<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-59cecf1a-7fff-de0e-ccfa-b564b05bb0ae"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The Today\u2019s Issues group will meet Sunday, April 27 because of a special interest in discussing an essay by David Brooks, a conservative columnist, called </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/12OM17XANYZVHAzags993DRT5o5fpNJSReXAveazNaFA/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">I Should Have Seen This Coming</span></a><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">.  It discusses his history in a conservative movement polarized between those who took the theories seriously and those who just wanted to overwhelm liberals and take power.  It goes on to discuss Trump and the MAGA movement as a realization of George Orwell\u2019s vision of a movement that seeks power entirely for its own sake without any vision of the good. He ends with an argument that Trump is doomed to fail and a discussion of what comes next. The essay is well worth reading even if you don\u2019t plan to come to the Today\u2019s Issues discussion.  It is in the May 2025 issue of The Atlantic of you can read it here:  </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/12OM17XANYZVHAzags993DRT5o5fpNJSReXAveazNaFA/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">I Should Have Seen This Coming</span></a><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">If you\u2019ve read </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/12OM17XANYZVHAzags993DRT5o5fpNJSReXAveazNaFA/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">I Should Have Seen This Coming</span></a><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">., you might also want to read this column by Brooks:  </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/10cSLnKIOSYjO7F6kU0zJWwK2RYojIfQU05s1Jpm0TCQ/edit?usp=sharing" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">Trump\u2019s Single Stroke of Brilliance</span></a><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">.  To give away the punch line, his stroke of brilliance is his decisiveness, acting quickly and powerfully (although not thoughtfully).  Brooks argues Democrats have to respond quickly and intuitively.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The Today\u2019s Issues discussion group meets on occasional Sunday mornings in person in the parlor of the Religious Education building next to the Unitarian Universalist Church at 232 Third St. in Marietta or you can join us on Zoom. </span><a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8583258484?pwd=RFdJUGZOZkU4THArWFpnVkllZzh1dz09" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline"> Click Here to Enter the Zoom Room</span></a><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">. </span></p><br><br><br></span></div></div>