I don’t know how many of you are fans of Frank Bruni — a New York Times columnist for 25 years and now an NYT contributor and professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University — but I’ve enjoyed his writing for a number of years and thought you might also.
From today’s NYT (no paywall):
The Unchecked, Unbalanced
Reign of King Donald
As he often does, Bruni ends today’s column with a section he calls “For the Love of Sentences” in which he shares delicious little bits of prose discovered and submitted by readers. Even if you disagree with his column, this sampler is usually tasty.
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Photo illustration by Ben Wiseman
I once had a student say to me, “I’m going to do whatever I want, and it’s your job to stop me because you are the teacher.” I put a kibosh on that real quick. Who knew that I would be living in a world where a President of the United States would be acting the same way? This is way, way out of control, and I will never forgive the people who are supporting and enabling him in this capricious madness.
Yes, one could almost forgive the people who voted for him. Perhaps they were ignorant of his past, or hoped to advance their Project 2025 objectives. But those in Congress should be taking back their rightful power to do a lot of what Trump has been doing — tariffs being just one example. It’s not like he’s doing anything for them (unless maybe he’s literally paying them off behind the scenes). Checks and balances, three separate but equal branches of government, yada, yada. Apparently the Constitution means nothing to anyone anymore. I’d go on, but I’ve been mired in this all day and I need a break.
Your excellent re-posting of Bruni reminds me of another journalist of the same breed, not in style but in his ability and desire to speak truth to power, i.e., Frank Royko. Royko had a genius for roasting the pretentious and powerful with humor and satire.
From his Wikipedia page: ” In 1984, Rupert Murdoch, for whom Royko said he would never work, bought the Sun-Times. Royko commented “No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in a Murdoch paper,” and that “his goal is not quality journalism. His goal is vast power for Rupert Murdoch, political power.”
Royko died, all too soon, in 1997. I’m glad to see in Bruni there are still people who are real journalists, but as he himself says, there seem to be fewer and fewer.
Indeed such journalists seem to be disappearing. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places. Maybe they’ve moved to Substack or similar blogging platforms where they don’t have to answer to an employer. Still, they have to eat … Bruni is no longer an NYT employee, so maybe that allows him to speak more freely than if he were still working there. And what a gift and legacy to have him now teaching journalism! Would love to be in one of his classes.