Which aspect of the Bernie Sanders campaign will make a lasting mark on the political landscape? Jamelle Bouie points to Sanders’ record of garnering very small donations. “There’s a strong chance that the Sanders fundraising apparatus—which surpasses Obama’s in its scope and ability to rapidly raise huge sums—will end up as the senator’s chief contribution to progressive politics,” Bouie writes.
Meanwhile, Eli Clifton and Joshua Holland argue that the Sanders campaign’s approach to spending all his small-donor money was disappointingly conventional and probably didn’t help its chances. “A great deal of that money bought a blast of commercials preceding caucuses and primaries across the country,” Clifton and Holland write, “one effect of which was to enrich a small group of Democratic consultants whose compensation is tied to media spending.”
The second season of the beloved Mr. Robot is here, and Willa Paskin wonders how long the “aesthetically polished and intellectually incensed” show can continue to critique capitalism. “[Showrunner Sam] Esmail, having created a cult TV show, is expressing some skepticism about television, a medium that, for much of its life, existed to sell audiences soap,” Paskin observes. “Mr. Robot is like an iPhone with an ‘I hate Apple’ ring-tone: both are beautifully designed, powerful products that are superficially conflicted about being beautifully designed, powerful products.”
Our features editor Jessica Winter has published a novel about a toxic workplace that is explicitly NOT Slate.com. She talks with L.V. Anderson about what it’s like to be stuck with a bad manager, why poisonous office jobs are so successful at getting under our skin, and why all-female workplaces can go so terribly wrong.
The top four male golfers in the world rankings have decided not to go to the Olympics. Fine, Josh Levin writes. But they should stop hiding behind a supposed fear of Zika infection. “While plenty of athletes have raised concerns about Zika,” Levin writes, “male golfers have led the way in using it as an excuse to take the week off.”
For fun: Samuel L. Jackson narrates a 7-minute beginner’s guide to the world of Game of Thrones.
Some spoilers, but it’s very worth it,
Rebecca
