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Leigh Ann Caldwell, Julia Ioffe, Peter Hamby, Abby Livingston & John Heilemann
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Sunday through Thursday
Puck’s daily political newsletter from Washington—featuring Leigh Ann Caldwell, Julia Ioffe, Peter Hamby, Abby Livingston, and John Heilemann—on what’s really happening in this town, from the White House to the Pentagon to Capitol Hill, K Street, and the campaign trail.
THE LATEST ARTICLES
Julia Ioffe
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August 25, 2022
Who Killed Dasha Dugina?
The fire from the car bomb targeting Putin’s arch-propagandist hadn’t been extinguished before the speculation began: who could’ve come for Dugina? The Ukrainians? The F.S.B.? And, more importantly, why?
Julia Ioffe
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August 23, 2022
Putin’s Surprise Triumph of the Will
Six months into the invasion of Ukraine, it turns out that Putin kept his warlike intentions to himself—away from his ministers and presidential aides—until the very last moment. And yet now his war is more popular than ever in the motherland.
Julia Ioffe
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August 16, 2022
The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu
News of the ex-president’s unsecured intel stash is triggering national-security P.T.S.D. all over this town. The man who tormented their sleep for years, it turns out, might still have the nuclear codes after all.
Julia Ioffe
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August 9, 2022
Defund… the F.B.I.?
The raid on Mar-a-Lago has re-opened MAGA tensions with an institution that some on the right associate with Comey, Russiagate, and so forth. But it’s ironic how Republicans are applying the same anti-police rhetoric they once shamed liberals for using.
Julia Ioffe
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August 2, 2022
Pelosi’s Last Cold War & The Griner Prisoner Dilemma
The Speaker’s trip to Taipei is the latest, and possibly the final hawkish turn in her three decade conflict with Beijing. (“She wants to stick it to China,” as one person put it.) Meanwhile in Washington, the Biden administration faces a lose-lose negotiation with Moscow.
Julia Ioffe
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July 26, 2022
Aspen’s World War III Rumblings
During a few days in bucolic Aspen, Beijing’s envoy to the U.S. summarily defended China’s designs on Taiwan and Hong Kong, stood up for Putin, eye-poked Biden, and scared the bejesus out of the otherwise clubby U.S. foreign policy community.
Julia Ioffe
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July 20, 2022
This Town, Revisited
A candid catch-up with Mark Leibovich, Washington’s preferred bard and the author of Thank You For Your Servitude, on Bubble World, D.C. appeasement, Liz Cheney, and the modern G.O.P.
Julia Ioffe
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July 12, 2022
The Trials of Brittney Griner
Griner—Black, American, gay—has become ensnared in a Russian penal system that effectively makes her Putin’s personal prisoner, and, potentially, a geopolitical pawn in the Ukraine war. So far, it doesn’t seem she’ll be released anytime soon.
Julia Ioffe
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July 5, 2022
Europe Braces for Life After Biden
Last week’s Bavaria-Brussels-NATO schmoozefest was haunted by fears that there will be no second Biden term—and that the return of America-first isolationism will soon leave Europe at Putin’s mercy.
Julia Ioffe
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June 28, 2022
The G.O.P. Inside Conversation on Roe
During the past few days, I’ve been talking to Republican operatives across D.C. They were all careful not to gloat, but they’ve also been shocked at how little the Democratic Party is doing to fight back.
