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In the meantime24:22John Irving on the power of learning
The famous novelist John Irving will not go to the US to promote his new book, because he thinks that the American President Donald Trump has made “the country of his birth that he loves the most.”
“What Trump is doing – overreaching his executive power – is beyond democracy. But I don’t know how many Americans see that,” Irving said. In the meantime Matt Galloway.
Irving is a dual US-Canadian citizen now living in Canada, who is best known for his books The World According to Garp again Owen Meany’s Prayer.
And hisw novel, Queen Estherreturns to the world of some of his most famous works, Cider House Rules. Published in 1985, the book explores the themes of abortion rights and women’s autonomy.
He spoke to Galloway about returning to those issues in his new book, and why he thinks Trump is not done for his “violation of democracy”. Here is part of their conversation.
Now here we are post-Roe v. He died in the world … would you have thought that would happen? Many people think that is a stable business in the United States.
You see, that was the problem.
That people thought it was solved?
That people thought it was. I remember very, very seriously there Cider houses was published, how many of my friends, beautiful women, people I worked with at Planned Parenthood centers. And people who knew my mother who was a nurse and family counselor. Her main job was trying to counsel young, single women and girls who were pregnant … before Roe vs. He went even after that.
And I remember people I shared politics with saying, “Well, it’s nice, but it’s amazing that you wrote this historical novel now that it’s safe, now abortion is here and it’s safe.” And I remember saying, which caused some stress, “If you think it’s safe, if you think it’s ever going to be safe, you might be part of the reason it’s safe.”
I didn’t write it as history to say, look at this terrible time when this process was unsafe and illegal. So look what happened. It was clearly written as a warning, as a way to say, don’t let this happen again.
The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. We were a long-awaited win for some Americans, and a terrible loss for others. The country will soon close or ban abortion in 25 states.
That this can happen again.
And that this can happen again. And my brothers and sisters, we always talk about my mother, who has passed away, and maybe this is comforting, but we say how glad we are that she didn’t live to see the day when abortion rights were reversed. Maybe because if he was alive it would have killed him. If we look at the current administration in the United States, it is only one example of the sexual backwardness of my country of birth.
Is that why you don’t come back? I mean this business of not going to the States to promote this book. I went spoke to Margaret Atwoodwho is down. He has been touring and promoting his memorabilia. Then Louise Penny, another Canadian treasure, does not. How did you come to that decision?
However, it didn’t take long for Matt. I took this decision in January, when Trump was out of office for less than a month and began to exceed his executive powers, in the so-called executive orders he issued. And it became clear to me about the most hateful executive order, which says that there are only two sexes, male and female, and the sex you were born with. It also instructs transgender men and women to change the gender on their passports – if they have changed – back to match their birth certificates. That’s a huge setback, for someone who remembers those decades of protest, which were my formative years, the late ’50s, ’60s, ’70s. They were building my pride in a country where freedom of speech, including freedom of protest, was really important in the civil rights days, in the gay rights days. Think of the Stonewall riots, think of all the protests against the Vietnam war.
I felt it was important to once again protest this powerful bully in the White House who is harassing his senior colleagues and taking us back on many issues of gender equality and freedom that I have long believed in.
I have long been a friend in my fiction to LGBTQ rights, and just as long I have been a friend to women’s rights and abortion rights. And to see what this zealot has done, how he has made my beloved country invisible to me.
A report by the US Travel Association predicts that international tourism spending will decrease by $5.7 billion by 2025, compared to the previous year. The agency points to a sharp decline in Canadian tourism since US President Donald Trump’s return to office.
And then, from that time when I made this decision in January … well, it’s worse. Cowardly Republicans in the US Senate and House of Representatives contributed to its silence. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump doesn’t find or make an excuse to cancel the midterm elections. That would be in line with his violation of democracy. He might declare martial law and say the election was unsafe. He has already muttered and complained about the rights of Americans living abroad.
And the third time again, you think about the third turn.
Oh, you are confused! May we all be safe from what a man thinks.
