Julia Ioffe • June 12, 2024

Vladimir Putin, Swing Voter

Unlike in 2016, and despite Trump’s affinity for strongmen, there’s no consensus inside the Kremlin over which of the two U.S. presidential candidates—the predictable antagonist or the geopolitical wild card—would be better for Putin’s Russia.

Peter Hamby • June 11, 2024

The Left’s Trumpnesia Problem

A new poll finds that not only do many young and first-time voters not really remember the chaos of the Trump years, but they don’t really care that much, either, when presented with examples of Trump’s most inflammatory rhetoric.

John Heilemann • June 10, 2024

The Biden Age Paradox

The apparent sanguinity of Bidenworld in the face of an allegedly damning portrait of the president’s “slipping” mental faculties has the punditocracy wondering whether Wilmington is experiencing its own sort of delusion. But the hyperbolic response begs the question: Isn’t Biden’s age already fully priced in?

Tara Palmeri • June 7, 2024

Trump Conviction Math & Aftermath

Without any precedent to guide them, and no insight from polls, the typically omniscient Democratic political class is debating whether to take the high road or risk transforming Trump into a martyr.

Julia Ioffe • June 5, 2024

Mission Impossible

Biden’s national security team has been unusually loyal, with all the key players sticking around and working through one grueling cataclysmic geopolitical challenge after another—Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, etcetera. Why aren’t they turning over or cashing out? “There’s a sense that we’re standing at the precipice right now,” said one senior administration official.

Abby Livingston • June 4, 2024

Hogan’s Anti-Heroes

Larry Hogan, the popular former Maryland governor and Republican Senate candidate, is getting the shiv following his measured call to “respect the verdict and the legal process” in the Trump trial. It’s the latest example of the self-defeating penalty for misalignment with Trump’s G.O.P.

John Heilemann • June 3, 2024

Trump Fought the Law

And, well, you know the rest. But while the verdict in the New York hush-money case was sweeping and unequivocal, the electoral impact of the former president’s 34 felony convictions is far less clear—even and especially to the Biden and Trump campaigns.

Tara Palmeri • May 31, 2024

Trump’s Verdict & The Hunter Smoke Bomb

As the world digests the conviction of the ex-president, Republicans are banking on the trial of Hunter Biden, next week, to obscure the fallout.

Tina Nguyen • May 30, 2024

Reed’s Digest

A wide-ranging interview with Ralph Reed, the religious leader and lobbyist, about the Republican politics of abortion, the evolution of the Israel issue, and why evangelicals are all in on Donald Trump.

Julia Ioffe • May 29, 2024

Everybody’s Mad at Biden

Pissing off most of the people most of the time is just another day for a U.S. president. Will the Israel-Gaza war be different?

John Heilemann • May 28, 2024

The R.F.K. Jr. Big Short

A close look at Donald Trump and R.F.K. Jr.’s cringe-inducing, partly hilarious, and ultimately failed forays into Libertarian Land.

Tara Palmeri • May 23, 2024

The Ron Revival

After the Shell Bay Club détente, Ronny is out there shilling for his old nemesis, Trump is dangling convention spots, and the DeSantis brain trust is eyeing a path to ’28.

Tina Nguyen • May 23, 2024

Johnson’s Israel Pincer Movement

The speaker has cleverly, and perhaps cynically, turned a crusade against antisemitism into an opportunity to drive a wedge through House Democrats—and isolate enemies to his right, too.

Julia Ioffe • May 22, 2024

The Biden Antisemitism Paradox

In a new poll, voters say Trump, the former antisemite-in-chief, would be better at fighting antisemitism than Biden.

Peter Hamby • May 21, 2024

2024 and Modern Memory

An exclusive new Puck and Echelon Insights poll suggests that voters’ perceptions aren’t necessarily aligned with reality these days—a troubling sign for Biden.