Hail Vitruvians!
Fairly than a single piece of writing on provide this week, I’ve three completely different productions of mine to let you know about and encourage you to learn. Earlier than I get to them, although, I need to thank my newest paid subscriber, Sarah C. Merrill. Thanks, Sarah! I’m studying, researching, and writing so much nowadays, just about on daily basis, and each time I obtain notification of a brand new paid subscriber and really feel that help, I do the work with just a bit extra impressed vitality.
First among the many writings immediately, my essay “Rescue Me,” about my late brother, Jeff, was revealed yesterday morning in a Substack publication known as The Memoirist. The essay appeared on Homo Vitruvius nearly a yr in the past, which suggests lots of of you could have by no means learn it. It will please me very a lot should you went there to learn it this time round. I believe you’ll prefer it.
, a richly gifted author and memoirist herself, stated of it, “Brimful of affection and perception, this is without doubt one of the most affecting household memoirs I’ve learn on Substack.” Fellow author and editor of The Memoirist, wrote,
That is a fully gorgeous memoir by A. Jay Adler — an ideal instance of the standard tales I’m searching for at The Memoirist. It’s superbly written, heartfelt, emotional, and actually takes you on a journey. This one is to not be missed!
Consider it as a two-for-one from me this weekend: one American Samizdat and one Homo Vitruvius.
Like and restack, too, should you would, to assist promote the brand new The Memoirist.
Subsequent, one thing I’m producing every day on Substack — not on Homo Vitruvius or American Samizdat however relatively on Notes.
I do know most of you don’t learn me straight on Substack however in your e mail inboxes as a substitute. You may want the reminder that Substack Notes is a social media platform embedded in Substack however distinct from its publication platform, which hosts my two Stacks. I’m lively on Notes every day. (I’m additionally on Bluesky at @ajayadler.bsky.social and on LinkedIn. I’ve deleted my Fb, Instagram, and Theads accounts, after beforehand leaving Twitter-X.) Once you learn me straight on Substack on the internet, you may see a hyperlink to my Notes stream on the highest horizontal menu. That’s all the time been there. However now, proper subsequent to it, yow will discover a hyperlink to a brand new American Samizdat Notes publication. It’s known as American Brutalitarian Interregnum Notes. (I needed a title that basically rolls off the tongue. 🙂
The “brutalitarian” of the title remembers my labeling the Trump administration and the motion behind it a brutalitarian regime. I analyzed that historic political tendency simply weeks in the past in “The Brutalists.”
The “interregnum” of the title, outlined above, remembers the British Interregnum, the interval of 1649-1660, between the execution of Charles I and the restoration to the throne of his son, Charles II. That is the interval when Oliver Cromwell dominated Britain. I don’t imply to attract too nice an inapt parallel between the British interregnum and what I’m now calling the American Brutalitarian Interregnum underneath Trump, aside from this: Cromwell’s commonwealth after which protectorate have been failures, to a fantastic extent due to how they got here to be and the chaos of their rule. The Stuart Restoration ended that interregnum — the time between reigns.
Simply after Election Day in November, I wrote “The American First Republic,” expressing my perception that the second election of Trump, with all that it signified in regards to the nationwide citizens, American society, and the long run, signaled, too, the last word failure and finish of the American republic established in 1789.
That republic is now in its demise throws — with many nonetheless imagining that if we are able to in some way rid ourselves of Trump, our historic American democracy can escape that demise and resume its course as if nothing had ever occurred. However this can’t be. It occurred. It’s nonetheless taking place, with the worst but to come back, and if in some way the nationwide polity survives this Trumpist brutalitarian ascent, Individuals might want to start once more — with a brand new Structure, new legal guidelines addressing the various social ills and political misguidances that delivered the demise by a thousand cuts over a long time that introduced us to the place we’re. That’s the hopeful state of affairs.
Since day 20 of Trump’s return to the presidency, I’ve taken on daily basis to publishing American Brutalitarian Interregnum Notes. The notes provide my aggregation of 5 of probably the most notable tales of the day, from assorted sources, monitoring the Trump regime’s destruction of American authorities, the rule of legislation, the social material, and our American tradition. I’ve created a web page as a repository of these day by day notes. I’ll publish a hyperlink to it now with each American Samizdat essay, as right here beneath.
Lastly, collaborating with
, of America’s Fractured Politics, we now have produced a press release and a pledge for which we’re looking for signatories amongst fellow resistant voices — writers, podcasters, and videographers — devoted to opposing the brutalitarians within the identify of liberal democracy and the rule of legislation. Allied readers and supporters of every kind are welcome to signal as effectively. We’re looking for signatures publicly, on Notes and different social media, I’m reaching out privately, and people studying these phrases who want to add their names and any affiliation are inspired and welcome to take action, just by stating so in a remark beneath.
The phrases of the pledge are stark, however so is our state of affairs. One of many functions of the pledge is to make that clear. It’s taking place. It’s actually taking place, and folks must determine how they’re going to act within the face of it.
In solidarity,
AJA
