Todd S. Purdum
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Donald Trump’s Absentee Presidency
The New York billionaire seems unable to comfort the nation in times of tragedy or celebrate its moments of triumph.
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Bob Gomel / The LIFE Images Collection / ... When the Senate Was Civil and Bipartisan
The upper chamber passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a 73–27 margin, with 27 Republican votes.
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic / Everett Collection ... The Long Hollywood History of A Star Is Born
Each iteration of the classic film is transcendent in its own way. Barbra Streisand, who starred in the 1976 version, says the appeal is simple: “Stardom can be fleeting. There’s always someone new coming up to displace you.”
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Robert Galbraith / Reuters The 'Queen of Green's' Coming Bout With Trump
Now that she can see the Hollywood sign from her front lawn, Mary D. Nichols isn’t about to let President Trump roll back California’s strict auto-emissions standards.
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Jim Bourg / Reuters A Rare ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ in the Senate
Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination seemed poised to advance until Senators Jeff Flake and Chris Coons shook hands on a deal calling the FBI back for further review.
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Jim Bourg / Reuters Brett Kavanaugh’s Gale-Force Partisan Defense
In angry, emotional testimony, the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh denounced Democrats for what he said was a conspiracy to destroy him.
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John Moore / Getty President Trump’s Surreal News Conference Didn’t Do Kavanaugh Any Favors
The president says he'll listen to the women accusing his Supreme Court nominee of sexual misconduct. His caveat: Women “made false statements about me.”
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Evan Vucci / AP The Saddest Part of the Anonymous New York Times Op-Ed
The writer justifies continued service in the Trump administration by citing relatively trivial policy wins. Daniel Ellsberg, this is not.
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Joshua Roberts / Reuters ‘We Gather Here to Mourn the Passing of American Greatness’
Meghan McCain electrified the congregation with a tear-filled eulogy in which she drew razor-sharp contrasts between her father, Senator John McCain of Arizona, and a president conspicuous by his absence.
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Win McNamee / Reuters John McCain and the Lost Art of Decency
In decades of covering politics, I’ve encountered no one else with McCain’s unflinching combination of bracing candor, impossibly high standards, and rueful self-recrimination.
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Jim Acosta’s Dangerous Brand of Performance Journalism
The CNN reporter is speaking truth to power—but he’s also amplifying the president’s anti-press campaign.
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Lucy Nicholson / Reuters A Star Is Broken (and Then Reborn)
Within the space of a day, Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was vandalized, and then quickly replaced.
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Denis Poroy / AP This Isn’t Dianne Feinstein’s Democratic Party
The longtime senator from California is likely to win reelection. But the state’s liberal, antiestablishment wing is already winning the future.
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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters The Worst Russia Blunder in 70 Years
The president’s absolution of Putin will stand as the most surreal moment in 70 years of Russian-American relations, and maybe the most bizarre and troubling utterance by any chief executive in American history.
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Bettmann / Getty Remembering ‘Big Nancy’ Sinatra
The first wife of Frank Sinatra, who died at age 101, pre-dated the invasions of fame, and survived with grace what came next.
