How Britain Went Bonkers - The Brexit Fiasco
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J U N E 17, 2 0 1 9
How
Britain
Went
Bonkers
By TINA BROWN
The Brexit
Fiasco
By JONATHAN COE
time.com
VOL. 193, NO. 23 | 2019
4 | Conversation
6 | For the Record
The View Features Time Off △
A painting of a
Ideas, opinion, What to watch, read,
On the Road With Bernie workman chipping
The Brief innovations
The Democratic presidential
see and do
a star off the E.U.
News from the U.S. 15 | How Big Tech 49 | Meryl Streep’s flag, by the artist
and around the world is redefining candidate tries to finish the star turn in Big Banksy, in Dover,
Big Brother revolution he started Little Lies England, on
7 | Washington
weighs in on CBD By Anand Giridharadas 18 May 27
17 | Ian Bremmer: 52 | Reviews: Tales
9 | The President’s the legacy of The Brexit Fiasco of the City; Cannes Photograph by
royal treatment Tiananmen Square How a vote on one thing undid standouts; The Last Vernon Yuen/
everything Black Man in San NurPhoto—Getty
Francisco Images
9 | Sudan’s By Jonathan Coe 30
unfinished Plus: Britain without the greatness
revolution 54 | Books: On
C O V E R P H O T O S : M C F A D D E N : B B C ; B L A C K : C O U R T E S Y B . C O H E N ; B U S : A L A M Y; G E T T Y I M A G E S (1 8)
By Tina Brown 34 Earth We’re
10 | Hollywood Scouts’ Honor Briefly Gorgeous;
answers Georgia’s discovering
A sex-abuse scandal and a final diversity; textbook
restrictive
abortion law chance for justice truths
By Eliana Dockterman 36
11 | Milestones: 56 | 8 Questions for
iconic chef Leah
Funny Business meatless-burger-
Chase; Jeopardy! Emma Thompson returns to her meister Ethan
streak snapped roots in the feature Late Night Brown
ON THE COVER:
By Eliza Berman 44 Photo-
12 | Missouri illustration
under water by Cold War
Steve for
TIME
2 Time June 17, 2019
Conversation
UNPOPULAR OPINION secularism has been reduced
Re “The modi eRa” to a very thin layer of ice, on
[May 20]: Indian Prime Min- which Modi stands holding a
ister Narendra Modi is a dem- heavy hammer in his hand.
agogue and a braggart. I am Siddique Alam,
often reminded of the words KolKaTa
of a contrite President Rich-
ard Nixon during his farewell neiTheR This GoveRn-
speech: “Always remember, ment nor any previous one
others may hate you, but has passed any laws to dis-
those who hate you don’t win criminate against religious
unless you hate them—and minorities. India is one of the
then you destroy yourself.” I few places where Jews, Mus-
am afraid that under Modi, lims, Christians and Hindus
India is sliding down the path have lived together for centu-
of self-destruction. ries. My feeling is that the at-
Umesh Chandra, tacks taking place now are not [May 20]: Your article shows for a candidate who knows
CinCinnaTi direct consequences of any a list of 11 of Elizabeth War- what a flat wallet looks like?
governmental policies but are ren’s policy proposals. They Michael Driver,
YouR aRTiCle peRfeCTlY stoked by social media. are directed toward financial iChihaRa CiTY, Japan
mirrors the elitist view in Mahesh Patel, relief and fairness, and thus
Indian metropolitan cities london are quite attractive. However, NOW OR NEVER
and like them is out of touch there is one striking omis- Re “a million speCies—
with reality. India is chang- NOBODY SAID IT WAS EASY sion: the issue of climate and Human Society—Face
ing, and Modi, a product of Re “love YouR spouse change. The many people Dire Risk” [May 20]: Your
small-town India, is a symbol More” [May 20]: This arti- who would be helped by War- article regarding the hyper
of this change. The last time cle was both interesting and ren’s agenda will not benefit species extinction rate and
India had a breakthrough entertaining. However, pa- at all if our planet is not liv- the fate of our species said
was when an unremarkable rental love has thousands of able. What an irony that her that the future looks bleak “if
person from a small town years of neurohormonal bi- words at the end of this ar- we can’t agree on a plan fast.”
took on the mantle of leader- ology and evolution driving ticle, expressing the urgency But the nations of the world
ship: Gandhi. I hope the cur- it. Spouse love post-mating she feels about her plans, are do have a plan. In 2015, the
rent trend of small towners and post-conception is a rel- even truer of climate change: U.N. adopted the Sustainable
assuming leadership brings atively new concept with a “We’re running out of time.” Development Goals. These
about the breakthroughs we significant lag period before Ellen Cunningham, compressive goals are meant
sorely need. it is embedded within our sainT maRY-of-The- to be achieved by 2030 and
Ravi Santhanam, psyche and biology. Till then Woods, ind. are aimed at the environ-
Chennai, india it is hard work, like most ment, poverty and the dys-
other important work! demoCRaTs need To find a functional governance that
modi has been able To Minesh Khashu, message that’s short, inspira- is now failing humanity. The
channel the simmering dis- CoRfe mullen, enGland tional and factual to counter only question is, Will we cre-
content among depressed tweets, insults and fictions. ate the political will to make
Hindu masses (otherwise a PLANS AND PRIORITIES Warren has the brains, expe- these goals a priority?
very peaceful people) into Re “elizabeTh WaRRen rience and policies to help Chuck Woolery,
communal outbursts. Indian Has a Plan for That” Americans, but are they ready RoCKville, md.
TALK TO US
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4 Time June 17, 2019
Pearl, childhood cancer survivor; and Arnold, leukemia survivor.
Lori, breast cancer survivor.
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For the Record
COMMENCEMENT 2019 Along with longer days and warmer nights, springtime
in the U.S. brings an opportunity for big names to offer big advice to the nation’s
‘Ask for it,
graduates. Here are some of this year’s best words of wisdom—and whimsy—so far: and if you
don’t get what
‘Who said ‘Wherever life takes you, you need, ask
that all take a servant’s attitude.’ for it again.’
of who you MIKE PENCE, Vice President of the United States,
STACEY ABRAMS, former
Georgia house minority
are has to at Taylor University in Upland, Ind. leader and 2018 Georgia
gubernatorial candidate,
be good? at American University’s
All of who School of Public Affairs in
Washington, D.C.
you are is
‘If you want
D AV I S : K AT H E R I N E G E R B E R I C H — C O L U M B I A D A I LY S P E C TAT O R ; L A U P E R : B R E N T H A L L E N B E C K — F R E E P R E S S/ U S A T O D AY N E T W O R K / R E U T E R S; N Y E : R O B F E R R E L L— G O U C H E R C O L L EG E ; H O L M E S : U N I V E R S I T Y O F T O L E D O
who you are.’ ‘Don’t use
VIOLA DAVIS, actor, at Barnard
College’s commencement
at Radio City Music Hall in
New York City
to save a fake ID
to buy wine
the world, and then try
to pay with
a check.’
you don’t KATIE HOLMES, actor, at the
University of Toledo in Ohio
need to be
‘Life is going
to give you a
James Bond.’
