WASHINGTON
Theodore Schleifer
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October 27, 2021
Will Billionaires Really Get Taxed to Smithereens?
In a short time, a seemingly quixotic billionaire tax has become a credible threat to enter Biden’s multi-trillion social spending plan. Is this all liberal pie-in-the-sky fantasy? Or the beginning of a new cri de coeur for the wealthiest Americans, and those who manage their money?
Baratunde Thurston
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October 22, 2021
After the Tide, Part 2: Breaking White Fear
In a country struggling with racial progress, we cannot condemn potential allies for their mistakes, but we can’t coddle them either. Instead we must acknowledge the complexity in educating the people most invested in our oppression.
Theodore Schleifer
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October 20, 2021
The $100 Million Plan to Completely Fix Washington
In 2017, a Wisconsin dairy scion wrote a Harvard Business School case study applying “industry competitive analysis” to party politics. The result is a $100 million plan to transform election rules. Reid Hoffman and members of one of the Bay Area’s wealthiest families have already signed on.
Julia Ioffe
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October 20, 2021
A Cold War Saga in Biden’s Washington
Members of the intelligence community are increasingly convinced that the Russian government is behind the hundreds of terrifying directed-energy attacks on diplomats and spies known as the Havana Syndrome. Will Congress respond to the “medium confidence” intelligence with countermeasures? As one member of the community told me, “We got bin Laden with medium confidence.”
Tina Nguyen
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October 19, 2021
Welcome to University of Trump-Los Angeles
The Claremont Institute, a right-wing ivory tower in the Inland Empire, has become a finishing school for the likes of Ingraham, Shapiro, Cotton—and a sinecure for the political minds behind Trump’s attempted coup. In the process, it’s spawned an academic movement to preserve Trumpism after Trump.
William D. Cohan
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October 13, 2021
The Case for Not Prosecuting Donald Trump
Most financial projections are rosy, as Wall Street well knows. That’s why banks have credit committees in the first place. But winning the case may prove more troublesome than having opened it at all.
Peter Hamby
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October 12, 2021
Covid, Critical Race Theory & Virginia’s Biden Blues
The Virginia gubernatorial race is always a fetish for politicos—an off-year Rorschach test and harbinger of the general mood two years before Iowa. And this year’s iteration is both tamer than ever (a contest between two rich white guy dads) and yet more indicative than ever of what wins in politics in our post-Trump (or is it pre-Trump?) age.
Julia Ioffe
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October 11, 2021
Unofficial Washington: The Media, Trump & The Macker
Like clockwork, the Washington agenda resets every Monday. Here’s what This Town is talking about (and not talking about) this week.
Tina Nguyen
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October 7, 2021
Javanka ’24: Will They or Won’t They?
The greatest looming question in American politics is, alas, whether Trump will run for president again. And if he does, will his closest family members—“the interns,” as they were known in the west wing—ride shotgun once again?
Baratunde Thurston
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October 6, 2021
After The Tide: Confronting Race in America Now
It’s hard enough sometimes just living in Black skin in America. But I’ve chosen to work as a sense-maker and storyteller to help others process this often nonsensical and maddening land we share. This piece is the first in a series.
Julia Ioffe
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October 4, 2021
Democrats, Republicans & The Media Squabble in a Post-Trump Malaise
As one congressman told me, “The blow-by-blow is intensely interesting to journalists and to members [of Congress], but our constituents couldn’t care less.” And yet, there is something so delightfully refreshing about it all. Could it last?
Julia Ioffe
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September 28, 2021
The Powerbroker: How Bob Woodward Conquered Washington
At 78, Woodward has become the ultimate Washington monument: a subject of public adulation and private eye-rolling, essentially making him no different from the public figures he covers.
Theodore Schleifer
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September 21, 2021
The Los Altos Shrink Taking Over Washington
Karla Jurvetson spent millions on 2020, plays host to Obama and Steph Curry, and has Schumer on speed dial. Her politics veer more Warren than Biden, and she’s leaving her stamp on the party ... whether they want it or not.
Tina Nguyen
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September 20, 2021
“The Big Elephant”: Mike Pence Readies His Act III
The former vice president is looking to thread a political needle: disavow Trump, make nice with the guy’s supporters, and somehow cash in on what’s left of his Republican street cred. Will that persuade donors in advance of 2024? And what will Mother think?
Julia Ioffe
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September 17, 2021
The Divorce Heard Around Washington
The Trump administration made strange bedfellows of the left, the media, the permanent political class, and the foreign policy establishment known as The Blob. Amid the fallout from Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the political knives are out.
Peter Hamby
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September 14, 2021
The D.C. Media Comes for Biden
A post-Labor Day narrative has taken hold in the mainstream media: Biden the old-timer, now hobbled by his first crisis, is outmatched by today’s world and running out of time to be a consequential president.
Tina Nguyen
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September 13, 2021
To Be or Not to Be: Trump’s Big 2024 Question
As the aging Palm Beach prince ponders his future, a vortex of political calculations are coming into view. And while the perks of post-presidential life may be compelling (who doesn’t want to hang out with Evander Holyfield), many on the far right know that the party is his—and they believe Biden is uniquely vulnerable to a rematch.