Stephen Marche

The United States is portrayed as undergoing a self-inflicted political and cultural unraveling rooted in contradictions present since its founding. Rising partisanship, historical nostalgia, originalism in the courts, and a renewed embrace of violence and exceptionalism are depicted as symptoms of a deeper national crisis. The legacy of the American Revolution is framed as a mythologized foundation that masks greed, inequality, and an enduring preference for spectacle over substance. Contemporary political dynamics, particularly those surrounding Donald Trump, are described as an extension of these historical patterns, contributing to a decline that leaves the nation unable to reconcile its past with its present.

Artificial intelligence is automating formulaic writing and weakening the value of conventional stylistic mastery, but it is not eliminating the need for writers. Stephen Marche argues that language, taste, creativity and the ability to give work a distinctive purpose remain human strengths. Drawing on his own AI-generated fiction and interactive poetry, the history of artistic adaptation and Gukesh Dommaraju’s chess training, he recommends that writers develop their abilities first and then use AI as a controlled tool rather than surrendering creative judgment to it. The future of writing, he concludes, lies in resisting cliché and creating forms of expression that machines cannot produce independently.

The writer presents his 85-year-old friend Gerry as a model for overcoming loneliness through deliberate, persistent effort. Rather than waiting for friendships to form naturally, people—particularly men—should initiate contact, keep rescheduling after cancellations, join groups and remain curious about others. The argument draws parallels between maintaining friendships and exercising: both may initially feel awkward but become essential to health and happiness. Modern work patterns, internet use and weakened communal institutions have reduced incidental social contact, making intentional socialization increasingly necessary.

Canada’s long-standing reliance on the United States and its limited military preparedness have left it vulnerable as Donald Trump’s administration adopts a more hostile posture, including talk of annexation. Stephen Marche argues that Canada should look to Finland’s whole-society defence model: broad civilian preparedness, conscription, institutional coordination and the ability to impose high costs on any aggressor. Although Mark Carney’s government has announced major increases in defence spending, the author says existing plans still focus on alliance commitments rather than a fundamental reset of Canada’s security posture. A comprehensive defence effort could also strengthen democratic cohesion, but it would require Canada to overcome its deeply rooted peace-oriented national identity.

The United States is portrayed as abandoning the global order, alliances and economic networks that once underpinned its influence. Canada, facing potential economic coercion and even annexation threats from its neighbor, is beginning to diversify trade and security ties, including through closer links with the European Union. The author argues that America’s retreat and domestic authoritarian turn require former allies to build independent defenses and institutions, concluding that no country is indispensable and no global order is permanent.

The United States is increasingly seeing violence and coercion replace political discourse, argues Stephen Marche. Donald Trump's military parade was intended to demonstrate control over the armed forces but instead exposed weakness and authoritarian insecurity, particularly amid the assassination of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and clashes between security forces and protesters in Los Angeles. The parade and accompanying protests reflect a broader destabilization in which political disputes are increasingly settled through force rather than democratic institutions.

Stephen Marche reflects on the America he once experienced as generous, imaginative, prosperous and gloriously theatrical, contrasting those memories with a country now defined by Trump’s authoritarianism, political impunity and the erosion of shared ideals. Drawing on travels, reporting and personal experiences in places ranging from New York and California to Ohio and Florida, he argues that the American Dream was always partly an illusion, but one capable of producing extraordinary creativity, ambition and generosity. The second Trump administration, he concludes, has exposed the fragility of those cultural and political bubbles, leaving America’s founding promise exhausted but not necessarily beyond recovery.

Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen has proposed changing the state’s district-based allocation of electoral votes to a winner-take-all system before the 2024 election, a move that could deprive Kamala Harris of the Omaha electoral vote needed to reach 270. The article argues that Republicans might also benefit by creating disputes that force a contingent election, in which each state delegation receives one vote and Republicans would likely prevail. Maine could retaliate against a Nebraska change, but its legislature is no longer in session. The broader warning is that the Electoral College’s complex and outdated rules create opportunities for partisan manipulation and could produce a severe democratic legitimacy crisis.

Twelve novelists, poets and authors assess how generative AI could transform fiction and creative work. They warn that ChatGPT and other large language models may displace writers, reproduce copyrighted material without consent, generate formulaic prose and intensify commercial pressure on creative labor. Some contributors nevertheless see opportunities for collaboration, experimentation, accessibility and entirely new forms of art, particularly if AI development becomes more diverse, transparent and publicly accountable. The central unresolved issue is what human experience, consciousness, empathy and creative risk contribute to literature that statistical language models cannot reproduce.

A contingent election could make Donald Trump president even if he loses the popular vote, the Electoral College, and his legal cases. If no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes, the House would choose the president through one vote per state delegation, a system that currently favors Republicans because more state delegations lean Republican. The article argues that disputed or uncertified electoral votes could trigger this process, producing a constitutionally legal but widely illegitimate outcome. It presents election denialism, partisan polarization and the Electoral College’s unequal structure as evidence that the 2024 election could undermine public confidence in democratic government.

AI doomerism is presented as a form of hype that distracts from more immediate problems, including misinformation, social-media harms, automation and inequality. The article argues that these issues are primarily political and social rather than existentially technological, and that vague calls for an AI moratorium offer no workable solutions. Instead, policymakers should address already documented harms from social-media algorithms and the economic system into which AI is being introduced. Despite uncertainty about AI’s consequences, its unfamiliarity should prompt investigation and awe rather than panic.

