The Working Life of a Professional Cynic
Thomas Frank, master of sarcasm and chief polemicist for Harper’s Magazine, is a treasure of the anxious, aggravated left. He recently made a demonstration of happy defiance in the face of accelerating social disaster in an interview with The Financial Times.
Thomas Frank, master of sarcasm and chief polemicist for Harper’s Magazine, is a treasure of the anxious, aggravated left. He recently made a demonstration of happy defiance in the face of accelerating social disaster in an interview with The Financial Times.
Frank is the author most recently of “Pity the Billionaire,” a consideration of the right’s glorious return during the fallout of the 2008 crash from an ignominy earned during eight years of George W. Bush. His essays can be read monthly in Harper’s and in The Baffler, a triannual journal of art and criticism.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
In these critical times, your support is crucial...The Financial Times:
What drives you on?
A fascination with paradox and irony. It’s definitely not a faith that my political views will one day triumph; the experience of the past few years has ended any hopes in that regard. Irony and paradox are what’s left to us.
What has been your greatest disappointment?
How to choose? I signed up for a life of disappointments: organised labour, Liberal Democrats, academia, print journalism – every one of them either a failure or near collapse.
If you lost everything tomorrow, what would you do?
I would probably change sides. The right needs a few able polemicists – the bunch they’ve got now are so dreadful – and everyone knows they pay much better than the liberals.
As we navigate an uncertain 2025, with a new administration questioning press freedoms, the risks are clear: our ability to report freely is under threat.
Your tax-deductible donation enables us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes the reality behind the headlines — without compromise.
"Truthdig’s a lifeline for anyone who values democracy especially during these challenging times.”
— Fernando Villamare, Los Angeles, CA
Now is the time to take action. Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and uncover the stories that need to be told.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.