McKay Coppins

Pence in the Wings

President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis in the final weeks of the 2020 election puts the vice president under a microscope.

• McKay Coppins
• October 3, 2020

Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters

Former aides say that in private, the president has spoken with cynicism and contempt about believers.

• McKay Coppins
• September 29, 2020

The Red State That Isn’t Worried About a Mail-In Election

Utah has thoroughly embraced voting by mail with no problems. Why can’t the rest of the country follow suit?

• McKay Coppins
• August 29, 2020

A Carnival of Disinformation

Republicans warmly welcomed voters into their post-truth convention.

• McKay Coppins
• August 28, 2020

Larry Hogan Isn’t Coming to Save the Republican Party

The governor of Maryland is betting his future on a kinder, gentler post-Trump GOP. Good luck with that.

• McKay Coppins
• July 23, 2020

Why Romney Marched

The path that led the Republican senator to march in a Black Lives Matter protest began half a century ago with his father.

• McKay Coppins
• June 8, 2020

The Christians Who Loved Trump’s Stunt

The president’s photo op outside St. John’s Church was emblematic of his appeal to the religious right.

• McKay Coppins
• June 2, 2020

I Just Flew. It Was Worse Than I Thought It Would Be.

The surreal experience of flying during a pandemic, and the false promise of a return to normal

• McKay Coppins
• May 8, 2020

False Prophet

Media-bashing robocalls, chloroquine Twitter trolls, briefing-room propaganda—how the president and his allies are trying to convince America he was right all along.

• McKay Coppins
• April 15, 2020

The Social-Distancing Culture War Has Begun

Across the country, social distancing is morphing from a public-health to political act. The consequences could be disastrous.

• McKay Coppins
• March 30, 2020

The Stockpile of Food in My Garage

As I hunker down at home with my family amid a global pandemic, I have a new appreciation for a strange religious tradition.  

• McKay Coppins
• March 19, 2020

Trump’s Dangerously Effective Coronavirus Propaganda

The president’s effort to play down the pandemic is being amplified by a coalition of partisan media, digital propagandists, and White House officials.

• McKay Coppins
• March 11, 2020

How Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty

Comparing the president’s behavior to that of an autocrat, the Republican senator explains to The Atlantic why he’s voting to convict him.

• McKay Coppins
• February 5, 2020

The Conservatives Trying to Ditch Fake News

The Dispatch wants to sell serious, fact-based stories to the right. But do readers want them?

• McKay Coppins
• January 31, 2020

The Liberation of Mitt Romney

The newly rebellious senator has become an outspoken dissident in Trump’s Republican Party, just in time for the president’s impeachment trial.

• McKay Coppins
• October 20, 2019

When a Vice President Becomes a Threat

The fragility of Mike Pence’s partnership with Donald Trump could soon be on high display.

• McKay Coppins
• October 4, 2019

America’s Trumpiest Ambassador

To conservatives, Richard Grenell is the poster child of a Trumpian foreign policy. To critics, he is a shallow ideologue.

• Noah Barkin and McKay Coppins
• September 27, 2019

Impeachment Will Take Trump to a New Frontier of Haterdom

Victimhood is at the core of the president’s identity—and it’s likely to shape his approach to the coming battle.

• McKay Coppins
• September 27, 2019