PIERCE BROSNAN, actor, at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.
bad turn ...
It’s just a
test. And ‘There is no beginning without an ‘Nowadays
look at all end, no day without night, no life we, by that
the tests you without death. Our whole life I mean you,
passed just consists of the difference, the space are going to
to get here.’ between beginning and ending.’ have to steer
CYNDI LAUPER, singer, at
ANGELA MERKEL, Chancellor of Germany, at Harvard University our spaceship,
Northern Vermont University take charge
in Johnson, Vt. of Earth.’
‘No matter how tough you BILL NYE, host of
Bill Nye the Science Guy,
may be, everybody needs at Goucher College
in Towson, Md.
to ask for help at some
point in their lives.’
J.J. WATT, Houston Texans defensive end,
at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
6 Time June 17, 2019
DRUG OF CHOICE
At a California
facility, high-CBD
cannabis extract
is squeezed
through a filter to
produce a salve
INSIDE
TRANSFER OF POWER GEORGIA’S ABORTION LAW A CHEF WHO RESHAPED
TURNS VIOLENT IN SUDAN AFFECTS ITS FILM INDUSTRY NEW ORLEANS
PHOTOGR APH BY SHAUGHN AND JOHN
TheBrief Opener
HEALTH Organization has stated that “no public health
CBD goes to problems have been associated with the use of pure
CBD,” and a mounting body of peer-reviewed evi-
Washington dence suggests the same.
So why not classify CBD as “generally recognized
By Elijah Wolfson as safe,” like vitamin B12 or caffeine? Some analysts
T
think the FDA is concerned about protecting the
he cannabis planT conTains more integrity of its drug-approval process. “If the FDA
than 100 compounds known as canna- just said, ‘Never mind, we’ll make all CBD legal to be
binoids. Of them, one—cannabidiol, or marketed as a dietary supplement,’ it would be a dis-
CBD—presents the U.S. with unique po- incentive for pharmaceutical companies to continue
tential in public health and business, as well as a good to do clinical research and trials,” says Rod Kight, a
deal of political and legal confusion. That much was North Carolina–based lawyer who represents CBD
clear at the Silver Spring, Md., campus of the Food companies nationwide. An FDA spokesperson con-
and Drug Administration on May 31, as over 120 peo- firmed to TIME that the agency is “interested” in
ple spoke to a standing-room crowd at the agency’s how the incentives for the development of cannabis-
first public hearing for information about cannabis- derived drugs could be affected if “the commercial
derived products—a number that was whittled down availability of products with these compounds, such
by lottery from the 400 who applied to testify. as foods and dietary supplements, were to become
Backers say CBD has health benefits ranging
from curing insomnia to relieving joint pain. Those
$22 significantly more widespread.”
So the likeliest way forward may be a bifurcated
claims remain unproved, but the CBD business
in the U.S. has nevertheless tripled in the past
billion path. On the first, more exclusive, route will be
Epidiolex and other lab-made prescription drugs.
Projected value of
three years; analysts project the industry will be the U.S. market for Lining the other byway will be a bazaar of hemp-
worth over $20 billion by 2022. But it occupies CBD by 2022 derived products—the gummies and muscle rubs.
a legal gray area: local laws on cannabis apply GW Pharmaceuticals, for one, has said it supports
to the compound, but thanks to hemp-friendly
provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill, CBD products 2,100% this model. “It’s already too late to put this genie
back in the bottle,” Dr. Peter Lurie, head of the
are generally legal if they’re derived from hemp Amount by which the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says.
from a licensed grower and contain 0.3% or less of number of acres of Even once the agency makes a decision, deal-
hemp planted in the
THC (a cannabinoid that, unlike CBD, can get you U.S. increased from
ing with the genie will be difficult—and likely
high). The compound can be found in products 2015 to 2018 to get more so as the industry grows. If the FDA
from gummies to muscle rubs, available online and regulates CBD as a supplement, it can issue guide-
maybe even at your local bookstore or burger joint. lines on things like ingredient concentration and
And now the politics seems to be lining up
behind it too. The farm lobby has been making its
31% child-proof packaging. But its hands are tied by
the fact that the companies don’t have to tell the
Share of CBD
case—some two-thirds of U.S. hemp farming is in products tested that agency exactly what they’re making. Sometimes
service of CBD—and both houses of Congress have actually had they don’t even tell customers. A 2017 study found
issued letters telling the FDA it needs to change its the amount of CBD that 26% and 43% of CBD products tested had
they claimed on
approach to regulating the substance, given that their labels
lower and higher amounts of the compound, re-
the marketplace has already exploded. spectively, than were listed on their labels. And
The agency was set on a collision course while the FDA has taken some action against CBD
with CBD last summer, when it approved GW manufacturers making specific condition-related
Pharmaceuticals’ prescription drug Epidiolex, health claims, many companies are still unabash-
which contains lab-synthesized CBD, for the edly marketing their products as curatives for par-
treatment of a form of epilepsy. This creates a ticular illnesses.
quandary: though commercially available CBD “The agency is charged with regulating a market-
products are not the same as Epidiolex, many are place where it doesn’t know what’s in the market,”
marketed as having the same amount of CBD. But says Lurie, who spent nearly eight years working
by law, FDA-approved medicines can’t also be sold in the FDA. That can’t be especially reassuring for
as dietary supplements or food additives. That GW Pharmaceuticals, which invested a small for-
means, in theory, the agency could enforce a ban tune in playing by the rules, or for consumers. It
on all those gummy bears and other edible CBD may also be a while before the FDA acts. The agency
V I C T O R I A J O N E S — P O O L /A P
products currently on the market. wouldn’t comment on a timeline, but Kight says he’s
heard it might take up to three years to issue regula-
yet the FDA hasn’t stopped the CBD boom, which tions. “This industry has gone from zero to where it
leads many to believe it considers the compound is now in three years,” he says. “Where it’s going to
safe, if not necessarily beneficial. The World Health be in three more years is hard to even imagine.” •
8 Time June 17, 2019NEWS
TICKER
U.S. sets up for
tech antitrust
probes
The Justice
Department and
the Federal Trade
Commission are
planning to split
oversight of tech
companies, as
Congress increases
its scrutiny of Silicon
Valley. Potential
antitrust investigations
of Apple and Google
would go to the DOJ
SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP President Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth II arrive at a banquet at with the FTC taking
Buckingham Palace on June 3, during his first state visit to the U.K. The trip, scheduled to coincide with the Facebook and Amazon.
