WASHINGTON
Julia Ioffe
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November 30, 2022
Inside Putin’s War of Attrition
Munitions are running low on both sides of the Ukraine conflict as military suppliers race to keep pace with Russia’s furious, WWI-like shelling. The artillery-heavy strategy is forcing the Pentagon to rethink its very notion of modern war.
Tara Palmeri
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November 29, 2022
Anyone But McCarthy?
The G.O.P. leadership mutiny continues as members of the House Freedom Caucus declare themselves openly #NeverKevin, leaving McCarthy with a razor-thin margin of error and diminishing leverage to rescue his bid for Speaker.
Tara Palmeri
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November 29, 2022
Hakeemology 101
An intimate, dishy conversation with Michael Hardaway, Hakeem Jeffries’ former comms guy and senior advisor, about how to interpret the enigmatic and historic new minority leader.
Julia Ioffe
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November 23, 2022
Biden’s Price of Peace
Strategic differences between the Pentagon and the White House over the war in Ukraine illuminate the paradox of its endgame: How do you negotiate a peace that neither side can afford to win?
Tara Palmeri
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November 22, 2022
The Trump Twitter Dance
When Truth Social was being developed, there were conversations about exemptions to Trump’s eight-hour exclusivity window with Truth if he were to become a candidate. Now it’s something his team is exploring.
Tara Palmeri & Tina Nguyen
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November 22, 2022
McCarthyism & The Red Scare
News and notes on McCarthy’s Speakership vote whipping, the power of M.T.G. in the new Congress, and the MAGA’s unchecked nuclear options on Biden’s cabinet members and family.
Tara Palmeri
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November 17, 2022
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emeritus?
The longtime Democratic leader, a fixture of the House for decades, will step back into a chairman-like role in the minority rather than retire immediately, giving her time to manage her succession and ensure the stability of her caucus through the forthcoming McCarthy era.
Tina Nguyen
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November 16, 2022
The Chris Christie Flu
Ok, so Trump is running for president—duh—which means that now everyone else can feel free to toss their hat in the ring after his wan demi-coronation. But how can the other guys avoid a case of the Christies?
Julia Ioffe
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November 16, 2022
Putin’s Retreat & Kyiv’s Dangerous Hope
If there had been hope in Washington that the capture of Kherson would allow the Ukrainians to return to the negotiating table from a position of strength, that seems unrealistic now. From the Ukrainian vantage point, after all, what would they have to gain, when they still have so much to lose?
Tara Palmeri
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November 14, 2022
Is There Life After Pelosi?
New reporting on the talk of the town: Pelosi’s succession drama, Biden’s age, and a White House wedding.
Tara Palmeri
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November 11, 2022
Rick Scott’s Potential Mutiny & More D.C. High School Lunch Table Chatter
The post-midterm inside conversion roiling top operatives’ DMs, text threads, phone lines, and the best tables at Le Dip: Rick Scott’s potential mutiny, Biden realism, Trump’s vice, Ronny euphoria, primary clues, and much, much more.
Tina Nguyen
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November 10, 2022
DeSantis & The March of the Trump Defectors
Trump’s midterm face-plant has hastened an intra-peninsular reckoning between Mar-a-Lago and Tallahassee over the future of the Republican Party. The conventional wisdom has long posited that MAGAworld, not the Murdochs, will decide the next president. But what if Trump is losing the base?
Theodore Schleifer
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November 9, 2022
The Achilles Thiel
As Peter Thiel poured $33 million into his acolytes J.D. Vance and Blake Masters, Republican power brokers fantasized that they had found their heir to Sheldon Adelson or the Koch Brothers. The truth, it turns out, is quite different.
Julia Ioffe
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November 9, 2022
How Russia’s Kardashian Came in the from the Cold
The curious case of Ksenia Sobchak illustrates a profound truth about modern Russia, a society where Moscow’s elite are always playing a game of musical chairs for favor, status, wealth, and their very survival. In the context of an imperial war gone terribly wrong, the stakes have never been higher.
Tara Palmeri & Peter Hamby
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November 8, 2022
Kamala’s Battle: Los Angeles
With the Democrats about to lose the House, and maybe the Senate, why is the top of the party so infatuated with the L.A. mayoral race, a contest between two Democrats? The multifold answer explains a lot about how Democrats see themselves, their future, and their image.
Tara Palmeri
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November 3, 2022
Biden Doomsday Prepping
The White House spin machine is in overdrive as Biden’s inner circle debates how to message a possible midterm “shellacking” without acknowledging that it might somehow be their fault.
Tina Nguyen
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November 2, 2022
McCarthy’s Riot Inside the Capitol
Next week, the Republican conference will likely add new members who make Marjorie Taylor Greene look like a soccer mom. “I’d say we have a good floor of about 40 hardcore MAGA members,” predicted one insider. What’s Kevin McCarthy to do?