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WASHINGTON

The Biden administration, of course, has been trying to prevent the escalating violence from spiraling into all-out regional war.

The Biden-Iran Retaliation Equation

The White House is reserving its right to strike back at Iran “at a time and in a manner of our choosing,” after the death of three U.S. service members in Jordan. But the stalling tactic is pissing off a lot of people in Washington who want Biden to send a more forceful message—fears of escalation be damned.
Julia Ioffe • January 30, 2024
Peter Hamby • January 30, 2024
The Apprentice
Trump is downplaying the importance of a vice presidential pick, which suggests he’ll ultimately select someone competent and boring—you know, the Mike Pence type.
The media chatter around Trump’s vice presidential search is rightly derided as an overhyped and silly guessing game—the product of bored reporters and TV people paying way too much attention to a closely held decision that probably won’t matter anyway. But here we go…
Tara Palmeri • January 26, 2024
Hit and Ronna
Ronna McDaniel
The Trump campaign, feeling itself after New Hampshire, is eager to layer R.N.C. chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel with a campaign insider. It’s the latest reminder of how hard it is to stay on Trump’s good side.
There are several factors working in Mike Johnson’s favor.
Tina Nguyen • January 25, 2024
The Johnson Détente
Inside the frazzled House Republican conference, a surprising new conventional wisdom is taking hold: Mike Johnson, despite his inability to appease MAGA hardliners, is achieving something like consensus that he’s become the least bad option.
Major Republican donors, whose interests and economic persuasions have defined the party since the Reagan era, are at a crossroads this week.
Theodore Schleifer • January 24, 2024
The Trump Donors Come in From the Cold
Over the next few days, two Republican confabs may provide a final moment for the donor elite to take a breath and decide how much more money they are willing to let Nikki Haley burn before accepting reality.
American officials are privately frustrated by the view, held by Russia, that the U.S. government will do absolutely anything to bring American hostages home, no matter what they’ve done and no matter where they are in the world.
Julia Ioffe • January 24, 2024
A White House Prisoner Dilemma
As another American is arrested in Russia, giving Putin more leverage for prisoner swaps, Biden officials are growing frustrated that some see a U.S. passport as a get-out-of-jail-free card. And Robert Woodland—now Robert Woodland Romanov—is no Brittney Griner.
Biden ran for president on the promise that voters wouldn’t have to obsess daily about the chaos in Washington. But he also ran as a bridge candidate, and that was long before a post-J6 Trump candidacy loomed as a viable option.
Peter Hamby • January 23, 2024
Biden’s Attention Deficit Disorder
An exclusive new poll from Echelon Insights, in partnership with Puck, offers up some spooky results for the Biden messaging machine. Likely voters are paying attention—but they are paying attention to Trump.
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.
Tina Nguyen • January 19, 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.
Ron DeSantis speaks to workers at a campaign office on January 12, 2024, in Urbandale, Iowa.
Tara Palmeri • January 18, 2024
The DeSantis Fugue State
Despite having spent several days on the campaign trail this week, I’ve struggled to find a single DeSantis voter who can articulate his path forward. So what is the candidate accomplishing in his forced march past New Hampshire, besides torching his remaining political capital?
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event following her third-place finish in the Iowa caucus on January 16, 2024, in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Peter Hamby • January 17, 2024
Ron & Nikki’s Road to Perdition
Thoughts, theories, and takeaways from the least competitive primary contest in modern history.
Donald Trump prepares to hold a "telerally" at the Hotel Fort Des Moines on January 13, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa.
Theodore Schleifer • January 17, 2024
The Mar-a-Lago Ultimatum
The Trump campaign has put out the word to major G.O.P. donors that if they’re not on the Trump train by next month, it will be noted on their permanent record—and that forgiveness will get harder thereafter.
David Scheffer, then the Clinton administration’s roving U.S. ambassador for war crimes, visits Kosovo in 1998.
Julia Ioffe • January 16, 2024
“The Gravity Level”: Israel and the Evolving Question of Genocide
A follow-up conversation with David Scheffer about South Africa and Israel at The Hague.
Abby Livingston • January 12, 2024
A Surprising Trump Ring Kiss & Schiff’s Amazing Haul
News and notes on the congressional swirl: reading between the lines of Mike Rogers’ Trump genuflection, the latest Senate fundraising intrigue, and more.
The fact that Chris Christie didn’t endorse Nikki Haley in his exit speech was probably a gift for her campaign: He had some of the highest unfavorables among Republican voters.
Tara Palmeri • January 12, 2024
A Christie Carol
Christie may be old news as a candidate, but his departure adds a few arithmetic wrinkles to a race that already seemed over. Oh, and his people did trade calls with No Labels...
On Wednesday, when Speaker Mike Johnson walked his conference through the contours of his deal with Chuck Schumer, his right flank revolted.
Tina Nguyen • January 11, 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.
R.F.K. is certain to be a major storyline of the election, even if most reporters and pundits have yet to figure out if he’ll be a sideshow or a spoiler.
Theodore Schleifer • January 10, 2024
Camelot for the Anti-Vax Set
R.F.K. Jr., who has raised upwards of $30 million for his PAC, is hiring top Biden fundraisers and has billionaires clamoring for introductions. But how far will the novelty act go?
Any remaining good will between Pretoria and Jerusalem has completely evaporated during this war as both South Africa and Israel have pulled their ambassadors from the other’s capital.
Julia Ioffe • January 10, 2024
“Blood Libel?”: On the Question of Genocide in Gaza
Assessing South Africa’s accusations with David Scheffer, a founding father of the International Criminal Court.
Each night, the primary is routinely the third or fourth story on the network evening news broadcasts—a good indicator of how little appetite there is for Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley with national audiences.
Peter Hamby • January 9, 2024
We’re Not in Iowa Anymore
Alas, it has taken till Iowa for the national media to admit that not all races were built the same.