Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates have had a critical, public disagreement in print (NYTimes and Vanity Fair). They discuss it here in a wide-ranging conversation [podcast] [transcript].
My 15-second takes:
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Klein stakes a highly defensible, nearly impossible to disagree with, morally appealing high ground: my fellow humans grieve the horrible death of their loved one, I choose commiseration rather than silence. We should talk to people on the other side of the aisle
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they compare and contrast Clinton's comments about "bag of deplorables", with Trump's comment at Kirk's memorial service that "He did not hate his opponents; he wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent. And I don’t want what’s best for them. I’m sorry."
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Coates calls out Kirk's tactics as raising and channeling the power of hate, not as engagement and rapprochement and love, in the tone that Klein seems to want to achieve. Kirk's social media videos show him OWNING and SMASHES t...
