Politico’s New Regime & Bezos Casualties of War

Apr 9, 2026

ESPN Spinoff Chatter, Art’s Feminine Mystique, The New SNL

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to Puck’s best new reporting. Here’s what you need to know…

In the Room: Jonathan Greenberger, a former ABC News executive producer, has been anointed as Politico’s next global editor-in-chief. Dylan Byers reveals why Axel Springer C.E.O. Mathias Döpfner believes Greenberger can supercharge the company’s push into podcasts and video—and turn ink-stained reporters into “camera-ready” stars. [Read More]
The Hidden Layer: Amazon, Google, OpenAI, and other tech behemoths have poured billions of dollars into A.I. infrastructure within striking distance of Iran—turning dozens of server farms into targets. Ian Krietzberg digs into how Silicon Valley became collateral damage in Trump’s Gulf war. [Read More]
The Best & The Brightest: After six weeks of bellicosity in Iran, the Islamic Republic is richer, more entrenched, and newly in control of the Strait of Hormuz. Julia Ioffe assesses the fallout beyond the $40 billion spent—so far—on the conflict. [Read More]
The Best & The Brightest: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has steered his city through the murder of George Floyd, a once-in-a-generation pandemic, and a months-long federal occupation marked by deadly ICE raids. John Heilemann sits down with the mayor to discuss resisting overreach in the era of Trump. [Read More]

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

JPMorganChase launched a $1.5 trillion, 10-year plan to facilitate, finance and invest in industries vital to national economic security.

Line Sheet: As part of Richard Dickson’s ambitious Gap Inc. turnaround, Gap Beauty is relaunching this summer with several new products. Rachel Strugatz takes an inside look at the revival—and why Old Navy might offer an even bigger opportunity. [Read More]
Wall Power: The art market has never had much in the way of gender parity, but the imbalance is starting to shift as women artists chip away at the longstanding gap. Marion Maneker combs through exclusive data to find the biggest winners. [Inner Circle Exclusive]

Meanwhile, on the pods…

The Town: Matt Belloni is joined by documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville to discuss the future of Saturday Night Live and his new film, Lorne. [Listen Here]
The Powers That Be: Peter Hamby and John Ourand discuss ESPN’s looming layoffs—and whether new Disney C.E.O. Josh D’Amaro is actually considering spinning off the sports network. [Listen Here]

MEDIA

Dylan Byers

The Greenberger Mile

Behind the promotion of new top editor Jonathan Greenberger is Mathias Döpfner’s belief that video is the future of Politico (more Dashas!), even as the future of its business is increasingly oriented around international growth and fending off NOTUS.

A.I.

Ian Krietzberg

Iran’s A.I. Hostage Crisis

American tech companies have constructed dozens of data centers in the Middle East, all within striking distance of Iran. Recent attacks on A.W.S. facilities in Bahrain and the U.A.E. show how they’ve become geopolitical casualties of the U.S.–Israeli war.

WASHINGTON

Julia Ioffe

The Day After TACO Tuesday

A six-week, $40 billion war paused—sort of—in a self-declared U.S. victory. Except it left the Islamic Republic richer, more entrenched, and newly in control of the Strait of Hormuz.

WASHINGTON

John Heilemann

Jacob’s Ladder

Long before his profane breakout moment after Renee Good’s killing, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was navigating the fault lines of policing, immigration, and the art of resisting federal power in the Trump era.

FASHION

Rachel Strugatz

John Demsey’s American Beauty

While its corporate mothership focuses on an ambitious turnaround, Gap is preparing to revive its once-dominant beauty business for a new generation of customers—while leaning on a roster of high-profile, semi-controversial talent.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

JPMorganChase launched a $1.5 trillion, 10-year plan to facilitate, finance and invest in industries vital to national economic security.

ART

Marion Maneker

The Art Market’s Feminine Mystique

Achieving something close to gender parity in the art market has been an excruciatingly slow process. But as new data from our friends at ARTDAI reveals, female artists of the past 100 years are slowly but surely closing the gap.

HOLLYWOOD

Matthew Belloni

The Lorne Director on Two Years of Exclusive SNL Access

Matt is joined by documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville to talk about his new film, Lorne; what it was like having exclusive access to Lorne Michaels and behind-the-scenes SNL moments for multiple years; what surprised him about Lorne; what he thinks the future of SNL will look like; and more.

SPORTS

Peter Hamby

John Ourand

The Powers that Be Daily, Starring Peter Hamby

ESPN Cuts Deep

John Ourand joins Peter to break down ESPN’s looming layoffs amid the financial fallout from Disney’s carriage dispute with YouTube TV last fall—and whether new C.E.O. Josh D’Amaro would actually consider spinning the network off. Then John explains why the Masters remains TV’s gold-standard rights deal, and why CBS doesn’t appear ready to let go anytime soon.

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