There’s a problem with the idea that the legacy of slavery in America is the major deterrent today to social and economic progress by black Americans. And it’s being ignored as the New York Times and others seek to redefine America’s history as having been shaped more by slavery than any other factor.

In the introduction to his book, Power, Faith and Fantasy, the Middle East historian turned diplomat turned Israeli politician, Michael Oren, reflected on the chosen title. These three themes had guided the American adventure in the region power or “the pursuit of American interests,” faith or “the impact of religion in the shaping of American attitudes and policies,” and finally fantasy, “the idea of the Middle East has always enchanted Americans.” To be fair to America, it was hardly unique in its fantasies. In his magnum opus, The Chatham House Version, Elie Kedourie had aptly diagnosed the British fantasy “all those episodes show successive and cumulative manifestations of illusion, misjudgment, and failure.” Nowhere has this been truer than in the Holy Land.

My early-morning post, “Trump Phone Call Triggered Whistleblower Complaint,” was decidedly unpopular with the OTB readership for understandable reasons. In it, I seem to be offering a backdoor defense of a President I think is dangerous to the nation for doing something, as yet unspecified, that may well be dangerous to the nation.

China has framed Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests as a foreign-backed movement that uses “thugs” to threaten the mainland’s sovereignty. The narrative might be working within the great firewall. Outside China? Not so much.