The Angle

The Angle: Same Old Condescension Edition

Slate’s daily newsletter on Tuesday’s down-ballot races, De La Soul’s new album, and Trump’s patronizing approach to black voters.

A man who doesn’t have his own signature ice cream flavor—yet. 

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Jim Newell guides us through Tuesday night’s down-ballot primaries in Arizona and Florida, featuring people like John McCain, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Office-holders are largely expected to keep their seats, but, Newell writes, “primary polling has been sparse, so one must never rule out an Eric Cantor–like shockwave to the political system that terrifies all incumbents across the country for years to come.”

Looking at Donald Trump’s recent outreach to black voters, Jamelle Bouie identifies an old and tired bit of condescension. “The central issue is that Trump portrays black Americans not as able citizens who need to be convinced, but as mindless followers of a failed regime,” Bouie writes. But black people “are not victims of false consciousness or some ‘plantation mentality.’ They are political actors making choices based on their interests as they see them.”

Jack Hamilton reviews De La Soul’s first album in over a decade, and he likes what he hears. The Kickstarter-funded And the Anonymous Nobody is “a reaching, beguiling, elusive, frequently brilliant, and totally enchanting piece of work,” Hamilton writes.  

What is happening with Facebook’s “Trending” news module (that list of stories located at the upper right corner of your Facebook homepage)? Will Oremus looks at the site’s attempt to quasi-automate the trending selection process, which has left the module vulnerable to hoaxes and inaccuracies. He finds that Facebook’s staunch refusal to identify itself as a media company is causing all kinds of trouble.

For fun: How to make Merrick Garland a household name? Let’s get him his own Ben & Jerry’s flavor!

Cone-firmation Bias gets my vote,

Rebecca