As with everything concerning President Donald J. Trump — including the boos that greeted him for Game Three of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan Monday night — much has been written about his on and off Freedom 250 concert series. It included an array of performers from country music’s Martina McBride to funk and soul’s The Commodores — until it didn’t.
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John Everett Millais’ “Ophelia” (circa 1851, oil on canvas), for which the artist and poet Elizabeth Siddall posed, helped inspire Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia. Courtesy the Tate Britain.
Taylor Swift and 'The Fate of Ophelia' (and Hamlet)
Why does a billionaire feminist continue to write songs about being rescued from towers by men who “were just honing their powers”?
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T.H. Matteson's "Examination of a Witch" (1853, oil on canvas) was inspired by the Salem Witch Trials. Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum.
The pet-eating conspiracy theory -- the Salem Witch Trials of our time
Former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance blame the alleged second assassination attempt on Trump’s life on the Democrats “hateful” rhetoric. But the Democrats aren’t the ones who called Mexican immigrants “rapists,” instituted a Muslim travel ban, put babies on the border in cages, referred to women as “dogs,” “nasty” and “four out of 10” and disdained American P.O.W.s as “losers.”
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell has said Trump possesses “the most hateful mind in presidential history.” This after Trump tweeted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” all because she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president after the debate in which Trump went on a tangent about pet-eating Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.
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Jannik Sinner practicing at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Media Day, Friday, Aug. 25, before the start of the US Open. Right then I thought his solid if uninspiring play would enable him to win the tournament. Photograph by Georgette Gouveia.
Thoughts on the US Open
The US Open began on a brilliant August day (the 26th) that hinted at autumn and ended on a brilliant September day (the 8th) that delivered it.
In between, there were upsets — women’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek, last year’s women’s winner Coco Gauff, last year’s men’s winner Novak Djokovic and the No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz — and some insightful tennis as Taylor Fritz and Francis Tiafoe squared off in a semifinal that gave hope to American fans of a possible U.S. champion.
But only false hope. I saw men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner practice with Paris bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti on Media Day — Friday, Aug. 25 — and thought Sinner would win the men’s final, which he did, beating Fritz in straight sets 6-3. 6-4. 7-5.
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Taylor Swift, seen here at “The Golden Globe Awards” last month, has become the subject of a conspiracy theory to get out the vote for President Joe Biden after boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs win a rigged Super Bowl LVIII Feb. 11. Photograph by iHeartRadioCA.
The witch hunting of Taylor Swift, 'secret agent'
When my publisher asked me to write about what has made Taylor Swift a billionaire, I noted that she seemed, as a singer-songwriter who began her career in country and branched out to pop, to bridge the American cultural divide.
Silly me. I should’ve known that everything and everyone in this society at this time can be politicized and thus divisive.
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Taylor Swift at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Courtesy iHeartRadioCA.
The Taylor Swifting of the world
When Peggy Noonan, who was one of President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters, writes in The Wall Street Journal, that Taylor Swift should be Time magazine’s Person of the Year, you know that Swift has captured the zeitgeist.
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