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Tina Nguyen

Puck’s resident MAGA expert and insider, chronicling the transformation of the G.O.P. and the egos and intrigues within Trumpworld. Tina was previously a political correspondent at Politico and Vanity Fair.

THE LATEST ARTICLES
NEWSLETTERS
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) walks out of the West Wing with (from left to right) U.S. reps Mike Turner (R-AL), Mike Rogers (R-OH), and Mike McCaul (R-TX) on January 17, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON • January 18, 2024
Mike Johnson’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sure, the speaker kept the government open a few more weeks, but the guy is running out of friends in a town not known for them.
On Wednesday, when Speaker Mike Johnson walked his conference through the contours of his deal with Chuck Schumer, his right flank revolted.
WASHINGTON • January 10, 2024
Johnson Gets the McCarthy Treatment
Congratulations, Speaker Mike Johnson: You’ve had this job for a couple months, you need to pass unpopular legislation with a one-vote margin, and now miscreants in your own party are already threatening that much-dreaded defenestration.
I wasn’t on the Tucker love/hate spectrum, myself, but as someone who’d worked for him and then moved on to more “mainstream” political reporting jobs at Vanity Fair, Politico and then Puck, I was fascinated with his metamorphosis.
WASHINGTON • January 4, 2024
Tucker in the Rye
On the evolution of Tucker Carlson, from his startup origins to Fox News exile and his decision to go solo. Adapted from the forthcoming book ‘The MAGA Diaries.’
The fact that Republicans are still trying to find an impeachable offense speaks to the convoluted nature of the inquiry’s origins.
WASHINGTON • December 28, 2023
The Biden Impeachment Starter Marriage
Predictably, the multipronged Biden impeachment inquiry looks to be turning up duds. But the Republicans I talk to aren’t all that worried or embarrassed. This whole thing may have been less of a boobie trap than a dress rehearsal for giving the old man hell.
Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose two votes next year if he wants to pass bills without relying on Democrats.
WASHINGTON • December 20, 2023
The G.O.P. Hardliners Who Stole Christmas
As budget armageddon approaches and Ukraine funding runs out, Republicans on the Hill are increasingly divided about whether to force a compromise with Democrats, to ritually sacrifice Johnson, or to succumb to their own impossible purity tests.
Donald Trump speaks at the New York Young Republican Club Gala at Cipriani Wall Street on December 09, 2023 in New York City.
WASHINGTON • December 13, 2023
Trump’s Puppeteer Theater
Campaign officials have warned two “America First” think tanks, both attempting to help staff a putative Trump administration, that their gabbing to the media has become an “unwelcomed distraction.” But as always in Trump world, the wrist-slap follows a loyalty test.
Speaker Mike Johnson has kept his right flank placated, for now, with some carefully curated shiny objects.
WASHINGTON • November 29, 2023
Johnson’s Biological Clock & a Ronny Snub
News and notes from Capitol Hill and the fundraising trail.
To the extent that Republicans are still allowing Johnson some latitude, their open-mindedness mostly stems from the fact that Johnson is not McCarthy.
WASHINGTON • November 22, 2023
Mike Johnson’s MAGA Love Tap
As lawmakers leave town for the Thanksgiving holiday, anger is continuing to build on the speaker’s right flank as Bannon, Gaetz, Kirk & Co. lay yet more political dynamite on the embers of the House G.O.P. dumpster fire.
So much for Johnson’s “honeymoon” period, which lasted all of two weeks.
WASHINGTON • November 15, 2023
Mike Drop
Mike Johnson, the formerly unknown backbencher with the worst job in town, is learning what it’s like to run Congress ahead of a shutdown, to wrestle the MAGA anger blob, and the high cost of compromise.
WASHINGTON • November 1, 2023
Does Mike Johnson Have a Clue?
Democrats aren’t the only ones accusing the newbie of waging “political games” with his too-clever-by-half proposal to offset Israel aid by gutting the I.R.S. “He may be playing with fire,” a Republican lobbyist told me. But others see a speaker willing to use the gavel more aggressively, and more creatively, than his predecessors.
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