Politics Unpacked Trump's 'Stone Age' Threat
Apr 2, 2026
Sarah Ditum, Times columnist and cultural critic, and Josh Glancy, Sunday Times political writer, debate Trump's 'back to the Stone Age' rhetoric and its historical echoes. They also cover NATO trust and Article 5 concerns, the drama of modern spaceflight and moon missions, and cultural notes from vinyl revival to social media shifts.
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Museum Visit Makes Space Travel Feel Fragile And Communal
- Sarah Ditum recounts visiting the Seattle Museum of Flight to describe the fragile, awe-inspiring early space vehicles.
- She uses that experience to illustrate why space missions feel communal and emotionally powerful.
Stone Age Rhetoric Reveals Hollow Hyperbole
- Donald Trump's "bring them back to the stone age" line shows how loose, hyperbolic presidential rhetoric can normalize extreme threats.
- Josh Glancy links the phrase to Curtis LeMay and cautions that such language is often hollow unless matched by concrete action.
Modern Warfare Seeks War Without Consequence
- Modern US military posturing seeks low-casualty, tech-enabled strikes rather than the mass-risk campaigns of earlier wars.
- Josh Glancy contrastsCurtis LeMay's appetite for heavy casualties with today's desire for "war without consequence."