Author: Tom Engelhardt

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Since we’re clearly heading into a new Cold War, if not a hot one, how appropriate today to hear at TomDispatch (via Andrew Bacevich) from, of all people, John F. Kennedy. He was the president of my youth, the one I thrilled to see once upon a time (even if at a great distance) giving a speech in New Haven, Connecticut. He was also the one who, on October 22, 1962, read more

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Yes, there had been rich American presidents before, but never a billionaire. And it wasn’t a mistake either that this country — already in a nosedive of inequality — elected Donald Trump read more

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We’re in a time of growing belligerence of a kind unknown since the Cold War. It’s already taken us to the edge of conflict with nuclear-armed great powers, whether in Ukraine read more

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In her new piece, TomDispatch regular Kelly Denton-Borhaug discusses the eerie psychology of America’s elected representatives as they continue, using ever more staggering numbers of taxpayer read more

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My Life with Maus Or How I Was Banned (Even If in a Second-Hand Way) by a Trumpian World By Tom Engelhardt

Sometimes life has a way of making you realize things about yourself. Recently, I discovered that an urge of mine, almost four decades old, had been the very opposite of that of a rural Tennessee school board this January. In another life, I played a role in what could be thought of as the unbanning of the graphic novel Maus.

For months, I’ve been reading about the growing read more

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Thought about a certain way, most of my adult life has been spent at war. No, I’ve never been to war myself, although I was swept away by the antiwar movement of the Vietnam era. My country, on the other hand, has been more or less eternally at war. In fact, TomDispatch read more

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Honestly, it’s been hell on earth for grown-ups. Thanks largely to Donald Trump and crew, we’re in the country with by far the read more

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<Pardon me?

No, no, I don’t actually need a pardon. I wasn’t ransacking read more

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Progress? Let’s see. We’ve gone from unending wars in distant lands against enemies capable of little more than wielding firearms and roadside bombs — and those conflicts were disasters — to the possibility of a war in the European heartland between nuclear-armed foes. I mean, honestly, what could possibly go wrong?

And it was all fated to happen in Europe because of read more

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Think of the U.S. military-industrial-congressional complex as a remarkably self-contained system. It’s capable of funding itself at staggering levels, producing weaponry (however inefficient, read more