John's Blog

Like anyone who believes in the validity of science, I am a Darwinian. I believe that all life forms, including human beings, evolved over long periods from simpler forms. I do not believe in Adam and Eve and I do not believe any of the other origin myths. I believe that for almost all species, the process of evolution by natural selection is continuing. I doubt, however, that the evolution of human beings by natural selection is continuing. Why does this matter? Because, as I will try to show, natural selection is a brutal, cruel process, and if we are free from it, our lives are immeasurably better. Charles Darwin’s seminal book of 1859 was entitled The Origin of Species, By Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life . The reason for citing the full title is that his entire argument is summarized in those words. All life forms have origins; that is, they evolved from other forms. The process of evolution is natural; it is not divine o...

  Regime Change Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Regime Change, Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump , Simon and Schuster, 2026 I posted this piece on July 11, but for some reason it was not distributed to everyone. The techies that Roz and I have consulted can’t figure it out. So I am posting it again. If you are getting this for the second time, I apologize. I hope you get it for the first time. New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan have written an account of the first 13 months of Donald Trump’s second term, January 2025 to February 2026. The title, Regime Change , is ambiguous, and the authors don’t land on an exact definition. I think there are at least four possible meanings. The most straightforward is simply the change in presidential regime from Joe Biden to Donald Trump. They don’t spend a lot of time on that. They are more interested in a second meaning, the change from Trump’s first term, 2017-2021, to his second, beginning in 2...

  Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Regime Change, Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump , Simon and Schuster, 2026 New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan have written an account of the first 13 months of Donald Trump’s second term, January 2025 to February 2026. The title, Regime Change , is ambiguous, and the authors don’t land on an exact definition. I think there are at least four possible meanings. The most straightforward is simply the change in presidential regime from Joe Biden to Donald Trump. They don’t spend a lot of time on that. They are more interested in a second meaning, the change from Trump’s first term, 2017-2021, to his second, beginning in 2025. In Trump 1.0, the President was surrounded by many appointees who had independent standing, who were not totally beholden to him, and who sometimes stood up to him and prevented him from carrying out his zaniest fantasies. Not so in Trump 2.0. The authors show that, having learned from...

  Why MAGA?   Much of the discussion of America’s political disaster has to do with the character of Donald Trump, and that is an endlessly fascinating topic. Even more fascinating, I think, is the question of why so many people support him. He won two elections (not three as he claims) and even at the low point of his popularity, now, polls show him with the support of 30% to 40% of the electorate. This in spite of the fact that he is at the very least unbalanced, and that many of his policies, including tariffs and the war, harm his followers, as well as the rest of us. What is going on?   Many people have tried to explain it. There has been an explosion of academic studies—theoretical, qualitative and statistical—showing how white, non-college-educated voters have shifted radically over a generation from the Democratic to the Republican Party. The shift began well before Trump came on the political scene, but when he arrived he embodied it. I think the explanations...