Happy Monday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your pocket guide to Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Julia Ioffe asks the question hanging over the audacious U.S.–Israeli strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of Iran’s top military brass over the weekend: What, exactly, is the endgame? While Trump told the media he can “go long” or wrap things up in days, what’s left of the country’s regime seems to be digging in for a protracted conflict. Meanwhile, casualties are starting to pile up, while the operation itself has already ballooned to a categorically different scale than Venezuela or Yemen. Are we headed for another Middle East quagmire?

Plus, below the fold: Dylan Byers reveals the anxiety among CNN staffers contemplating life under Bari Weiss and offers the latest on Politico’s global talent hunt. Bill Cohan scrutinizes Sam Bankman-Fried’s three-pronged plan to get out of jail. Marion Maneker explores the flourishing art scene around L.A.’s Frieze week. Sarah Shapiro uncovers the surprising pre-spring shopping trends driving sales. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Jon Kelly chew over the second- and third-order effects of Paramount Skydance’s stunning victory in the Warner Bros. sweepstakes.

WASHINGTON

Trump is once again betting that overwhelming military force won’t trigger a prolonged war involving U.S. troops. But history offers cautionary tales after the euphoria of a dictator’s fall.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

"Essential viewing to understand the fatal intersection of race and policing"

- Deadline

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DIRECTED BY GEETA GANDBHIR

Produced by Alisa Payne, Geeta Gandbhir, Nikon Kwantu, Sam Bisbee

Executive Produced by Sam Pollard, Takema Robinson, 

Soledad O’Brien, Rose Arce, Jackie Kelman Bisbee & Wendy Neu

WATCH CONVERSATIONS WITH:

Joy Reid, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Beadie Finzi, 

Carla Gutierrez, Roger Ross Williams and Don Young.

Learn more about THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR here.

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Using bodycam footage from dozens of police visits, The Perfect Neighbor bears witness to a tight-knit community navigating one neighbor’s relentless harassment. But her hostility takes a sinister turn when it escalates into a fatal crime.

MEDIA

The WBD–PSKY post-merger dread hit CNN immediately yesterday, as its journalists and producers pondered life under Bari—but only if her CBS misfires haven’t disqualified her from running the combined operation. Plus, the voracious Mathias Döpfner’s global talent hunt.

WALL STREET

The imprisoned FTX founder is now taking a three-pronged approach to getting out of jail—claiming that prosecutors threatened his partners, Sullivan & Cromwell had a conflict of interest, and his crypto exchange was actually solvent all along. Oh, and he’s also sucking up to Trump. Will any of it work?

ART

Out west, the art market seems caught between two different weather systems, as the old climate sits side by side with the new. But the works surrounding the fair itself—from Sayre Gomez at Kordansky to clever juxtapositions at LACMA—also show a flourishing art scene in the city.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

"Essential viewing to understand the fatal intersection of race and policing"

- Deadline

__

DIRECTED BY GEETA GANDBHIR

Produced by Alisa Payne, Geeta Gandbhir, Nikon Kwantu, Sam Bisbee

Executive Produced by Sam Pollard, Takema Robinson, 

Soledad O’Brien, Rose Arce, Jackie Kelman Bisbee & Wendy Neu

WATCH CONVERSATIONS WITH:

Joy Reid, Ahmir Questlove Thompson, Beadie Finzi, 

Carla Gutierrez, Roger Ross Williams and Don Young.

Learn more about THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR here.

__

Using bodycam footage from dozens of police visits, The Perfect Neighbor bears witness to a tight-knit community navigating one neighbor’s relentless harassment. But her hostility takes a sinister turn when it escalates into a fatal crime.

FASHION

With spring banging on the door, Resort hitting the shelves, and customers looking to stretch their purchases, the savvy retailer knows that layered looks are moving at the moment. Plus, scene reports from Dallas, Palm Beach, and Litchfield.

MEDIA

Besties Jon Kelly and Peter Hamby reunite to work through the second- and third-order effects of Paramount Skydance’s stunning WBD victory. The duo read the tea leaves on the changes at Politico, including some hypotheses about the next shoes to drop.

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