CHRIS BRAY: The Performativity Crisis.

….let’s talk about Thomas Hart Benton and Andrew Jackson. The two men tried to kill each other, and came pretty close. For the rest of his life, Jackson carried the ball from Benton’s pistol in his body. If you’ve never read about their street brawl, which was predicated by talk of dueling but didn’t work like a duel at all, read an account here. There were pistols and daggers and a horsewhip, and Benton made a public show of breaking Jackson’s sword over his knee as Jackson’s friends hauled his bloodied and semiconscious body off the street.

Then, years later, when Jackson showed up in the Senate, where he was seated next to Benton, they shook hands and forged a productive political alliance. 1.) Savage street brawl, 2.) near-death gunshot wound, 3.) but anyway.

So.

JD Vance called Alex Padilla by the wrong name, and Padilla is a broken man. He’s in

pain

. Screenshot, and note that Jonathan Capehart asked Padilla how the emotional trauma of recent events had changed him as a person.

Well. Plus:

I should loudly mention here, because Drucker mostly doesn’t, that she works in academia and in Chicago. There’s no manliness in her social sphere, and so she’s pretty sure she’s describing America.

Because I’m nearing the end of a long road trip with a bunch of campgrounds in it, I can tell you, first of all, that there are men outdoors everywhere, with women and children, acting like husbands and fathers. It’s noticeable, and it feels like time travel. I’m not describing machismo; I’m describing normalcy, moms and dads and families. Personal to Rachel Drucker: Spend a week camping in Montana, then try again. The space you occupy matters. If there’s no masculine energy in the spaces you occupy, try a different one.

Indeed.