A Better Way to Cover Donald Trump Good morning. Elections have consequences, as they say, and that’s clear from Donald Trump confirming plans to have the US military carry out mass deportations, as Eric Lutz writes, and from the cast of characters landing critical roles in the administration, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, and Matt Gaetz.
Caitlin Dewey digs into claims that the House Ethics Committee has been informed that Gaetz, the prospective attorney general, attended “sex parties” with illegal drugs and underage girls, while Bess Levin finds Kennedy, who could radically transform public health, sharing McDonald’s “poison” with his new boss.
It’s been a blizzard of transition news, complete with reports of internal tensions and scandals—not unlike what we witnessed eight years ago. In reflecting on coverage the first time around, Molly Jong-Fast urges the media to resist getting wrapped up in every outrage and insult in order to stay clear-eyed about the most pressing threats to America’s democratic institutions.
Meanwhile, Democrats looking for bright spots in the 2024 election are turning to New York, where the party flipped four congressional seats. After a poor showing in the 2022 midterms, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries tells Chris Smith that Democrats were committed “that if New York had become a battleground state, it was important to have a battleground-state Democratic Party. That’s exactly what we set out to do.” Thanks for reading.
—Michael Calderone, editor |