75th anniversary of D-Day, brought the President to London at an awkward time, as Theresa May prepares
to stand down as Prime Minister. That didn’t stop the pageantry—or Trump from wading into local politics.
He endorsed Boris Johnson to replace May and called London Mayor Sadiq Khan a “stone cold loser.”
Julian Assange
wins a legal
THE BULLETIN victory
Sudan’s military calls for election after A Swedish court
violent crackdown on protesters ruled June 3 that
WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange would
aT leasT 60 people were killed and HISTORY LESSON Al-Burhan may have not be detained over
hundreds wounded in Khartoum on June 3 spoken the language of democracy, but to a rape investigation
when the Sudanese military raided a peace- many, the June 3 raid proves the military has dating back to 2010,
ful sit-in calling for democratic reform. little intention of relinquishing power for meaning he will not
Troops shot into the crowd with live am- good. Pro-democracy activists and opposi- be extradited to the
country. Assange, who
munition, set tents alight and beat fleeing tion parties say nine months is not enough is currently serving a
protesters. By the next day, the once festive time to muster resources, prepare voter rolls 50-week sentence in
camp, which was set up by activists in April and strengthen civilian institutions after a British prison, still
after the overthrow of President Omar Has- three decades of repression. They fear elec- faces the possibility of
san al-Bashir, was dismantled. So too were tions would serve up a weak leadership that extradition to the U.S.
hopes that Sudan could peacefully transition could be easily overthrown—which is how
to civilian rule after a 30-year dictatorship. al-Bashir took power back in the 1980s. This
time, the protesters say they have no inten- Virginia Beach
NEGOTIATION BREAKDOWN The April coup tion of repeating the same mistakes. shooting
came after months of popular protest, and leaves 12 dead
led military leaders and opposition groups ON THEIR OWN U.S. officials criticized the
to agree on a three-year transition to de- military crackdown, but with little leverage, Virginia’s governor
on June 4 called for
mocracy. But talks broke down when the and even less interest in getting involved a special legislative
protesters insisted the Transitional Military in yet another regional uprising, the reper- session to consider
Council step down for a civilian-led interim cussions are likely to be limited. For their gun-control measures
body to oversee the transition. The day after part, the protesters are determined to carry after a man who quit
the June raid, council leader Abdel Fattah on with the nationwide civil-disobedience his job with the City
of Virginia Beach on
al-Burhan declared on state TV that earlier campaign that first brought down al-Bashir, May 31 then opened
agreements with the protesters would be even if it brings more crackdowns. “We fire at the city’s
canceled and that the council would preside have no choice,” protest spokesman Mo- municipal center, killing
over national elections within nine months. hammed Yousef al-Mustafa told the Associ- 12 people. The shooter
The only way to rule Sudan, he said, “comes ated Press, “but to continue until the fall of died after a gun battle
with police.
through the ballot box.” the military council.” —aryn baker
9TheBrief News
GOOD QUESTION Several film insiders in the state say the ef-
How will Georgia’s new fects of the boycott are already being felt, with
NEWS producers shifting gears and searching else-
TICKER abortion law affect its where for filming locations. “I’m lost,” says
bustling film industry? Tom Jordan, a cameraman who worked on
Canadian films including Saving Private Ryan. “I’ve been
indigenous in may, The direcTor reed morano was thinking about going out of state.”
deaths called supposed to fly to Georgia to scout locations Kathy Berry was one of the scouts on The
‘genocide’ for a new show for Amazon Studios called Power; she had just bought a house in Sa-
The Power. The drama series is adapted from vannah and was settling down for what she
After spending
nearly three years a novel by Naomi Alderman, in which young thought would be a five-season run when she
investigating the women suddenly develop the power to release was told she had been let go. “We’re in panic
high number of electrical jolts from their fingers. At least two mode,” Berry says. “The sky is falling.”
disappearances scouts hired by the show had been prepping Production designer Molly Coffee has
and murders among
for the director’s arrival for months. worked in Georgia for a decade. “Over the last
indigenous women in
Canada, a national But when Georgia Governor Brian Kemp month, I’ve had two interviews that basically
commission called the signed the state’s “heartbeat” bill on May 7, disappeared as they explore other options in
situation a “genocide” which effectively bans abortion after six other states,” she says.
for which Canada is weeks, Morano canceled the trip, pulled the Democratic state senator Jen Jordan, who
responsible, in a report
scouts and shut down any possibility of film- gave a speech against the abortion bill that
released on June 3.
ing in Georgia. “There is no way we would went viral, tells TIME, “A boycott would pun-
ever bring our money to that state by shoot- ish the wrong people. If [film workers] stay
ing there,” Morano, who won an here and help elect people that
U.S. bans Emmy for directing three epi- really reflect the values of ev-
cruises to sodes of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s ‘There is no eryone in the state, that’s when
Cuba Tale, told TIME. way we would you’re going to see real change.”
The Trump Administra-
Morano was the first promi- ever bring For his part, Kemp has dismissed
tion clamped down on nent director to publicly pull a our money to the calls for a boycott, telling a
what has been the most project out of Georgia after the state Republican convention in
popular way for Ameri- legislation passed. Since her an-
that state by May, “We are the party of free-
cans to travel to Cuba nouncement, major Hollywood shooting there.’ dom and opportunity. We value
since 2016, banning
trips by U.S. cruise
players including Netflix, Disney REED MORANO, and protect innocent life—even
ships and most private and NBCUniversal have come a director who pulled though that makes C-list celebri-
planes and boats. The out against the bill and said they her Amazon series from ties squawk.”
