) rollingstone.com/feature/when-j…
Read 7 tweets

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