Jeff Sharlet writes about politics and religion for Esquire, GQ, New York Times Magazine, and more. “I like the stories with difficult people. I like the stories about people who are dismissed as monsters. I hate the term ‘monster.’ ‘Monster’ is a safe term for us, right? Trump’s a monster. Great, we don’t need to wrestle with, ‘Uh oh, he’s not a monster. He’s in this human family with us.’ I’m not normalizing him. I’m acknowledging the fact. Now, what’s wrong with us? If Trump is human, what’s wrong with you?” Thanks to MailChimp, Squarespace, and Blue Apron for sponsoring this week's episode. @JeffSharlet jeffsharlet.blogspot.com Sharlet on Longform [00:15] "David Fahrenthold: Investigating Trump" (Katie Couric • Katie Couric Show • Dec 2016) [00:30] "Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower" (Katie Couric • Katie Couric Show • Dec 2016) [07:00] Decât o Revistă [08:00] "Bullies in the Schoolyard" (Tablet • Dec 2016) [08:30] Killing the Buddha [08:45] Go Tell It on the Mountain (James Baldwin • Vintage • 2013) [09:00] The Apostle [10:30] Wisconsin Death Trip (Michael Lesy • University of New Mexico Press • 2000) [11:15] Pakn Treger [12:30] The Chronicle of Higher Education [13:30] Killing the Buddha: A Heretic’s Bible (with Peter Manseau • Free Press • 2004) [18:45] "Jesus plus nothing" (Harper’s • Mar 2003) [sub req’d] [18:45] The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power (Harper Perennial • 2009) [22:45] "Straight Man’s Burden" (Harper’s • Sep 2010) [27:30] "Ashcroft’s Ascent" (Jeffrey Toobin • New Yorker • Apr 2002) [28:00] John Ashcroft Sings “Let the Eagle Soar” (YouTube) [30:00] "The Runaway General" (Michael Hastings • Rolling Stone • Jun 2010) [30:45] "James Webb’s Never-Ending War" (Rolling Stone • Jun 2007) [31:45] "The Ministry of Fun" (Esquire • Aug 2016) [37:00] "Are You Man Enough for the Men’s Rights Movement?" (GQ • Feb 2014) [42:30] "Dubliners" (Virginia Quarterly Review • 2016) [45:30] C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy (Little, Brown and Company • 2010) [46:30] "Donald Trump, American Preacher" (New York Times Magazine • Apr 2016) [51:45] "A&E Shelves a K.K.K. Documentary Series Over Cash Payments" (New York Times • Dec 2016) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices