P.J. O’Rourke hoped to make life hell for do-gooders everywhere
America’s sharpest satirist died on February 15th, aged 74
THOUGH HE never showed an interest in doing it, running for political office often occupied P.J. O’Rourke’s mind. Nothing bothered him so much as the sorry state of the American system, when compared with the fine way it had started out. The nadir came in 2016, when he watched the Trump/Clinton circus with ever-increasing horror. (“How the Hell Did That Happen?” was the book that followed.) Mr Trump was clearly unstable; Mrs Clinton was wrong about absolutely everything, but wrong within normal parameters. For the first time in his life, holding his handsomely large nose, he voted Democratic that November.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Lone Humourist Scourge”
Obituary February 26th 2022
From the February 26th 2022 edition
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