Liars and Saints

 How strange to allow a President "the authority to pardon." Most Hamilton-ish ideas involve a "checks and balances" approach: if the President uses a veto, the legislative branch can override the veto, and if the President challenges an existing law, the Supreme Court can decide that the challenge is without merit. But no one looks over the President's shoulder as he issues a pardon. Like a King, he can just wave his wand and delete the past. The theory was that the President could use the pardon to display selflessness and magnanimity; in shielding decent people from some of the harshness of "the law," the President would inspire normal Americans to consider acts of mercy. But that's not really how the pardon has worked. Often, the pardon has had a political and self-serving function. For example, when Harding pardoned Eugene Debs, the gesture was not about deep feelings for Debs's plight. Harding didn't want Debs to become a martyr by dy...

Americans know Trump's impeachment story, but Jeffrey Toobin tells it really well, and he adds details that I had missed, details I'll now always remember: *During the silly attempt to disrupt impeachment proceedings, Republicans bought many pizzas. The pizza-for-politicians came from an artisanal pizzeria; the pizza for reporters, a "gift," came from Domino's. Reporters mostly avoided the pizza, so it congealed in its box. (This chapter is called "Two Kinds of Pizza," perhaps a reference to the novel "Two Kinds of Truth.") *Nancy Pelosi works longer days than any colleague's days, and that's not even factoring in the hair appointment that precedes literally every single day that she is on the job. Manafort once purchased a $15,000 "ostrich coat." Trump's long red tie is weirdly long for the specific goal of paunch-concealment. When Alan Dershowitz popped up recently, he was taking a break from life in a retirement home. A...

 Jeffrey Toobin is my dream writer. I've read all of his books but his first one; they tend to be gossipy, smart, highly-opinionated accounts of scandalous national news events. "The Run of His Life"--Toobin's book about OJ, and his masterpiece--can stand next to "In Cold Blood." (I think it's more fun than "In Cold Blood.") One of many pleasures in a new Toobin book is the sexy title. Just look at this list! "The Oath," "The Nine," "American Heiress," "A Vast Conspiracy," "Too Close To Call" -- book titles are in this guy's big, big bag of tricks. In "The Oath," Toobin had a nervous John Roberts attempting to get an oath from Barack Obama, while a bumbling Biden made foolish, unsolicited remarks in the background. The new book, "True Crimes and Misdemeanors," opens with a similar scene. This time, Mueller is meeting Trump.  Toobin takes a moment to comment. Both of these...

Keep an eye out for.... *"Too Much Is Not Enough" ...This is Andrew Rannells's (perfectly-entitled) memoir about moving to New York and making it on Broadway. It's evident from excerpts that Rannells has learned from Lena Dunham's brutally candid and cringe-inducing style. Rannells's televised cabaret, from Jazz at Lincoln Center, is among the greatest theatrical works of all time (if you ask me). I especially loved the revelation that Rannells--unaware of other protocol--simply showed up for auditions and performed Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run," over and over, regardless of questions about "appropriateness." I'm so excited about this memoir. *"Never Tell," by Lisa Gardner ...This is a lurid NYTimes bestseller, apparently based on a real case, in which a pregnant woman (in Alabama? or somewhere around there?) may or may not have slaughtered her husband. Say no more! *"Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood ...