The Washington Post - USA (2020-08-03)

KLMNO

Style

MONDAY, AUGUST 3 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/STYLE EZ RE C

CAROLYN HAX

Advice foraguy withafiancee andaworkplace crush. C4

TELEVISION

Director Catherine Hardwickeonher Qu ibisci-fi series. C5

KIDSPOST

Tell us how you’re spendingthisverydiffere nt summer. C8

BYMAUREENCORRIGAN

Neveronceinthe historyof

domesticsuspensetales—from

James M. Cain’s “Mildred Pierce”

to LianeMoriarty’s“Big Little

Lies” —has afictionalfamily

turnedout to be as “good”asit

firstappears. So we savvy readers

knowfromthe get-gothatthe

title ofA.H. Kim’sdebutthriller,

“A Good Family,”mustbeironic.

Sure, theMin-L indstroms may

lookclose to perfect: likethe faux

families in those OldNavy and

Cheerios ads, they’re good-look-

ing,well-offand multiracial (spe-

cifically, Koreanand Swedish).

And,justlikethe familiesin

thosecommercials, theMin-

Lindstromsare toogoodto be

true.

“A Good Family”opens and

closesatthe Min-Lindstromfam-

ily reunionatLeRefuge, a

sprawlingvacation house on the

Chesapeake Baythat’sbeen fea-

tured in the SundayNew York

Times.Le Refugebelongs to Beth

Lindstrom, apharmaceutical

companyexecutiv ewho gener-

ates thebig bucks, andSam Min,

acountryclubgolf coach who

doesn’t.Their twoyoungdaugh-

tersare partofthe scrumof

cousinshoused in abarnlike

luxuryoutbuilding ontheprop-

erty.Alsoatthe reunion are

SEE BOOK WORLD ON C5

BYPAULFARHI

Bricio Segovia has less than a

month before his time is up. With

his visa settoexpireat the end of

August, the Voice of America

reporter will be obligated to leave

the United States andgo back to

Spain, his native country.

Under normal circumstances,

Segovia wouldn’t have to worry

about losing his job at VOA,

where he has covered the White

House for thegovernment-fund-

ed news organization’s Latin

Americanservice for the pasttwo

years.Fordecades,VOA’sforeign

staffhaveroutinely had their

visas renewed byVOA’sparent

organization, enabling them to

fill jobs for which theyhave

specialexperience andexpertise.

But the newchief executive of

VOA’sparent agency, aTrump

appointee namedMichaelPack,

has stopped renewing visas, leav-

ing 76VOAemployees likeSegov-

ia facing imminent removal —

and undermining the agency’s

abilitytodeliver news to non-

English-speakingaudiences

around the world,staffers argue.

Pack hasn’t saidwhy.

“Weare here because we

worked for it, by the merits,

legally,” says Segovia, anexperi-

enced journalistwho speaks sev-

en languages. “I feel frustrated

becauseIcan’t getananswer

fromMr.Pack, andsad because

we know this will hurtVOA.At

the end of the day, we’rehere

because we love this country. It is

SEE VOICE ON C8

Journalists

at VOA face

ouster after

loss of visas

Trump appointee silent

on action, which could

put some staffers in peril

BOOK WORLD

This ‘Good

Family’ will

keep you

guessing

AGOOD

FAMILY

By A.H.Kim

Graydon House.

352pp. $17.99

Whichexplains the spectacular rise of the Lincoln

Project,agroup of RepublicanNever Trumpers who have

moved rent-free into the president’s head.Their viral

videos andtweets mocking his leadership, his intelligence

and his patriotism—aimed bothat Republican voters who

are wavering andTrump himself—haveattracted millions

of dollars, via donors from both parties.More than 10,000

peopleattended avirtu al town hall lastmonth and

another 80,000 watched it onalive stream. Lifelong

Democratsare organizing fundraisers for the project.

SEE LINCOLN PROJECT ON C2

BYROXANNEROBERTS

Their goal: Troll Trump

Hopingtodrivethepresidentoutofoffice,ateamofRepublicanactivists

iscreatingthemosttalked-aboutadsofthe 2020 campaign

Y

our house is onfire. Do you care who the

firemen are?

That is acentral question of the 2020

election. DonaldTrump has managed to do

one thing no other president has done:

Bring Republicans and Democrats, conser-

vatives and progressives, boomers and mil-

lennials together in unprecedented numbers to tryto

defeathim inNovember.For Americans who believe the

president isaraging threattodemocracy, puritytests are

out. Results are in.

BYBETHONIEBUTLER

Since the release of her self-as-
sured mix tape “Fever”lastMay,
Megan Thee Stallion has ascend-
ed toalevel of fame thatisrare
foremergingrappers—and rarer
still for women who takeonthe
male-dominatedgenre.TheIn-
ternethas been integral to her
rise:It’s where many fansfirst
discovered the freestyle thatput
her on the map; whereMegan
posts playful videos shouting out
her mostloyal supporters
(dubbed“hotties”); and where
“Savage,” the third single from
her mostrecent EP,inspired a
TikTok challengethathelped cat-
apult the seductive anthem —
boosted byaremix featuring Be-

yoncé—tothe top spot on the

Billboard 100 chart.

ButMegan’s online presence

tookasolemn turn lastmonth as

therapper (born Megan Pete)

shared harrowing accounts of be-

ing shot several weeks ago. She

firstrecounted the “traumatic

night”inaJuly 15Instagram post,

days after TMZ reported therap-

per’s feethad been injured during

an alleged altercation outside a

HollywoodHills mansion. The

LosAngelesPolice Department

has released scant details about

SEE MEGAN ON C3

Megan Thee Stallion

reclaims apainful story

ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES FOR DICK CLARK PRODUCTIONS

MeganThee Stallion, seenin

November,recounted on social

mediathe“traumaticnight”

that shewas shot.

WASHINGTON POST STAFF ILLUSTRATION; CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES; BRAD BARKET/GETTY IMAGES FOR FAST COMPANY; MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES; ISTOCK

GeorgeT. ConwayIII,RickWilson and Steve Schmidtare among the founders

of theLincolnProject, agroupof Republicans in support of JoeBiden.