Trump is not just unlike a Republican, he's unlike a presidential candidate. The whole elaborate presidential process is designed to screen out people like Donald Trump. And that process broke down in ways quite unlike anything in the recent experience of the United States.

The five million people who watch cable news are the political nation, the people who really care.

In journalism I can only tell what happened. In fiction, I can show it.

Venezuela has gone from being a democratic country 15 years ago to being totally not a democracy today. Usually that de-democratization doesn't take the form of a heavy handed police state.

One can shape history as much through the facts one omits as through the facts one includes.

If we say something often enough, we come to believe it. We don't usually delude others until after we have first deluded ourselves.

A novel makes it possible to understand not just events, but the people who control the events; not only their choices, but also their motives.