New York Times book critic Dwight Garner, reviewing a novel, writes:
It is impossible to read anything in 2017, or write anything, without thinking of America's political and moral predicament. It's tendentious to mention it in every review, but I am thinking about it while writing every line of every review.
Trust me, it's not "impossible." I've done it myself. The election was back in November of last year. It's not as though it's the week after the September 11 attacks. If someone can't read or write anything at this point without having his mind on the current political situation, he might want to calm down and get some broader perspective. In the meantime, Mr. Garner's disclosure — and his editor's allowing the claim about impossibility to make it into print — helps explain a lot. The Times staff are all freaking out about Trump all the time, even when they aren't telling readers about it. In some ways, it might be less tendentious if the critics did mention it in every review, because then readers could discount for it, rather than not being aware of it.