How ‘The Wire’ Explains MAGA Nation
As it turns out, the story of Frank Sobotka tells us everything
You already knew The Wire was full of gems. “You want it to be one way, but it’s the other way.” “You come at the king, you best not miss.” But among all the power moves and palace intrigue, David Simon packed some instructive-ass jewels you might have missed. As David Dennis Jr. points out, the show’s second season, particularly the arc about Baltimore’s dockworkers and their ill-fated smuggling plot, presents a razor-sharp portrait of White privilege and expectations. To watch it, Dennis writes, “is to see the privileged become the villain — despite, or maybe because of, the fact that they don’t have to deal with the problems that plague Black communities across the proverbial railroad tracks.” Season two was always wildly underrated; now, after the Capitol insurrection and the continuing narrative of “economic anxiety,” it has proved to be as prescient as it was entertaining.
