On King Lear – Christian Lorentzen in LRB:

“His two most trusted aides came to him at Rehoboth Beach and told him from a distance – because he has Covid – that he no longer had a path to victory. The money had dried up, he was trailing in all the usual swing states, and even in states the Democrats usually win without spending much money, like Virginia and New Mexico. The next day he posted his resignation letter to X (formerly Twitter) and followed it up with an endorsement of his vice president. Oh, yeah, c’mon, man, keep her around. So came to an end a month of blather about the way Biden had become King Lear. The final reckoning was less like Julius Caesar than like sending the president to the self-checkout till at Tesco to pay for his own hemlock.”

(…)

“Biden’s speech to the nation about his withdrawal from the race did not give his reason for getting out. It was beside the point anyway. His ‘sacrifice’, as it’s been called, must come as a relief to himself and his family. And now perhaps he will have preserved his ‘legacy’, unless Trump wins in November, in which case Biden will be blamed for dithering and not getting out of the way last year. His son Hunter is said to have been sitting in on meetings with him since the June debate that exposed his impairment, though to call him temporary co-president might be an exaggeration. He awaits sentencing on a conviction for lying about his drug use on a gun permit. His father has said he won’t pardon him, highlighting a contrast between his integrity and Trump’s pathological nepotism. A pardon for Hunter now would tarnish the president’s reputation one last time. In that sense it would be a true sacrifice and a real act of love.”

Read the article here.

Good to know that know that hemlock can be purchased at Tesco.

And it’s not King Lear but Abraham and Isaac.

Hunter is going to be sacrificed, but most probably no anger will appear.

In the meantime, 60 appears to be the new 30. At least in American politics.

The future might belong to former astronauts, which is only fair.