Georgia after Governor
restrictions went into would consider leaving the state Kemp signed the bill
As tough abortion restric-
effect on June 5 as if the law stands. “Should it ever tions make their way through
part of a wider effort
to cut off U.S. revenue
come into effect, we’d rethink the legislatures of other states
to Cuba’s communist our entire investment in Georgia,” Netflix’s with rising film communities, like Alabama,
government. chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a Louisiana and South Carolina, film work-
statement. ers there brace for similar challenges. Berry
is fearful that those industries will go the
Israel fires The conTroversy illusTraTes that “Hol- way of North Carolina’s, which flourished in
back at Syria lywood” is no longer one place. A decade after the early 2010s before its film-tax incentive
a generous entertainment tax incentive kicked was repealed and the state passed HB2—a
after rockets off the state’s rise as a production powerhouse, law that directed transgender people to use
Israel said it struck the Georgia film industry employs 92,000 peo- public bathrooms that matched the sex as-
Syrian military targets ple and in 2018 generated $9.5 billion in eco- signed to them at birth—and productions
on June 2 after rockets nomic impact. Since the incentive kicked in, fled en masse.
were fired from Syria
at the Golan Heights. that state has handed out more than $1 billion Georgia’s law is expected to be challenged
Ten people died in the in tax credits to massive projects like Stranger in court, so it may never take effect. It has al-
attack, according to Things, The Hunger Games, and Marvel movies ready had an impact, though, and Morano
a Syrian war monitor. including Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity hopes change comes swiftly so the livelihoods
The exchange came War. It now hosts the production of more top- of film workers are not imperiled for years
days after the U.S. said
its National Security grossing movies than California. But as Holly- to come. “The best thing we can hope for is
Adviser would meet wood tries to wield its power to enact change, everyone has a united stance and pulls the
with Israel and Russia members of Georgia’s film and television com- money out,” she says. “Maybe we can have a
to discuss regional munity fear their livelihoods will be threatened quick reversal to these laws and then everyone
security. over a policy many of them do not support. gets what they want.” —andrew r. chow
10 Time June 17, 2019Milestones
WON ENDED
The Scripps National
Spelling Bee, by
What is a
eight students who Jeopardy!
reached a draw when
organizers said they
winning
were running out of streak?
difficult words after
midnight on May 31.
afTer Taking home
$2.46 million on Jeopardy!,
APOLOGIZED contestant James Holzhauer
Twitter, for blocking was within $60,000 of the
accounts criticizing show’s all-time winnings re-
the Chinese
government shortly cord when, on June 3, his 32-
before the 30th game streak came to an end.
anniversary of the Holzhauer’s signature
Tiananmen Square style could be summed up in
massacre on June 4. two words: big money. Early
RULED in the game he would jump
That Olympic runner around the high-value an-
Caster Semenya can swers at the bottom of the
compete in all races board. Then, when he hit a
for now, by a Swiss
court on June 3
Daily Double, he would bet
when it temporarily most of his pot (a risk for
suspended rules which his career as a sports
that would require gambler left him prepared)
her to take hormone- and effectively double his
suppressing
medication.
score if he answered right.
Critics complained that this
PLANNED steamrolling strategy was no
That the U.S. will fun to watch. But his loss—
send Homeland Chase, seen here in 2014, inspired the character Princess Tiana
on the day he was expected
Security agents in the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog
to Guatemala, the to break the record, earn-
Trump Administration DIED ing the show its highest rat-
said, to work with
local authorities to
Leah Chase ings of the season—proved
Jeopardy! is still competitive.
deter migrants. Chef who changed a city His legacy will live on as
PLEDGED By Walter Isaacson new players adopt his strat-
That Finland will egy, and are perhaps inspired
become carbon- when she made roux for her shrimp-and-sausage gumbo to invent their own. After all,
neutral by 2035, by (1 cup peanut oil and 8 tbsp. flour) in her joyfully elegant restau- bold wagers allowed librarian
the country’s new
liberal government
rant in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Leah Chase, Emma Boettcher to dethrone
on June 3. who died on June 1 at age 96, stirred very slowly with her wooden the champ. Holzhauer didn’t
spoon until it blended to the color of café au lait and could bind break the game after all. But
ANNOUNCED together all the diverse ingredients. So, too, did the binding magic he did make it more exciting.
C H A S E : J O S H T E L L E S — A U G U S T; H O L Z H A U E R : J E O PA R DY P R O D U C T I O N S I N C .
The shutdown of
of her roux and her smile extend to people. —emily barone
iTunes, by Apple
on June 3. It will be During the 1960s, local civil rights leaders gathered regularly
replaced with apps at Dooky Chase’s, the art-filled epicenter of Creole cuisine that
for music, TV and she and her husband founded in the 1940s, to meet not only with
podcasts. Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, but also with mem-
CHARGED bers of the white political and social establishment who were ded-
Former Parkland, icated patrons.
Fla., school “Food builds big bridges,” she liked to say.
resource officer And thus she transformed not only New Orleans cuisine, but
Scot Peterson, on also its political and social life with a smile as radiant as her bread
counts related to not
protecting students pudding and a sense of humor as spicy as her gumbo—which she
during the shooting once protected with a slap on the hand when Barack Obama tried
there last year, by to add hot sauce without tasting it first.
Florida authorities on Isaacson, a former editor of TIME, is a professor of history at Tulane University
June 4.
11LightBox
Staying above water
As the swollen Mississippi River continues to ravage
the Midwest, members of the Missouri Army National
Guard—using traffic pylons as funnels—fill sandbags
to prevent more flooding in Clarksville (pop. 440) on
May 31. Water levels in some locations along the river
have approached records set during the Great Flood
of 1993, one of the worst in American history, and the
flooding is expected to continue for weeks to come.
Photograph by Hilary Swift—The New York Times/Redux
▶ For more of our best photography, visit time.com/lightboxHELP
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SAVE
THE
FRIDGE
The fridge needs help. Because much of the energy we need to power it produces
waste, pollutes the atmosphere and changes the climate. We can transition the way
we produce and use energy in a way that will contribute to a sustainable future.
We’re campaigning in countries all around the world to provide the solutions for
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© Wild Wonders of Europe / Ole Joergen Liodden / WWFTECHNOLOGY
THE THREAT
OF BIG OTHER
By Shoshana Zuboff
George Orwell delayed crucial
medical care to finish 1984, the
book still synonymous with
our worst fears of a totalitarian
future—published 70 years ago
this month. Half a year later, he
was dead. Because he believed
everything was at stake, he
forfeited everything. But today
we are haunted by a question:
Did George Orwell die in vain? ▶
INSIDE
WHAT RAMADAN TEACHES THAT CHINA’S CONTRADICTIONS ON CORRECTING THE MYTH OF
OTHER HOLIDAYS MAY NOT TIANANMEN SQUARE WORK-LIFE BALANCE
15TheView Opener
Orwell sought to awaken British and effective and undetectable. Cambridge
U.S. societies to the totalitarian dangers Analytica later demonstrated that the
that threatened democracy even after the same methods could be employed to shape SHORT
READS
Nazi defeat. In letters before and after his political rather than commercial behavior.
