Opus Dei, Embezzlement, and Human Trafficking

By Mark Oppenheimer

news

See All

opinion

See All

Letters to the Editor

As someone who has been connected to "the resistance" since my early twenties, I can assure you: it is far from dead. The resistance has always been mycelial—decentralized, connective, and highly adaptive. This sprawling organic structure is both its strength and the key to its resilience and success. Our methods stand in stark contrast to authoritarianism, which consolidates power around cults of personality within rigid hierarchies upheld by blind loyalty, violence, and corruption.Movements like the Women’s March and Black Lives…

Trump and the Cult of Bigness

By Claire Hoffman
As someone who grew up in a cult-like community dedicated to the teachings of a charismatic guru, I have, lately, been watching Donald Trump and getting goosebumps. With charismatic religious leaders, I have the same test that Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart used with obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” It was hard not to see it at the Pennsylvania town hall in mid-October, when Trump had a crowd watch him listen to his favorite songs for 30 minutes. This behavior spoke to a very particular symbiosis taking place between the crowd and Trump—him doing anything he wanted…

essays

See All

reviews

See All

interviews

See All
The film marks this interesting moment on the continuum of art that grapples with the Holocaust, which starts with the immediate post-war memoir and arrives where we are today, which is essentially grandchildren going back and trying to figure out where they came from. It feels like the best way to describe this moment, and much of the film, is the haunting of distance. Does that speak to you at all?
Jesse Eisenberg: The haunting of distance is a wonderful way to put it. But to me, it feels like my life has a lack of meaning because of the distance from what my relatives went through to ultimately create a comfortable life here in America. I feel a lack of meaning in my life, and the more distance that I get from being connected to those who have been through more potent circumstances, the less meaning I feel.