The Dinosaurs’ Lament
27th July 2026
The American Spectator is having a bit of fun with another mournful essay by Sally Quinn about the assault on Washington establishment sensibilities by the MAGA hordes in power in DC. She writes:
The worst part about living in Donald Trump’s Washington has been seeing just how much fun he and all the MAGA vandals he brought to power have been having sacking and pillaging the place. This while the rest of us longtime Washingtonians who abided by norms, shared values and even bipartisanship were filled first with shock, then a feeling of helplessness, and hopelessness. It could border on passivity. What could be done?
It is actually a tonal improvement on her abject terror expressed the year before.,
Sally Quinn is a dinosaur. The rise of badly educated brats into positions of power, and especially the poisonous power of social media unmediated by adult editors have created a nasty edge to the Democratic party and solidified the GOP as the resistance to federal expansion (at least in appearance). After Gingrich ousted the genuinely nice guy Bob Michel and after the reign the ugly hardball of George Mitchell and the far worse Harry Reed as both parties shed moderates has meant a very different style.
The delusion that longtime Washingtonians have been trying to sustain a (fictitious) unconditional polite bipartisanship is a hoot.