The Talk Of The Town
The New Yorker|March 4, 2019

In “Seven Days in May,” a popular novel from the early nineteen-sixties that became a movie, a cabal of military officers conspire to overthrow the President of the United States, whom they regard as unduly sympathetic to the Soviet Union.

Jeffrey Toobin
The Talk Of The Town

The story, along with such other Cold War fantasies as “Fail Safe” and “Dr. Strangelove,” belongs to a genre that shares certain assumptions and plot points. The President is a reasonable fellow, doing his best to insure the survival of the planet, and the villains are the defenders of the permanent bureaucracy, usually the military. Things don’t always end well in these sagas—to wit, the destruction of New York City, in “Fail Safe,” and of civilization, in “Strangelove”—but the underlying message is that the President always has the interests of the American people at heart.

The genre received a nonfiction update last week, when Andrew McCabe published “The Threat,” a book about his tenure at the F.B.I., which ended with a brief, tumultuous period as its acting director. The focus of his narrative is not seven but eight days in May of 2017, between President Trump’s firing of James Comey, the director of the F.B.I., and the appointment of Robert Mueller, the special counsel charged with investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. McCabe’s tale is like a photo negative of the Cold War stories. Now the contest pits a despotic and, at times, seemingly deranged President against shocked and horrified bureaucrats scrambling to safeguard the basic principles of our democracy.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 4, 2019 من The New Yorker.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 4, 2019 من The New Yorker.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من THE NEW YORKER مشاهدة الكل
GET IT TOGETHER
The New Yorker

GET IT TOGETHER

In the beginning was the mob, and the mob was bad. In Gibbon’s 1776 “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” the Roman mob makes regular appearances, usually at the instigation of a demagogue, loudly demanding to be placated with free food and entertainment (“bread and circuses”), and, though they don’t get to rule, they sometimes get to choose who will.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
GAINING CONTROL
The New Yorker

GAINING CONTROL

The frenemies who fought to bring contraception to this country.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
The New Yorker

REBELS WITH A CAUSE

In the new FX/Hulu series “Say Nothing,” life as an armed revolutionary during the Troubles has—at least at first—an air of glamour.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 25, 2024
AGAINST THE CURRENT
The New Yorker

AGAINST THE CURRENT

\"Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!,\" at Soho Rep, and \"Gatz,\" at the Public.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 25, 2024
METAMORPHOSIS
The New Yorker

METAMORPHOSIS

The director Marielle Heller explores the feral side of child rearing.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
THE BIG SPIN
The New Yorker

THE BIG SPIN

A district attorney's office investigates how its prosecutors picked death-penalty juries.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
THIS ELECTION JUST PROVES WHAT I ALREADY BELIEVED
The New Yorker

THIS ELECTION JUST PROVES WHAT I ALREADY BELIEVED

I hate to say I told you so, but here we are. Kamala Harris’s loss will go down in history as a catastrophe that could have easily been avoided if more people had thought whatever I happen to think.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 25, 2024
HOLD YOUR TONGUE
The New Yorker

HOLD YOUR TONGUE

Can the world's most populous country protect its languages?

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
A LONG WAY HOME
The New Yorker

A LONG WAY HOME

Ordinarily, I hate staying at someone's house, but when Hugh and I visited his friend Mary in Maine we had no other choice.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
YULE RULES
The New Yorker

YULE RULES

“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point.”

time-read
6 mins  |
November 18, 2024