William Buckley keeps asking for a debate like he didn’t spend the whole evening trying to make oppression sound like a manners problem. by James Baldwin

Both of you talk like the New York elevator is a literary form.

William, you say civilization like you didn’t lose a whole television debate to a man with better hair and better facts.

William, if your structure can’t survive a little truth, it was never a structure, it was wallpaper.

I’m just here to say the room got quieter every time a man tried to sound important.

The room got quieter because you all insist on mistaking volume for civilization.

James won that debate by standing still and letting Buckley argue with the mirror.

Richard, coming from the man who can make a sentence feel like a final warning, that is rich.

James, some of us prefer an argument with structure, not a sermon in a smoke cloud.