- The guys we were stealing from in The Wire (2002) are the Greeks. In our heads, we're writing a Greek tragedy, but instead of the gods being petulant and jealous Olympians hurling lightning bolts down at our protagonists, it's the Postmodern institutions that are the gods. And they are gods. And no one is bigger.
- (Discussing whether he hopes The Wire (2002) will cause reforms of the institutions portrayed in the series) I'll tell you what, this would be enough for me: The next time the drug czar or Ashcroft or any of these guys stands up and declares, 'With a little fine-tuning, with a few more prison cells, and a few more lawyers, a few more cops, a little better armament, and another omnibus crime bill that adds 15 more death-penalty statutes, we can win the war on drugs' -- if a slightly larger percentage of the American population looks at him and goes, 'You are so full of shit' ... that would be gratifying.
- The trick to making a story matter is that every now and then, somebody you care about has to go. If it's somebody that you don't care about, then it doesn't really have - the stakes aren't there. But if you do that every now and then, then the story matters to people. And there are actual stakes involved, emotional stakes.
- [in defense of the NSA surveillance program] To loudly proclaim our indignation at the maintenance of an essential and comprehensive database, while at the same time insisting on a proactive response to the inevitable attempts at terrorism is as childish as it is obtuse.
- [Whether he's proud to be an American] At times. And for certain things, and probably not for the same things that other people are. But yeah. At times I am very proud to be an American. At times, I'm ashamed. It depends on what we're up to.
- Ithink the only reason to do "Plot Against America" is not to re-adjudicate [Charles] Lindbergh or isolationism or Nazism in the 1940s. I think the historical verdict is in on all of that. The reason to do it is that it is allegorical to this present political moment, and the misuse of people with black and brown skin or immigrants or Muslims in the same way that Lindbergh was in [Philip] Roth's fictional account othering Jewish Americans.
- [In July 2020] I thought the mere fact that we had elected an African American president twice indicated that a significant plurality-possibly a majority of the country-had become post-racial. And that while there was certainly a residual racial resentment and racial animus, I thought we were in a far different place. I thought the generation that really was holding on to white supremacy was aging out. And that what was coming forward was more of the American future and it was a much more pluralistic, multicultural sensibility.
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