Tag: press conference
How Trump’s Veto on Border Security Empowers Mexico
In early January, I drove along the Pan-American Highway in the scenic Mexican state of Oaxaca. On the opposite side of the road, the Mexican National Guard had erected a temporary roadblock. A line of cars heading north had halted. Uniformed officers walked down the line, questioning drivers. They were searching for migrants bound for the United States.
A few hours later, I returned by the same route. I braced myself for the obstruction and delay. There was none. The
What Is No Labels’ Grand Plan?
“We are in this to win it,” No Labels’ chief strategist, Ryan Clancy, told me one morning earlier this month. Clancy and 16 other representatives of the beleaguered centrist group were staring at me through their respective Zoom boxes during a private briefing, electoral maps and polling data at the ready, all in defense of their quest to alter the course of the 2024 presidential campaign.
He continued: “And that’s a function not only of having a ticket eventually
The Conflict in Gaza Is Polarizing Britain
How do you decide who owns a country? At 10:30 this morning in London, a group of black-clad men were gathered about 100 meters from the Cenotaph, Britain’s most famous war memorial. They were chanting. “We want our country back,” went one refrain, followed by “You’re not English, you’re not English, you’re not English anymore.”
This group was—as another of their chants put it—“Tommy’s Army.” That refers to Tommy Robinson, the pseudonym of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a convicted mortgage fraudster who
How a Muslim Movie Star Triumphed in Hindu-Nationalist India
In early September, Jawan, or “Soldier,” Indian cinema’s latest mega-budget extravaganza, registered the highest opening-day gross in Bollywood history. The film’s success cemented the remarkable renaissance of Shah Rukh Khan, the country’s biggest movie star, after a turbulent phase in the era of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
To greet the movie’s arrival, boisterous drum parades—akin to the festivities of a wedding procession—set off from various neighborhoods to catch an opening-day screening. Outside cinemas, fans poured milk over giant
Israel’s Judicial Reform and Protests
Israel in the past six months has felt like a madhouse, a political protest the size of New Jersey, an unending traffic jam, a lab for bad ideas, a glimpse of the future of Western democracy in the social-media age. It has also been a classroom, even for those of us who think we’re experts. I’ve lived and written here for nearly 30 years. But as I stood among thousands of other protesters outside the Knesset on Monday, the midday
Are Suburbs the Future? – The Atlantic
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
Question of the Week
What are your thoughts on cities versus suburbs?
Feel free to discuss their past, present, or future; their pluses and minuses; their respective roles in American life; or where you choose to live and why. As
Gordon Sondland, The Only Ambivalent-About-Trump Pundit
From 2017 to 2021, a string of businessmen with long, lucrative careers entered government service and left with their reputations tarnished. Rex Tillerson was a world-bestriding CEO who found himself hated by both his new boss and his new employees. Steven Mnuchin, a successful though largely anonymous moneyman, developed an image as a sloppy supervillain. President Donald Trump was arguably the paragon of the class, transforming himself from a famous personality to an infamous threat to democracy.
Gordon Sondland was
Is Biden a Man Out of Time?
The White House’s response to last week’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which in 1973 established a constitutional right to abortion, once again has exposed the tension between the conciliatory instincts President Joe Biden developed during his long career in Washington, D.C., and the ferocity of the modern combat between the two major political parties.
An array of frustrated Democrats this week openly complained that Biden and other administration officials had failed, in their initial reactions to
What Happens When the Police Don’t Care?
A glimpse of my phone’s photo roll: cherubic child proudly displaying the treats he snuck into the grocery basket; black sedan with no license plates; kid in restaurant sticking his tongue out; red Nissan Altima with Florida plates blocking crosswalk; child posing with friend on Coney Island boardwalk; white Chevy Suburban with New York City Transit Authority parking placard blocking fire hydrant.
The child is mine. Those photos are mostly for Grandma. The vehicles are not mine. Those photos are
Will Gavin Newsom Lose California’s Recall Election?
We did not meet at the French Laundry.
Gavin Newsom, the California governor who faces a recall election on September 14, hasn’t been back to the extravagantly expensive Napa Valley restaurant since he dined there with lobbyists last year in violation of his own COVID-19 restrictions. We met instead at a café in a nonprofit bookstore in the Mission District—much more on message.
Newsom had just made the first stop on his Delta-constrained campaign to persuade Californians to vote