Putin’s Missile Crisis, Hakeemology, Another Crypto Casualty

Welcome back to the Daily Courant, presenting the latest best work at Puck.

Today, we lead with Tara Palmeri’s pocket guide to Hakeem Jeffries, the enigmatic, hyper-connected House successor to Nancy Pelosi, as told via one of his closest confidants.

Plus, below the fold, Teddy Schleifer breaks the news of another S.B.F. casualty. Julia Ioffe joins Peter Hamby to discuss the critical global weapons shortage that no one wants to talk about. Then Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw debate the biggest problems on Disney’s plate in the Bob Iger era.

TARA PALMERI

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.

TEDDY SCHLEIFER

Sean McElwee, the ur-connected political operative, is the latest to get singed by the FTX scandal following a no-confidence vote at Data for Progress. His exit speaks volumes, not only about Sam Bankman-Fried, but about the power of social media contagion.

PETER HAMBY, JULIA IOFFE, BEN LANDY, & TEDDY SCHLEIFER

Julia Ioffe joins Peter Hamby to discuss the critical global weapons shortage that no one wants to talk about. Then Ben Landy and Teddy Schleifer get into the next round of S.B.F. intrigue.

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss the biggest problems on Disney’s plate in the Bob Iger Era, from the recent box office slump to stalling subscriber growth at Disney+.