▶ Highlights
novel’s completion, Orwell urged “con- Democracy slept while surveillance capi- from stories on
stant criticism,” warning that any “immu- talism flourished. As a result, surveillance time.com/ideas
nity” to totalitarianism must not be taken capitalists now wield a uniquely 21st century
for granted: “Totalitarianism, if not fought quality of power, as unprecedented as totali- The cost
against, could triumph anywhere.” tarianism was nearly a century ago. I call it of keeping
Since 1984’s debut, we have assumed with instrumentarian power, because it works its in touch
Orwell that the dangers of mass surveillance will through the ubiquitous architecture of
and social control could originate only in the digital instrumentation. Rather than an inti- State governments
state. We were wrong. This error has left us mate Big Brother that uses murder and terror often unjustly profit
from charging
unprotected from an equally pernicious but to possess each soul from the inside out, these prisoners when they
profoundly different threat to freedom and digital networks are a Big Other: impersonal make phone calls,
democracy. systems trained to monitor and shape our ac- endangering their
tions remotely, unimpeded by law. ability to stay in contact
For 19 years, private companies practicing Instrumentarian power does not want to with their families,
writes Clint Smith. For
an unprecedented economic logic that I break us; it simply wants to automate us. It
prisoners, a phone call
call surveillance capitalism does not care what we think, “is one of the only ways
have hijacked the Internet feel or do, as long as we think, to stay connected to a
and its digital technologies. feel and do things in ways that world you’re scared will
Invented at Google beginning are accessible to Big Other’s forget you.”
in 2000, this new economics billions of sensate, compu-
covertly claims private tational, actuating eyes and
human experience as free ears. Big Other knows every- Old problem,
raw material for translation thing, while its operations re- odd solution
into behavioral data. Some main hidden, eliminating our
data are used to improve right to resist. “I’ve seen and helped
concoct a few pretty
services, but the rest are Because this power does odd and mostly unsuc-
turned into computational not claim our bodies through cessful peace plans”
products that predict your violence and fear, we under- for the Middle East,
behavior. These predictions value its effects and lower our writes Aaron David
are traded in a new futures guard. Instrumentarian power Miller, a former State
Department negotiator,
market, where surveillance exiles us from our own be- who says the likelihood
capitalists sell certainty to havior. It delivers our futures of success for the
businesses determined to to surveillance capitalism’s Trump Administra-
In January 2017, 1984 topped
know what we will do next. interests. And it undermines tion’s plan regarding
Amazon’s best-seller list after a
This logic was first applied Trump adviser popularized the
human autonomy and self- Israel and the
Palestinians appears
to finding which ads online term “alternative facts” determination, without which to be “slim to none.”
will attract our interest, but democracy cannot survive.
similar practices now reside Surveillance capitalists
in nearly every sector—insurance, retail, falsely claim their methods are inevitable con-
health, education, finance and more—where sequences of digital technologies. But Orwell A celebration
personal experience is secretly captured despised “the instinct to bow down before of having less
and computed. the conqueror of the moment.” Courage, he “As opposed to
In the competition for certainty, insisted, demands that we assert our morals holidays centered
surveillance capitalists learned the even against forces that appear invincible. around indulgence,
most predictive data come not just from Seven decades later, we can honor Orwell’s Ramadan strips you
monitoring but also from directing behavior. death by refusing to cede the digital future. down and humbles
you,” writes Ahamed
For example, by 2013, Facebook had learned Like Orwell, think critically and criticize. Do Weinberg. He looks
how to engineer subliminal cues on its not take freedom for granted. Fight for the forward to the month of
pages to shape users’ real-world actions one idea in the long human story that asserts starving: “I can’t wait
and feelings. Later, these methods were the people’s right to rule themselves. Orwell to once again reset my
combined with real-time emotional analyses, reckoned it was worth dying for. ego. And I can’t wait to
get farther away from
allowing marketers to cue behavior at the our society’s demands
moment of maximum vulnerability. These Zuboff is the author most recently of The Age than ever before.”
inventions were celebrated for being both of Surveillance Capitalism
16 Time June 17, 2019THE RISK REPORT
How the Tiananmen Square ADVICE
massacre changed China forever Forget work-life
By Ian Bremmer balance
Balancing work and life
Over The cOurse Of understand how a visit to China can is a strange aspiration. It
six weeks in 1989, shed light on the events of that era. Yes, suggests work is bad and
Chinese students and China’s people have much more access life is good. But they are
those they inspired to information today than they did in not opposites. Work has
gathered in central 1989. Yet, particularly when it comes uplifting moments and
Beijing in Tianan- to a subject as sensitive as the protests those that drag us down.
men Square. It began and massacre in the square, the Chinese It’s more useful to treat it
as a spontaneous outpouring of respect state keeps a tight grip. Those who use the same way you do life: by
maximizing what you love.
and grief following the death of reform- social media in China must register
The simplest way to
ist leader Hu Yaobang, but the event then accounts under their real names, and the
do this is to spend a week
took on a life of its own as mourning be- authorities can demand access to those in love with your job. This
came protest against corruption and re- names whenever it wants. sounds odd, but all it really
pression and a call for greater political The government also uses state-of- means is to take a pad
freedom. The demonstrations expanded the-art censorship tools to erase men- around with you for an
to other Chinese cities. tion of a number of politi- entire week at work, and
As the crowds swelled, cally sensitive search terms assign any activity you can
some within the Communist or to redirect the user toward to one of two columns:
Party leadership began to China’s other subjects. Video recogni- “Loved It” or “Loathed It.”
fear that the protests might leaders tion software can detect im- Our research reveals
continue to expand and to have come ages related to the square and that 73% of us claim we
threaten the Communist Par- as close as its bloody history. In short, have the freedom to modify
ty’s political dominance. A technically China’s leaders have come as our job to fit our strengths
cat-and-mouse game began close as technically possible better, but only 18% of us
as the state tried to find ways
possible to erasing all record of what do so. Your challenge is
to move security forces into to erasing happened. to change the content of
the square to end the Tianan- all record On the other hand, the your job over time, so it
men occupation and as the of what Chinese Communist Party contains more things you
love doing and fewer you
protesters looked for ways to happened leadership has presided over
ache to escape.
block them. As the crowds the largest economic expan-
The most helpful
grew, so did the audience of sion in human history. In categories for us are not
people watching from around 1989, when adjusted for dif- “work” and “life”; they
the world. ferences in purchasing power, China’s are “love” and “loathe.”
