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Essay  &  Liberty Law Talk
February 1, 2019
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“Slouching Towards Mar-a-Lago:” A Conversation with Andrew Bacevich

with Andrew J. Bacevich

In a 2017 essay reprinted in his new book Twilight of the American Century, Andrew Bacevich comments

Like it or not, the president of the United States embodies America itself. The individual inhabiting the White House has become the preeminent symbol of who we are and what we represent as a nation and a people. In a fundamental sense, he is us.

He discusses this observation and more in this new episode of Liberty Law Talk.

Andrew J. Bacevich is professor emeritus of history and international relations at Boston University. He is the author of America's War for the Greater Middle East.
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Law & Liberty welcomes civil and lively discussion of its articles. Abusive comments will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to delete comments - or ban users - without notification or explanation.

on February 02, 2019 at 16:33:44 pm

Andrew J. Bacevich is always an informative interview and pattern continues at Law and Liberty with Richard Reisch.

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Anthony
on March 03, 2019 at 19:10:13 pm

Please provide a cogent argument rather than a simple assertion. It's rather inadequate to make such a sweeping assertion without a supporting argument.

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will
on April 11, 2019 at 03:32:15 am

Seriously? I watched your interview with Bill Moyer. I own, and have read three of your books, but in my wildest imagination, I could not have predicted you would tell me that President Trump “embodies America”. Such a flip, and smug assertion, cheap and easy, is beneath you. Your statement is both inaccurate, and misleading. While he may embody SOME Americans, I do not count myself among them. Clearly, you may look past Trump, and say we ought to be most concerned with the people who put him in office. Fine. But NEVER tell me that he embodies or represents in any way, shape, or form, myself, and virtually all members of my family. He is NOT “us”. Trump may be merely a symptom of the divisiveness in the US today, but he has also clearly encouraged it.
In your defense, I will say this though; Americans are not easy to define. I have never thought they were. I recall Geoffrey Wolfe’s review of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”, when he wrote America is a nation devoid of traditions. “We don’t know who we are, or where we come from, or what we have done, or why.”
What really worries me, is that YOU are a Trump supporter. In which case, I’m as done with you as I am with anyone who can’t see this man for what he is.

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Norman Gremore
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Law & Liberty welcomes civil and lively discussion of its articles. Abusive comments will not be tolerated. We reserve the right to delete comments - or ban users - without notification or explanation.

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