We slag The New York Times a lot on this blog, and rightly so. Their 2016 election coverage was catastrophically bad, and their refusal to engage in any meaningful post-election introspection remains unforgivable.
But The Times did two things today that deserve praise. They published a column by Lindy West that vaporizes the myth of Ivanka Trump’s moderating influence on her heinous father’s administration. A choice morsel:
Ivanka Trump is never going to come through. Coming through isn’t her function. She is more a logo than a person, a scarecrow stuffed with branding, an heiress-turned-model-turned-multimillionaire’s-wife playacting as an authority on the challenges facing working women so that she can sell more pastel sheath dresses.
You’ll enjoy the whole thing if you’re as fed up as I am with the puke-inducing worship and unearned trust placed in that vapid dilettante.
The Times also announced the hire of Michelle Goldberg, formerly of Slate, as a columnist. Slate has its issues too (though it has improved lately, IMO), but Goldberg has long been a bright spot. Here’s an excerpt from a column she wrote this summer that perfectly sums up how my sister marchers and I feel about the Trump administration:
I’m not sure that even well-intentioned men understand how relentlessly degrading this presidency is for many women. Having a man who does not recognize the humanity of more than half the population in a position of such power is a daily insult; it never really goes away.
I think I’ve shared that excerpt here before, but it bears repeating — QFT. Also, it’s high time The Times gave poor Gail Collins some backup on its male-dominated columnist roster. (MoDo doesn’t count.) I’m not renewing my subscription, but credit where credit is due.
Open thread!