Then the decision was made. On economy generated just 4.11% of global Our goal should be, little
June 4, 1989, Chinese tanks used the GDP. Today it’s 19.24%. There is an ob- by little, to intentionally
cover of darkness to force their way into vious human dimension to this success. imbalance all aspects of our
the square. In the process, the Chinese Market reform in China has undeniably work toward the former and
government massacred at least hundreds, lifted hundreds of millions of people away from the latter.
maybe thousands, of its own people, most from poverty. Nearly two-thirds of the —Marcus Buckingham and
of them students. population lived on $1.90 per day or less Ashley Goodall, co-authors
Three decades later, the fight over in 1990. In 2015, it was less than 1%. of Nine Lies About Work
Tiananmen continues. On the rare oc- Per capita income increased by more
casion when a Chinese state official ad- than 900% over that period, and infant
dresses these events at all, it is to justify mortality rates fell by more than 80%.
the decision. On June 2, 2019, China’s Thirty years after the murders in
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y M A R T I N G E E F O R T I M E
Defense Minister described the events of Tiananmen Square, China presents
1989 as “political turmoil that the central a contradictory legacy. Its leadership
government needed to quell, which was has provided opportunities for a better
the correct policy.” Because of this, he life to a larger number of people than
said, “China has enjoyed stability, and if any government in history. And China
you visit China you can understand that remains a police state, where citizens
part of history.” can’t publicly acknowledge that this mass
On the one hand, it’s hard to murder ever took place.
17Once more,
with feelings
If Bernie Sanders wants to change America,
first he may have to change himself
By Anand GiridharadasSanders addresses
Michigan’s electorally
famous Macomb
County on April 13
PHOTOGR APHS BY
DEVIN YALKIN FOR TIMEcoming back to Iowa.” He reminds them how
Bernie President Trump had falsely linked wind tur-
bines, which are ubiquitous in Iowa, to can-
cer. “So I was sitting here wondering,” he
Sanders says, “if I come to Iowa, am I and my staff
going to get cancer?”
Running for President is like doing stand-
up. You try bits, see what sticks. The room
wants liked it, so the next morning the joke resur-
faces in Muscatine, again with a warning, be-
cause Sanders, who can be funny uninten-
to make tionally, is making an effort at some of the
performative aspects of politics he has long
sneered at. “I told a funny joke yesterday,” he
says to the audience, adding: “I try. I don’t
a joke. have the world’s greatest sense of humor.”
Several hours later, in Fairfield, he tries again.
It takes another day for Sanders to offer the
joke without advance notice.
On the way out of Oskaloosa, wind
turbines appear. A viral video opportunity.
The SUV carrying Sanders, the staff van
Pretty good joke, he thinks. He is slumped in a window seat in and the luggage-bearing minivan all
coach on a plane parked at Chicago O’Hare. He has about an hour swerve to the side of US 63. Sanders, with
in transit to get the joke into his next speech. Before deplaning, he a few aides, prepares to cross the two-lane
pulls his hair forward, but only on the left, the side one may call highway. “Be careful!” he yells. It’s the kind
Bernie, as opposed to the more combed right hemisphere—Senator of Old World, survivalist caring Sanders is
Sanders. Off the plane. The selfie requests start. O.K., but quickly. capable of in public: Don’t die; Have you
O.K., why not, sure. Ooh, was that a Macaroni Grill? Anyone want eaten?; Remember your luggage; Don’t leave
to go in on a pizza with him? Sausage pizza, O.K. Then selfies with your charger.
the kitchen staff. Good people. Hardworking people. His people. Now the Senator, 77, stands before the
His speech for tonight is ready, but Sanders wants to scrap the wind farm in his gold-buttoned blazer and
planned opening for his pretty good joke. Does Terrel—Terrel slacks, looking like a traveling Rotary Club
Champion, his body man, who has mastered the art of knowing speaker, facing a cameraman in yellow skinny
when to talk to the Senator and when to leave him be—have the jeans who looks young enough to be his
printer? Of course. Last-minute checks about tonight. RSVPs? Good grandson. He improvises, theatrically throw-
shape—better than early 2015, when barely anyone knew him. A ing his hands over his ears, as if protecting
woman at the gate wants a selfie, but Sanders is fixated on the print- himself from the allegedly carcinogenic tur-
out of the joke. “Onnnnnnnnne minuuuuuute,” he barks. He loves bine sound. “Oooohh, that noise,” he cries.
The People. People can be trickier. “Can’t think.” He takes his hands down. “Just
The junior Senator from Vermont flies over the country he as- kidding. No noise.” He moves into a more se-
pires to govern, with its crop circles and caterpillar-shaped sub- rious riff. The opener is funny, but his video
urbs and community pools and rail yards full of shipping contain- team finds it gimmicky. So they cut it.
ers. Soon his silver SUV is rolling through Davenport, Iowa, past a Sanders first ran for office in 1972, cam-
brick building with a sign for German mustard and a soon-to-open paigning for an open Vermont Senate seat
hookah bar. The election is a year and a half out, but the crowd at on the Liberty Union Party ticket. He lost,
the venue is feverish. Men in boots just off shifts. Young people who attracting 2% of the vote. One of his oppo-
may or may not work in the gig economy and listen to the podcast nents was a Democratic state representa-
Chapo Trap House. A woman in a purple nurse’s uniform. Beefy tive named Randolph Major. As Sanders
guys in trompe l’oeil camo. recalls in a memoir, Major invented a “bril-
He takes the stage and tosses off his blazer. He is taller in real life liant publicity gimmick”: skiing around
than on television, though he shrinks by stooping. His cuffs aren’t the state to meet voters. Sanders later com-
carefully folded once or twice à la Farm State Casual, but rather plained, “Here I was, giving long-winded
jammed up his forearm. “Before I get into my remarks here in Dav- statements to a bored media about the
enport,” he begins, “I did want to make a few comments.” But now,
instead of just launching the joke he worked so hard to print out, A Sanders rally in
he first warns them about it. “I wanted to tell you—I’m being funny Pittsburgh; as in 2016, his
here, so don’t get excited—that I was a little bit apprehensive about following skews young
20 Time June 17, 2019major problems facing humanity, and Sanders focuses I traveled some 6,000 miles with Sand-
the TV cameras were literally focused ers this spring, by bus, plane and van:
on Randy’s blisters.” Sanders was 31. He
on the human Manhattan; Moline and Davenport and
was, even as a young man, an old man. toll of a rigged Muscatine and Burlington and Fairfield
Now, nearly a half-century later, he is system and Oskaloosa, Iowa; Las Vegas; Wash-
an old man who enraptures the young. ington; Madison, Wis.; Gary, Ind.; Coo-
The Senator who once rejected gimmicks persville and Warren and Detroit, Mich.;
and complained “modern American pol- Lordstown, Ohio; Pittsburgh and Beth-
itics is about image and technique” now lehem, Pa. Talk of a rigged system has
scripts jokes and asks after his Twitter in second place behind Biden in national hardly vanished, but now Sanders fo-
likes. He is pretty much the same man he and state polls. And while the move- cuses on the human toll of a rigged sys-
has always been, but he is determined to ment he built in 2016 has proven dura- tem, rather than just the profiteering and
take advantage of being one of the more ble, there are few signs that it’s growing. exploitation and lobbying and campaign
improbable top-tier presidential contend- Between March and May, according to a contributions he is famous for decrying.
