Attention to the Unseen

Charles Sykes writes: One of John F. Kennedy’s favorite quotes was something he thought came from Dante: “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.” As it turns out, the quote is apocryphal. But what Dante did write was far better, and it came vividly to mind last week as Republicans failed to take a stand after President Trump’s racist tweets and chants of “Send her back,” directed at Representative…

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Nicholas Kristof writes: The tragedy of today’s Republican Party lies partly in how far it has tumbled from its heights. This is the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. It is the party that built interstate highways, championed family planning, founded the Environmental Protection Agency, opened relations with China, confronted the Soviet Union and managed the collapse of Communism. It is the party that under Ronald Reagan welcomed refugees. It is the party of men who exemplified decency like George…

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The New York Times reports: For the fourth season of “The Apprentice,” Donald J. Trump searched for a gimmick to bolster ratings. His idea was simple if explosive — pit an all-white team against an all-black team. “Do you like it?” he asked, previewing the concept on Howard Stern’s radio show in April 2005. “Yes,” Mr. Stern said. “Do you like it?” Mr. Trump asked Robin Quivers, the African-American co-host. “Well,” she said, “I think you’re going to have a…

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Laura Rozen reports: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) in New York July 18 to feel out prospects for possible discussions between Iran and the United States, a non-government expert in contact with the Iranian team told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The Iranian mission to the UN did not respond to Al-Monitor queries on the meeting. Zarif told reporters in New York Thursday that he was holding meetings while in New York this…

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Jamelle Bouie writes: The chanting was disturbing and the anger was frightening, but what I noticed most about the president’s rally in Greenville, N.C., on Wednesday night was the pleasure of the crowd. His voters and supporters were having fun. The “Send her back” chant directed at Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota was hateful but also exuberant, an expression of racist contempt and a celebration of shared values. This dynamic wasn’t unique to the event. It’s been a part of…

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Eugene Robinson writes: The president apparently believes he has found a perfect foil in “the Squad” — the four newly elected members of Congress he told to “go back” to where they came from. Omar is a refugee from civil war in Somalia who became a U.S. citizen in her teens. The others were all born in this country — Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in Detroit; Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) in Cincinnati; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in New York. But Tlaib is…

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Michelle Goldberg writes: Sebastian Gorka, a onetime adviser to Donald Trump, wore a medal from the Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group historically aligned with Nazism, to one of Trump’s inaugural balls. Gorka was reportedly a member of the group, whose founder, the Hungarian autocrat Miklos Horthy, once said, “For all my life, I have been an anti-Semite.” Max Berger is a Jewish social justice activist who has long been deeply involved in Jewish communal life. He’s the co-founder of IfNotNow,…

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