Happy Monday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon assortment of Puck’s best new reporting. First up today, Leigh Ann Caldwell maps the post-recess landscape in D.C. as members from both parties struggle with a Trump-induced climate of uncertainty and self-censorship, vociferous constituent backlash, leadership reshuffling, and the growing DOGE dilemma as Republicans spar with the Senate parliamentarian over how to pass a multitrillion-dollar tax cut without Medicaid going the way of USAID. Plus, below the fold: Marion Maneker presents the second installment of his exclusive exit interview with Guillaume Cerutti, the outgoing Christie’s C.E.O., about his new role overseeing the Pinault art empire. Dylan Byers offers his candid chat with The Information’s Jessica Lessin about her media investment thesis. Bill Cohan and Peter Hamby reveal how Wall Street is scoring Trump’s helter-skelter economic overhaul. Julie Davich captures the essentials from the Netherlands’ storied European Fine Art Foundation fair. And Sarah Shapiro foreshadows the key fashion retail trends bubbling up from merchants. Meanwhile, on the pods: John Ourand is joined by MoffettNathanson’s Michael Nathanson and Robert Fishman on The Varsity to debate the brewing YouTube vs. Netflix streaming war. On Impolitic, Leigh Ann joins John Heilemann to assess the aftershocks of Chuck Schumer’s perceived capitulation to the G.O.P. And on The Powers That Be, Jon Kelly reunites with Peter to tackle The New York Times’s complicated embrace of artificial intelligence.

WASHINGTON

Over the past 10 days, while Congress was in recess, President Trump started dismantling the Education Department, called for the impeachment of a federal judge, negotiated a questionable first step toward a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and threatened to sanction law firms that participate in legal actions against his administration. In other words, it was a busy political window—and while Republicans are largely ignoring the chaos, Democrats are under enormous pressure to figure out how to respond to any of it. Leigh Ann spent the week fielding calls and taking meetings on Capitol Hill, and unearthed the four biggest themes keeping everyone in Washington up at night. Read Now

ART

Earlier this year, Guillaume Cerutti stepped down as C.E.O. of Christie’s after eight eventful years, in which he savvily reconfigured the on-ramp for new clients; oversaw the record-setting sale of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi for $450 million; navigated the disruption of the pandemic; and witnessed the triumphant single-owner sales of David Rockefeller, Barney Ebsworth, and Paul Allen. Shortly after Cerutti announced his departure, Marion sat down with him at Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters to talk about his tenure—but Guillaume had a lot more to say beyond the “exit interview.” In this second installment of their conversation, Cerutti discusses his new role as head of François Pinault’s 10,000-work art collection, and how he’ll integrate one man’s vision into the luxury commercial interests of Groupe Artémis. Read Now

MEDIA

Long before it became fashionable for journalists to strike out on their own, Jessica Lessin left The Wall Street Journal to found The Information, a Silicon Valley–obsessed news site that she’s nurtured into a midsize but formidable and profitable business. Now, Jessica is trying her hand as an investor, sprinkling her money around a few recent media startups—including Semafor, The Ankler, Dynamo, and Racquet magazine—that are all hoping to achieve similar success. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jessica shares her investment thesis and discusses the lessons she’s learned over a decade (and why she hasn’t yet pursued an exit). Read Now

WALL STREET

Uncertainty is one of the few constants on Wall Street these days, as markets weigh the combination of deteriorating consumer sentiment, Trump’s pressure on the Fed, the questions surrounding tariffs, persistent inflation, etcetera. To make sense of this fraught moment, Bill sat down with Puck’s own Peter Hamby to discuss the various ways the madness emanating from the Trump administration is reverberating through the economy, while also discussing how the smart money is processing the chaos, why some investors are still bullish on this administration, and whether the market is simply correcting or signaling something worse. Read Now

ART

The annual European Fine Art Foundation fair—better known as TEFAF, and referred to by the in-crowd as simply “Maastricht”—is a mecca for the art and antiques market that’s often overlooked by collectors outside Europe. But TEFAF has experienced a few tough years—headlined by Covid fallout and instances of burglary and vandalism—and has had four different leaders since former president and C.E.O. Patrick van Maris announced, in January 2020, that he would be stepping down. But the fair goes on. The general consensus this year was that things were back to pre-Covid levels, both in terms of foot traffic and the offerings. Still, crowds and quality didn’t translate to frenzied buying. In any case, as Julie notes, once you go to Maastricht, you can’t imagine not going back again. Read Now

FASHION

Spring is springing, and the first shoots of the trends we’ll see this year are already discernible from the season’s early deliveries. So far, there are several fashion perennials on the radar, albeit with some fresh twists: the latest shade of pink, the inevitable return of crochet and raffia, and a White Lotus–fueled fascination with resortwear. Meanwhile, Sarah also theorizes on Toteme’s handbag pricing speculation, offers some fresh intel on Mar-a-Lago’s retail explosion, and unpacks a new strategic change at J.Crew, which may tick off a select group of people who remember the era of #menswear. Read Now

SPORTS

MoffettNathanson’s Michael Nathanson and Robert Fishman join John for a deep dive into the world of streaming. They debate the brewing Netflix vs. YouTube streaming war, examine the fluctuating landscape of sports media rights, and explore what’s next for ESPN’s Flagship. Plus, they probe the broader implications of sports betting for the sports media industry. Listen Now

WASHINGTON

John is joined by Leigh Ann Caldwell, Puck’s chief Washington correspondent, to discuss how congressional Ds and Rs are coping with the new world order of Trump 2.0. Leigh Ann assesses the political aftershocks rippling through the Democratic ranks after what many see as Chuck Schumer’s disastrous capitulation to the G.O.P.; the grassroots potency of the Bernie Sanders–A.O.C. road show and its unequivocally populist messaging; the party’s barely concealed lack of appetite for heeding Donald Trump’s calls to impeach federal judges who rule against him; and much, much more. Listen Now

MEDIA

Jon Kelly and Peter Hamby unite to tackle The New York Times’s complex relationship with artificial intelligence—suing OpenAI on one hand while envisioning the economic boost of the technology on the other—and hypothesize on how this posture will impact the newsroom. Then they dig into a gaming media pivot. Listen Now

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