The coronation of Charles III is presented as an absurd spectacle unfolding amid Britain’s economic difficulties, Brexit’s consequences and a profound crisis of national identity. From a Canadian perspective, the monarchy exposes the contradictions of a country that is no longer an empire but still struggles to understand its place in the world. Charles is portrayed as less glamorous and less blankly symbolic than Elizabeth II, making him an unusually human embodiment of Britain’s divisions between nostalgia and progressivism, older and younger generations, and imperial memory and contemporary reality. The essay argues that both Britain and Canada project unresolved histories and identities onto the king, while suggesting that constitutional monarchy’s very absurdity may help prevent excessive nationalist self-seriousness.

A UK Ministry of Defence assessment says Russian public support for the war is declining, citing a confidential Kremlin-commissioned survey reportedly showing 55% favor peace talks and 25% favor continuing the war; a Levada poll produced similar results. US intelligence chief Avril Haines expects fighting to continue at a reduced tempo through the winter, while Russia says it will reject the G7 and allies’ $60-per-barrel oil price cap even at the cost of reduced production. Fighting and Russian strikes continue around Bakhmut and against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leaving 507 localities without electricity. Ukraine is sanctioning clerics linked to a pro-Moscow church, and a UN proposal for a tribunal on Russian aggression is circulating despite questions about support and jurisdiction. Russian rights advocate Irina Scherbakova says a diplomatic settlement is impossible while Putin’s regime remains in power.

Ukrainian librarians and archivists are preserving books, records and cultural memory amid Russia’s invasion, despite the destruction of hundreds of libraries and archives. Oksana Bruy, Anatolii Khromov and other cultural workers have kept library services operating, evacuated vulnerable collections, documented Russian brutality and expanded support for displaced people and Ukrainian-language education. International volunteers organized SUCHO to digitize endangered materials, while smaller initiatives supplied fireproof cabinets, scanners and other equipment. The attacks have failed to erase Ukrainian identity and have instead intensified cultural and linguistic separation from Russia, making libraries central institutions of resistance and national reconstruction.

Stephen Marche argues that Joe Biden correctly identified the threat to US democracy but offered only vague appeals for national unity rather than concrete remedies. The article highlights political violence, election denial, declining institutional trust, the aftermath of Dobbs, the Mar-a-Lago investigation and uncertainty over peaceful transfers of power. It calls for structural reforms including open primaries, independent redistricting commissions, campaign-finance reform, an overhaul of the Federal Election Commission and potentially expanding the Supreme Court, concluding that preserving democracy requires changing how the country governs rather than merely winning another election.

The January 6 hearings have successfully attracted a large audience and made the case against Donald Trump vivid through compelling testimony and television-style presentation. However, their success may become dangerous if it produces attention without legal or political consequences. Repeated exposure to abuses of power without punishment could normalize illegitimacy, weaken democratic expectations and teach political actors that increasingly extreme conduct is tolerable. The hearings therefore need to lead to accountability, because spectacle alone cannot preserve a democratic system.

The overturning of Roe v Wade is presented as evidence of a deepening legitimacy crisis and widening political fracture in the United States. Stephen Marche argues that right-wing leaders and media have normalized civil-war imagery, white-replacement narratives and indirect incitement, contributing to violence such as the Buffalo shooting, while Democrats remain trapped in ineffective appeals to bipartisanship. The emerging conflict is depicted as asymmetrical rather than a conventional war: the right has greater access to firearms and electoral power, whereas the left has greater financial, technological and institutional-network resources. Abortion politics already illustrates this divide through state reproductive funds, safe-haven policies and technology-enabled support networks. Marche concludes that the outcome is uncertain, but the struggle has begun and will increasingly be fought through political institutions, financial systems, technology and recurring political violence.

The anticipated Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization could intensify the United States’ existing political and legal divisions, regardless of whether Roe v. Wade is overturned. The article argues that restrictive state laws, interstate conflicts over abortion access, and possible enforcement against patients and helpers could fuel anger and violence. It maintains that criminalization is unlikely to substantially reduce abortion rates, while overturning Roe would make medical care more difficult and humiliating and deepen perceptions of political oppression. Abortion is presented as a symbol of a broader conflict between communal moral values and personal agency, suggesting that the US is already developing competing legal and political systems.

The United States is portrayed as facing an accelerating institutional legitimacy crisis that could produce sustained civil conflict. Far-right militias, white supremacists and anti-government activists are described as preparing for violence while gaining influence within law enforcement and other institutions. Threats against politicians, election workers and public officials have intensified since January 6, while political polarization, Senate malapportionment and declining trust undermine democratic governance. The article argues that the left is distracted by internal conflict and misplaced faith in existing institutions, and calls for urgent structural reforms including ending the filibuster, granting statehood to Washington, DC, reforming policing and countering domestic terrorism. Without deliberate democratic reinvention, the country risks further authoritarian capture and political breakdown.

The coronavirus lockdown has cancelled many large weddings, but the disruption may offer an opportunity to reconsider the modern wedding industry. Elaborate ceremonies are portrayed as expensive, wasteful and heavily commercialized, with average US wedding costs rivaling a house down payment despite declining marriage rates and later marriage ages. Historical research suggests that wedding traditions and services became increasingly commercialized in the 20th century, while research cited in the piece links higher wedding spending with shorter marriages. The argument concludes that couples should adopt simpler, cheaper traditions rather than restore the pre-pandemic wedding model.