The Way We Live Now
Amid the comedy, there are dark and minatory signals.
By Roger Kimball
May 22, 2021
I take my title from Anthony Trollope’s great 1875 novel chronicling the activities of the rapacious swindler Augustus Melmotte and his coterie of grasping climbers and brittle ingenues.
Trollope saw deep into the cynical engine room of his society, where a deadly brutishness panted just beneath the painted surface of propriety.
In our story, the star is no less grasping than Melmotte, but he’s been crossed with Chauncey Gardiner from the movie “Being There,” the confused puppet who, serving the interests of the dominant party’s power brokers, finds himself president of the United States.
This is a story with patches of light as well as expanses of shadow, so in addition to the exploits of a gibbering Joe Biden, we are introduced to a number of subplots, some cheering, at least in part.
So when we read that Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier was relieved of his duties in the Space Force because he criticized the influence of Marxism and critical race theory in the U.S. military on a podcast, it’s consoling to see that his book on the subject—Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military—should climb to the No. 1 spot on Amazon.
more
https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/22/the-way-we-live-now/