ers in American history. national survey by Monmouth Univer- As one staffer explained, Sanders is “as-
When Sanders ran for President in sity, Sanders’ support dropped from 25% signing an emotion” to the rigging. He
2016, it was because he felt important of likely Democratic votes to 15%, as sev- is, in this and other ways, learning to be
ideas were unrepresented. Many of his po- eral rivals increased their share. personal.
sitions were dismissed as radical, vague, There is a feeling in Sanders’ orbit that “From the very beginning, he was al-
wide-eyed. Yet as the 2020 race gathers he will, in certain ways, have to evolve ways concerned about policy. Always con-
intensity, much of the Sanders program if he wants to do more than change the cerned about making a meaningful differ-
has become de rigueur for progressive and conversation. Tell his story more. Navi- ence. He didn’t have time for the niceties,”
centrist Democrats alike: single-payer gate the shoals of racial and gender pol- Jane Sanders, the Senator’s wife and clos-
health care, massively subsidized college itics with greater awareness of contem- est adviser, told me. “He has, over time,
education, a $15 minimum wage, a fed- porary expectations and his own blind really become more—he’s still very issue
eral jobs program. Senator Cory Booker of spots. Overcome his self-image of being oriented, but he’s placing focus on the
New Jersey supports some form of Medi- a solitary outsider—alone, unheard, people and the impact that those policies
care for All. Former Vice President Joe disrespected—and cultivate allies. “It’s have.”
Biden recently embraced a $15 minimum one thing to talk to your 20% to 25% who That new focus was evident this spring
wage. The idea of federally provided jobs, are your core believers, but we’ve got to in a less familiar event format for Sand-
evocative of the New Deal, has gone from work on persuading people into the fold,” ers: intimate, almost confessional town
being a far-out Sanders talking point to an Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, halls. A panel of three or four ordinary cit-
idea that has more moderate adherents told me. “And that’s why it takes, I be- izens would share stories of their hard-
like Senators Kamala Harris of California lieve, a continual evolution of the mes- ships, and others in the audience would
and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. sage, freshening up the message and also share their own tales, and Sanders would
During eight days on the campaign trail sharing more about him.” respond with a mix of awkward sympa-
with Sanders this spring, I heard one re- Changing the conversation isn’t noth- thy, synthesis of their situations and his
frain as much as any other: a “funny thing ing. William Jennings Bryan (three times stump speech.
had happened” since 2016, and Sanders’ the Democratic Party nominee for Presi- In the theater of a Burlington, Iowa,
ideas were no longer “radical.” “Broth- dent) changed the conversation. Eugene school one afternoon, three panelists, all
ers and sisters, we should be enormously Debs (five times the Socialist Party nom- women, sat onstage with Sanders. The
proud that we have come a long way in inee) changed the conversation. George first, Carrie Duncan, spoke of her trou-
transforming politics in America over the McGovern (who lost 49 states to Rich- ble getting health insurance: not having
last four years,” he told a crowd one sunny ard Nixon in 1972) changed the conver- coverage when she worked in a school caf-
April afternoon in Warren, Mich. sation. But activists and prophets seldom eteria in a nonunion job, getting coverage
Sanders has changed the debate in earn the chance to end up in command of when she landed a union job in an ammu-
great measure because he has never re- the 4th Infantry Division or sit knees-to- nition plant and then losing it again be-
ally changed himself. His consistency is knees with Vladimir Putin. cause of rising costs. “The fat cats con-
the selling point—his mantras against Yes, Sanders has already changed the tinue to grow richer by drinking from
billionaires stealing the American game. A question lingering over him is, To the big bowls of cream that us little cats
Dream, the system being rigged, work- win that game, can he change? get for them,” she said. “It’s time to make
ing people needing to form a movement the fat cats meow!” A nurse practitioner
to take power back. And yet he is now FEEL THE PAIN named Teresa Krueger spoke of living
running against nearly two dozen com- if The keyword of Bernie 2016 was with Type 1 diabetes and her work car-
petitors, many of whom have chipped rigged, Bernie 2020 is about pain. It is a ing for patients with that condition, many
away at his distinctiveness by emulating campaign about stress and anxiety, about of whom cannot afford insulin, which has
his stances, and just being Bernie may tens of millions of people suffering alone, surged in price over recent years.
not get the job done. Sanders is solidly together. Then came Pati French. “I’ve been
22 Time June 17, 2019mudgeon. “I think everybody thinks I’m
very somber and very angry and very, very
serious,” Sanders told me in Ohio, “which
is half true.” Faced with these testimonies
of struggle, Sanders doesn’t usually do
what other leaders do in our therapeutic
culture: doesn’t hug people, tell them he
feels their pain, ask follow-up questions
about how the family is doing. What he
does with their pain is analyze it; contex-
tualize it; connect it to laws and agencies
and instances of greed they may not know
about; and offer it back to them as steam-
ing, righteous, evidence-based anger. Peo-
ple tell him of the bill they can’t pay that
keeps them awake, and he tells them that
the chief executive of the local insurance
company makes however-many million.
Throwing percentages at them like little
darts, he gives them the statistics that
might explain their pain, gives them a
thesis to connect the dots of their lives.
He teaches them to look at themselves in
a new way—systemically.
