Julia Ioffe • July 9, 2024

NATO’s Five Stages of Biden Grief

After the debate, Europeans are starting to come to the conclusion that Biden is done for and that a second Trump presidency is inevitable. And they insist they’re not freaking out about it. “We can’t control who wins,” a European defense official told me, “but we’ll work with what we have.”

Peter Hamby • July 9, 2024

The Kamala Calculus

As Biden resists calls to drop out, “coconut-pilled” Democrats are warming to Harris as his possible replacement. Would she save the party from ruin—or be a bigger risk than Biden? One thing’s for sure: Harris makes way more sense atop the ticket than faddish fantasy candidates like Gretchen Whitmer or Josh Shapiro.

John Heilemann • July 8, 2024

Biden vs. The World

He may have already lost the backing of Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the donor class. But in the face of Joe Biden’s go-for-broke, damn-the-torpedoes embrace of sheer defiance—along with denial, delusion, and desperation—as a strategy for survival, will being abandoned by his own party be enough to make him quit the race?

Julia Ioffe • July 3, 2024

Biden: Lost in Translation

Overseas political observers are asking how the world’s greatest democracy ended up with the choice of Biden versus Trump: “We see the same videos—and debates.”

Abby Livingston • July 3, 2024

Biden’s Hill Blues

Support for Biden is plunging on Capitol Hill as members panic about their political futures, raising the prospect that the former Senate fixture’s political career may be undone in the same arena where he first made his name.

Peter Hamby • July 2, 2024

Biden Plunges in Swing States in Leaked Post-Debate Poll

The president is losing critical support in key battlegrounds, according to data from a premier Democratic firm, and putting previously noncompetitive states in play. Also, for the first time, he’s polling behind Kamala Harris.

John Heilemann • July 2, 2024

Bidenworld’s Darkest Hour

Biden may find the next 10 days to two weeks even more challenging than even the past 72 hours. As the polling numbers stream in, Democratic elected officials and fundraisers are inclined not to give the president or his team the slightest margin for error or benefit of the doubt. To say they have lost faith would be putting it far too mildly.

Peter Hamby & John Heilemann • June 28, 2024

Inside the Biden Panic Room

An emergency post-debate briefing about what Democratic leaders, megadonors, and senior strategists are really saying about Biden’s “Titanic-level disaster,” how to replace the nominee, and what comes next.

Tara Palmeri • June 27, 2024

A Trump-Biden Debate Pre-Mortem

I chatted with some of the top operatives around town to get their honest read and predictions on tonight’s first, and possibly only, presidential debate. Here’s what people in this town are whispering under their breath.

Abby Livingston • June 26, 2024

Biden’s Little Buddies

Bed-wetters or altruists, down-ballot Democrats are going out of their way to help the president, and seemingly without asking for anything in return, at least for now.

Peter Hamby • June 25, 2024

Biden’s Celebrity Jeopardy

Star power has always counted for more in politics than official Washington would like to admit—and Biden, despite his campaign’s best efforts, isn’t cool. But the very concept of fame is changing, and the White House is banking on the notion that celebrity isn’t what it used to be, either.

John Heilemann • June 24, 2024

Bidenworld: ‘We Are Going to Win’

A rare and candid conversation with Jen O’Malley Dillon, chair of the Biden reelection campaign, on the Democratic bed-wetters, the “six in six” strategy, North Carolina, why 2024 isn’t 2020 all over again, and much more.

Tara Palmeri • June 21, 2024

Dial M for Murdoch

Inside the game of telephone surrounding Donald Trump, on the precipice of locking in his vice presidential pick, as everyone from Sean Hannity to Fox émigré Tucker Carlson to Rupert Murdoch, himself, attempts to put their finger on the scale.

Eriq Gardner • June 19, 2024

Will Biden Block the Sony-Alamo Deal?

Inspecting the antitrust tea leaves surrounding the recently consummated Sony-Alamo Drafthouse deal. Are studio-owned theaters the future of the theatrical business, or is this arrangement merely a blip on the radar as we wade into an era of major regulatory shake-ups in Hollywood?

Julia Ioffe • June 19, 2024

Russiagate, Revisited

Eight years on from 2016, much of the Russian influence operation is now run out of the Kremlin, from Putin’s presidential administration. The good news: a lot of it is bafflingly bad and some of it is hilariously awful.