ARTS
22 Books
How the internet has
changed the English
language for the better
23 Author of the week
Laura Lippman gives
voice to a suspected
murder victim
24 Stage & Art
A gloriously
hedonistic
Moulin Rouge
comes to
Broadway
25 Film &
Music
Jeff Goldblum
touts lobotomy
in The
MountainNEWS
4 Main stories
Trump nominates a
loyalist to be intelligence
chief; Democratic division
on show at debates; the
House edges closer to an
impeachment inquiry
6 Controversy of the week
Were Trump’s Twitter jabs
at Baltimore racist?
7 The U.S. at a glance
A mass shooting at
a California festival;
migrant children still being
separated from parents
8 The world at a glance
Europe swelters through
a heat wave; North
Korea tests more missiles
10 People
Caster Semenya on why
she needs to run; David
Spade’s quiet grief
11 Briefi ng
What’s behind the surge
in homelessness in West
Coast cities?
12 Best U.S. columns
Why Al Franken had to
leave the Senate; is it time
to wipe out mosquitoes?
15 Best international
columns
Hong Kong’s violent
anti-government protests
16 Talking points
A Russian collusion
conspiracy theory; the
resumption of federal
executions; was Robert
Mueller’s testimony a dud?LEISURE
27 Food & Drink
Three fi ne Japanese wines
made from koshu grapes
28 Travel
Backwoods camping in New
York’s wild Adirondacks
29 Consumer
Apps to help manage kids’
chores and allowancesBUSINESS
32 News at a glance
Capitol One’s big data
breach; China and the U.S.
get back to talking trade
33 Making money
How low interest rates
have punished savers
34 Best columns
Why the Fed is cutting rates;
automakers try to drive
around deregulationShelters erected by homeless people in downtown Los Angeles (p.11)Caster Semenya
(p.10)
Reuters (2)
“At the top of the hole sit a privileged few,” go Stephen Sond-
heim’s lyrics to “No Place Like London.” “Making mock of the
vermin in the lower zoo.” Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd opened on
Broadway four decades ago; set in London, it’s also unmistakably
about New York, then undergoing some of its most difficult times.
Forty years on, and here we are: At the top of the world sits a
president who from a high perch makes mock of the “disgusting,
rat and rodent infested mess” he imagines America’s cities to be.
Though Trump was referring specifically to Baltimore, he could
have been talking about a dozen other places burdened by vio-
lence and poverty. Trump’s dismissive disgust for a majority-black
city has, by design or natural impulse, inflamed the partisan divide
over race (see Controversy). But Trump’s attack is not only about
race. It’s about the fear of cities and everything they represent.
The reality of America’s cities is more complicated than Trump
would have it. Some are mired in mismanagement and despair.On the other hand, others, especially New York, San Francisco,
and Washington, have seen an explosion of wealth unrivaled in
human history. Expensive restaurants multiply there, as families
with children become scarce and neighborhood businesses shut
down. So U.S. cities embody everything that Trump’s base fears:
There is the black underclass, and far up in the sky are the lords
of tech and finance insulated from everyone below. For those who
wish to marshal the forces of resentment and discord, there’s a lot
to work with here. Yet in the long run betting against the city is a
losing game. U.S. cities have seen darker periods of much higher
crime and disastrous disrepair. It’s sad that the president of the
United States offers the cities nothing but insults; nonetheless, the
cities are where most of the population is centered, and they will
ultimately thrive. The question is, Can the rest of the country live
on a diet of fear and envy?Editor’s letter
Contents^3
Mark Gimein
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