“There’s a lot of individual credit and
C L O C K W I S E F R O M T O P L E F T: C O U R T E S Y S E N AT O R B E R N I E S A N D E R S; C H I C A G O S U N -T I M E S © 1 9 6 3 U S E D U N D E R L I C E N S E ; C O U R T E S Y S E N AT O R B E R N I E S A N D E R S (2)
blame in a capitalist society,” Jane Sanders
told me. She described Bernie’s message
in the town halls as: “You know, this is
not an individual failure that you’re hav-
ing trouble meeting your bills, or that your
health has suffered because you can’t af-
LIFE AND LOSS ford health care. He tries to give them a
Clockwise from top left: context that says, ‘Hey, stop blaming your-
with his mother and older self. Start thinking about how you, in a de-
brother; his arrest at a pro- mocracy, can help change the system.’”
test in Chicago in 1963; After a few of these town halls, Sand-
with Jane and their newly
blended family in 1988; at ers’ own stoicism makes more sense. He
the University of Chicago begins to seem almost a secular priest:
People come to him with stories of de-
spair, and he lifts their pain up into the air,
married for 26 years and had three great out and gave her a few comforting pats. to a place where it is no longer personal
kids,” she said. “We have had a good life. The audience began to give their tes- but something civic. He gives them the
We have made lots of memories.” Then timonies. A woman spoke of the dearth language and information to know it isn’t
she told the story of her son. Trevor was of mental health care resources and how their fault. His speeches are like that hug
into music and politics, and in 2016 he she had lost two of her friends to suicide in Good Will Hunting. It’s not your fault;
canvassed for Sanders. He also had a pill and seen others struggle to get help— it’s not your fault. The system did this. Big
addiction. He struggled and then he got “including myself, who I have almost lost corporations did this. A bought-and-paid-
help and got sober and was seven months many times.” A man who works at Mc- for government did this. He connects their
clean with his own job and apartment Donald’s spoke of scraping by on nine pain to the pain of others, and in the pro-
and was proud of himself. Then he felt a bucks an hour. A man from the local steel cess that pain is remade, almost transub-
surge of anxiety, the old demons return- plant spoke of jobs vanishing to India and stantiated, into a sweeping case against a
ing, and went to a clinic and got 140 pills the Czech Republic. And a woman who corrupt system. The priest, in this meta-
and instructions to go see a counselor grew up on a family farm spoke of crop phor, doesn’t reveal himself because his
when a vacancy came up. But he didn’t prices falling and bankruptcies climbing. job is to float above his own feelings, own
get in before an accidental overdose killed As these stories and emotions poured needs, own desire to be liked. His job is to
him. “We have never been the same,” in, they landed on the shoulders of a man make space for, make sense of and make
French said. Sanders, turning bright who is, depending on whom you ask, a use of your pain.
red and somber with emotion, reached person of great empathy or a gruff cur- This covenant with his supporters is
23his great achievement. No rival for the there. “As I return here to the area that
Democratic nomination has anything I was born, let me say a few personal
quite like it. Even Steve Bannon, the right- words,” he said at the March 2 kickoff of
wing populist who ran Donald Trump’s his campaign in Brooklyn. “As we launch
presidential campaign in 2016, admires this campaign for President, you deserve
it. Sanders’ agenda is “a hodgepodge of to know where I came from—because fam-
these half-baked socialist ideas that we’ve ily history, obviously, heavily influences
seen haven’t worked,” Bannon told me in the values that we develop as adults.” He
his office on the Upper East Side of Man- talked for a few moments about his child-
hattan, sitting in front of a painting on hood and his parents, looking even graver
which the words follow your dreams than he usually does, staring at his notes
were written above a monkey sitting on a constantly. “I know where I came from!”
Coca-Cola box. But, he said, “Bernie has he screamed, out of nowhere and with
done a tremendous job of galvanizing a great feeling. “And that is something I
segment that hasn’t gone away. I mean, will never forget.”
he has a real movement.”
Building a following fueled by pain and Bernard sanders grew up in a
personal hardship is an especially big ac- cramped, rent-controlled apartment,
complishment for a candidate who is him- No. 2C, in a six-story brick building on
self so emotionally inaccessible, reluctant East 26th Street in the Midwood neigh-
to share more than the barest glimpses of borhood of Brooklyn. He was the son of a
his own history and inner life. “Not me. paint salesman dad who immigrated from
Us.” is his 2020 campaign slogan, and he Poland and a homemaker mom born in
means it. “Almost to a tee, what defines a New York. He grew up playing punchball
politician is they love to tell their story,” in the street, attending Hebrew school on
Shakir told me. “He has absolutely zero weekends, poking around Chinese and
inclination to do that. He abhors it.” Jewish eateries on Kings Highway, and
Sanders seems to believe the public running cross-country at James Madison
doesn’t have a right to know him more High. The family wasn’t poor, but there
intimately—even though there is abun- wasn’t enough not to worry.
dant evidence that the essential char- In one of our interviews, Sanders told
acter traits of our Presidents eventually me he and his brother Larry slept on liv-
shape all our lives: Bill Clinton’s appe- ing-room sofas for much of their youths.
tites; George W. Bush’s certitude; Barack “The first time I had my own room
Obama’s instinct to hire bankers; Donald was, I think, my second or third year at
Trump’s narcissism. In our first interview, the University of Chicago,” he said. In
on a bench in the Des Moines airport, I school, young Bernie felt inferior: “Base-
asked Sanders a simple question: How did ball gloves other kids got were the bet-
he first experience the idea that people ter gloves, and the sneakers were better
blame themselves for systemic problems? sneakers, and the clothing was better.” Poland, he knew worse. It was differ-
“Well, before we get to me,” he said, “what When Sanders thunders, “I know what ent for Sanders’ mother: “She was an
the political revolution is about is the mil- it does to a family to live paycheck to American. And she said, ‘Let’s do this.
lions of people beginning to stand up . ..” paycheck,” he seems to be excavating his I want a home of our own.’” She longed
Many of Sanders’ advisers are eager for own pain. I tried to understand what that to leave the rent-controlled apartment
the Senator to get more personal. They looked like. where her children slept on a sofa. She
know they have a good story to tell. Sand- “It looked like a lot of arguments be- died at 46, her dreams unrealized.
ers is, after all, the son of an immigrant, a tween my mom and my dad,” he told me. Jane Sanders was more willing than
first-generation college student who grew “Virtually always over money. And, you Bernie to talk about that death. “He was
up in a paycheck-to-paycheck family. He know, my mother wanted more than we 19 when his mother died,” she told me.
is a Jew whose relatives were murdered in had, and there was always pressure on my “And his father died right after that, a
the Holocaust, campaigning in an era when father, and it led to a lot of stress.” He has year later, and his brother moved to Eng-
the President of the United States has said written that “almost every major house- land.” (Given her husband’s lack of en-
a group of neo-Nazis contained “very hold purchase—a bed, a couch, drapes— thusiasm for discussing his past, Jane
fine people.” He was at the 1963 March would be accompanied by a fight be- can be forgiven for these details being just
on Washington when Dr. Martin Luther tween my parents over whether or not slightly off: he lost his father two years
King Jr. confessed his dream. His aversion we could afford it.” In Sanders’ telling, after his mother. His brother moved to
to personalizing can be self-defeating. his father was more content with what England after Bernie finished college.)
These days, Sanders is trying to go they had because, born into poverty in “He was alone in the world, you know?
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