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WASHINGTON

Dianne Feinstein’s resignation would unleash intra-state political tensions, and Gavin Newsom would be at the epicenter.

Gavin Newsom’s DiFi Pickle

The California governor is in a tough spot as the person empowered to fill Feinstein’s seat if she retires. There are three crucial voting blocs he could upset, and his own political future to consider.
Tara Palmeri • April 14, 2023
Tara Palmeri • April 13, 2023
The Jeff Roe DeSantis U-Turn
Jeff Roe’s seasoned crew of advisors believe that Ron DeSantis can’t just shrug off the former president’s public attacks on him, which coalesce around the notion that he’s an establishment stooge.
Roe is remaking DeSantis land in his image as Tallahassee considers bringing in more made-for-TV surrogates who can shape the candidate’s image rather than let Trump craft it. Is it too late?
Tina Nguyen • April 12, 2023
The Taliban 20’s McCarthy To-Do List
Matt Gaetz, the unofficial spokesperson of the so-called Taliban 20.
“There’s no reason for the 20 to negotiate against what was already agreed to,” Gaetz told me, regarding the grab bag of promises they extracted in exchange for supporting Kevin McCarthy’s speakership in January. “We shouldn't have to pay twice for the same hostage.”
Former press secretary Sean Spicer is back on the market after his contract negotiations with Newsmax went south.
Tara Palmeri • April 12, 2023
Sean Spicer Joins the Newsmax Exodus
The former White House flack turned television personality is out at Newsmax, alongside three high-level executives, amid a wave of testy contract negotiations. Could he return to the Trump bosom?
Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and seasoned veteran on issues of national security.
Julia Ioffe • April 11, 2023
Mark Warner’s Anti-TikTok Algorithm
A candid conversation with the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the Ukraine leak, his proposed social media legislation, Putin, Xi, and Elon Musk.
Joe Biden’s biggest strength isn’t as a candidate, it’s being a senior statesman. A splashy re-election announcement doesn’t really change the dynamic for him.
Tara Palmeri & Peter Hamby • April 10, 2023
Biden’s Shadow Campaign & The Trump Uncertainty Principle
D.C.’s inside conversation about the issues that truly matter: Biden’s semi-unofficial anti-campaign, the DeSantis viability question, and Trump’s strangely ambiguous post-arrest polling fog of war.
Ron DeSantis already has about $200 million in the bank, but it’s been a rough month or so.
Tara Palmeri • April 6, 2023
DeSantis Donor Quakes & New Hampshire Foibles
There are rumblings all across Florida, but particularly in donorworld, that DeSantis is trending in the wrong direction and should hold his fire till ’28. Youngkin, on the other hand, doesn’t have that kind of optionality.
Donald Trump may have end-run his putative ’24 opponent, Ron DeSantis, by portraying himself as MAGA’s first full-blown political prisoner.
Tina Nguyen • April 4, 2023
Trump’s Jan. 6 Revival & The DeSantis RINO Trap
An arraignment, an epic MAGA misread, and a potential RINO reveal: How Trump turned the Republican primary into a populist jihad and let DeSantis slip on a banana peel.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Tara Palmeri • April 3, 2023
The Hottest Florida Political Tea
How the state’s political insiders are digesting DeSantis’s recent shadow-primary stumbles, the entry of Jeff Roe, and other high octane Tallahassee political gossip.
This morning, a Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
Julia Ioffe • March 30, 2023
The Abduction of Evan Gershkovich
There is something uniquely stomach-turning about the arrest of Gershkovich, a journalist and U.S. citizen of Soviet Jewish extraction—a provocation without precedent since 1986. It’s not just that Russia is “banking hostages,” a common F.S.B. tactic. It’s that Putin is out for revenge.
Glenn Youngkin hasn’t given up on the dream of running, and has signaled that Jeff Roe’s semi-betrayal has not impacted his thinking.
Tara Palmeri • March 30, 2023
Youngkin’s Jeff Roe Rebound
Sure, Glenn Youngkin plays the role of half-zip-clad, keep-it-out-of-the-classroom soccer dad. But he’s a private equity grinfucker at heart, and he’s not gonna let Jeff Roe’s DeSantis dalliance get in the way of his presidential ambitions. Plus, updates on the D.N.C. bake-off and Mike Pompeo’s ’24 wanderlust.
The DeSantis campaign’s informational clampdown hasn’t been as airtight outside of the Florida bubble.
Tina Nguyen • March 29, 2023
The DeSantis Consultant Mind Trap
After stumbles and setbacks, Ron DeSantis’s growing pains are becoming more evident to G.O.P. operatives: his inability to manage media outside Florida, political missteps, organizational drama, and a ham-fisted approach to his chief opponent.
It turns out that Washington’s foreign policy set has grown increasingly frustrated with the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy.
Julia Ioffe • March 28, 2023
Biden’s Private Ukraine Deadline
The D.C. foreign policy establishment is growing restless as the Biden White House resists calls to articulate a more specific strategy if Ukraine fails to make significant gains by the fall.
Squad members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman have been among a small cohort of TikTok defenders in the wake of last week’s Congressional hearings.
Tara Palmeri & Peter Hamby • March 27, 2023
DeSantis Doubts, A.O.C.’s Strategy & Pompeo Whereabouts
An unapologetic insider conversation about the storylines fixating Washington this week, from the TikTok hullabaloo to the pre-primary consolidation of the ’24 field.
The small-dollar fundraising drought is especially problematic for Trump, who can no longer rely on Republican mega-donors to fill the gaps.
Tara Palmeri • March 23, 2023
Trump’s Fundraising Fatigue
A lackluster pre-indictment-gate small-dollar haul highlights an unlikely vulnerability vexing the Trump campaign: the easy money is no longer there.
The bare knuckle tactics of Hunter Biden’s allies are beginning to aggravate some senior officials in the White House.
Tara Palmeri • March 23, 2023
Hunter’s War & Roe’s ’24 Choice
As the president’s son prepares a scorched-earth campaign to hit back at House G.O.P. investigators, some White House aides worry that Hunter has gone rogue. Plus the latest inside chatter regarding Jeff Roe’s conflicts as he muscles his way into DeSantis world.
Ignoring Donald Trump has essentially been Ron DeSantis’s strategy over the past two years while angling for a ’24 presidential run—but a well-placed G.O.P. comms official fully disagreed the approach, calling it “consultant stuff that sends all the wrong signals.”
Tina Nguyen • March 22, 2023
Is the Republican Primary Already Over?
With the Manhattan district attorney threatening to put Trump on trial, and DeSantis declining to stand in his way, G.O.P. operatives are coalescing around the notion that it’s now the ex-president’s race to lose.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during the signing ceremony at the Grand Kremlin Palace.
Julia Ioffe • March 22, 2023
Xi Jinping, Superstar
An ecstatic reception for the Chinese president in Moscow revealed the dearth of diplomatic and military options before Russia, and just how few friends Vladimir Putin has left.