Crash Course: Trump's dark vision of American apocalypse

[View this email in your browser]( Your daily update from [Salon](. Written by [Brett Bachman](. Trump's vision of America gets darker If you haven't been paying attention to the man on a daily basis (like we have over here at Salon), it would be easy to miss just how apocalyptic former President Donald Trump's vision of America has become in the months since he left the Oval Office. But during a speech Saturday in Georgia, things seemed to veer into even darker territory, as Trump [spent most of his 90-minute speech describing the country as a veritable hellscape with conspiracies around every corner]( — with all of these changes happening within the last eight months, of course. "You're not going to have a country left," Trump said near the beginning of his address. "If you want to have a country left you must elect no Democrats and vote only for America first Republicans." There was, of course, the usual score settling and self-aggrandizement — "I don't have a big mouth. You know what I have? I have a mouth that tells the truth" — and the odd trains of thought that ended up in very different places than even Trump may have imagined. In fact, at one point he even appeared to endorse Stacy Abrams for Georgia governor after talking about how much he regretted endorsing current Gov. Brian Kemp. "Of course, having her I think might be better than having your existing governor," Trump said. "Might very well be better." (Photo via Getty Images) Ken Burns talks Muhammad Ali The legendary boxer Muhammad Ali has always been a hero to Ken Burns, the filmmaker told Salon's Melanie McFarland, which is why his latest project — a four part series on the life and times of "The Greatest" — was such a labor of love. McFarland's appreciation for the series is [well-documented]( — and she set out to unpack with Burns why the project has struck such a chord, despite the fact that Ali's story has been told so many times by so many different people over the years. It was important, Burns said, for his team to approach the series not as a story about Ali, persay, but instead as a story about the time and place in which he existed. This allowed Burns to skirt the typical hero arc that is all too often told about Ali as a media figure, and instead focus on the very real person who battled demons to become the champion boxer many argue is the greatest athlete of all time. "Muhammad Ali is like a superhero in the way these nauseating Marvel characters are not. This is a real guy in front of us whose life is like a Greek mythological story, like Achilles is playing out strength and weakness right before our eyes. Our own lives are his life, but written much, much smaller, which is why, I think, everyone is drawn to him, even if you come out hating him for that," Burns said. "Nobody is ever one thing. And this is the great mistake we make, particularly in a binary computer world and kind of superficial media culture, where it's just on or off, black or white, gay or straight, rich or poor, male or female, red state or blue state. It's a dialectic that does not exist in real life." You can [read the full interview here](. (Photo via Getty Images) - Greg Abbott tells Fox News host he will [staff Texas border force with horsemen Biden punished]( - Governments paid to develop the COVID vaccines. [Big Pharma wants to hoard the patents]( - "Only Murders in the Building" [makes me long to reconnect with our elders]( Salon contributor Alison Stine writes - It's not that weird to [feel schadenfreude when COVID-deniers get COVID]( psychologists say - Lindsey Graham told Trump: ["You f'd up your presidency,"]( new book claims - The author Nancy McCabe [writes for Salon about her late brother]( who died alone, at home, "like a glitch in a Zoom call" - Obama White House alums [blast Mark Zuckerberg after Trump rally goers call to "lock him up"]( - A prescription for saving democracy: [Is public health key to beating back fascism?]( - New HBO series [explores how a queer "Nuclear Family" was threatened by a sperm donor]( - Yale's failed Singapore venture: [More American arrogance in Asia]( - "The Morning Show" [reveals just how unfair the aftermath of sexual misconduct can be]( - Scientists find new way to [reduce marine "dead zones"]( - And, finally, try roasting a pumpkin [for your own spicy and smoky harvest season hot sauce]( Not a subscriber yet? [Sign up]( to receive Crash Course. FDR tried to "purge" moderates — should Biden? Salon history columnist Matt Rozsa has a healthy appreciation for the track record of accurate predictions made by the American University political science professor Allan Lichtman — which is why, he writes, it was worth listening when Lichtman argued that President Joe Biden [would face disastrous consequences if he went to war against the moderate Democrats]( like Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, who stand in the way of his agenda. There is a historical precedent that's worth pointing out. FDR also turned against members of his own party who he deemed insufficiently progressive — with similarly disastrous consequences. "In a way, [FDR's] desire to realign American politics along more ideological lines worked. Right-wing Democrats from the South realized they had common cause with conservative Republicans from the Midwest, and their "conservative coalition" controlled Congress for a generation, shaping national policy regardless of which party officially had a majority," Rozsa writes. "If anything, Roosevelt weakened the liberal cause rather than strengthening it. His only consolation was that many of the policies he was worried would get targeted wound up staying intact." (Photo illustration via Salon/Getty Images) - "[The NBA's Anti-Vaxxers Are Trying to Push Around the League--And It's Working]( Rolling Stone - "‘[The Sopranos’ was inspired by this real-life Newark mob family]( The New York Post - "[The bartender who quit cocktails to become a mortician]( GrubStreet - "[Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks]( Yahoo News - "[What Occupy Wall Street Organizers Would Do Differently]( The Nation Anti-vaxxers are now calling themselves "purebloods" A new trend is circulating in far-right circles, and, God help us, it has origins in the Harry Potter series. Anti-vaccine activists have [taken to affectionately referring to each other as "purebloods,"]( a reference to the superiority with which wizards and witches with magic-blessed parents regard themselves in J.K. Rowling's classic children's tale. It's unclear if these people understand they're endorsing the fascist villains of the story — clearly meant to be understood as evil people — though it certainly appears that the anti-vaccine crowd is endorsing the eugenics that those characters advocate for throughout the series. It's all part of a larger trend as social media companies struggle to keep misinformation on their platforms from spreading. Have a tip for Salon? Feedback on this newsletter? [Let us know](mailto:brett.bachman@salon.com). [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( Copyright © 2021 Salon.com, LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at Salon.com Our mailing address is: Salon.com, LLC 1000 N. West StreetWilmington, DE 19801 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. [Mailchimp Email Marketing](