The New York Times - USA (2020-11-15)

LIFESTYLE RELATIONSHIPS SOCIETY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020

4 PRESIDENTIAL PETS

Dogs to make a White House

comeback. BY BONNIE WERTHEIM

4 POLITICAL SYMBOLS

What’s next for the MAGA

hat? BY JOHN HERRMAN

6 MODERN LOVE

His picture, yes, but not his

profile. BY MICHAEL McALLISTER

13 FIELD NOTES

Wedding gifts for online

events. BY DANIELLE BRAFF

“Black women did that,” said Abby Phillip, a

CNN political correspondent.

It was Nov. 6, and Ms. Phillip, 31, was sit-

ting screen-left of Jake Tapper, CNN’s chief

Washington correspondent, and Dana

Bash, the network’s chief political corre-

spondent, narrating for America what the

vote tallies coming in from Georgia and

Pennsylvania were indicating and, perhaps

more important, what they were signifying.

“For Black women, this has been really a

proving moment for their political strength,

in carrying Joe Biden to the Democratic

nomination through the primary,” she said.

It was the day before victory would be de-

clared for Mr. Biden and Senator Kamala

Harris, and three long days after Election

Day, this year more of a capstone to a voting

season. It was a year in which the treatment

of Black women (Breonna Taylor) and the

political capital of Black women (Stacey

Abrams and voters) had dominated news

cycles. Along with a health pandemic that

has disproportionately affected people of

color, punctuated by a sweeping movement

for racial justice.

In the 52 hours over five days that the

three would hold court at that desk, there

had been plenty of hot takes to fill the air-

time. But as Ms. Phillip took command of

this particular moment, pablum gave way

to prose — or to a “historical poetry,” as she

called it: recited in a slow, deliberate ca-

Abby Phillip

Is Next-Gen

For CNN

The correspondent gets her

star-is-born moment during

coverage of the election.

By KATHERINE ROSMAN

At Harvard, Abby Phillip first planned to study

medicine before she turned to journalism.

NATE PALMER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

“Nobody’s sorry to see someone say some-

thing nice,” said Savannah Guthrie, the 48-

year-old co-host of the “Today” show. “But I

also see people say things that aren’t nice.

I try not to let any of it in. It’s not reality.”

This was a week after Ms. Guthrie moder-

ated a hastily scheduled Oct. 15 conversa-

tion with President Trump. During an event

that many argued shouldn’t have taken

place, in a manner that was both disarming

and hard-charging, she had done what

many thought impossible: humbled, even

humiliated, a man who had steamrollered

his way to power, belittling journalists along

the way.

In an impersonation, Kate McKinnon, in-

house master mimic at “Saturday Night

Live,” labeled Ms. Guthrie a “surprise

badass.” In the weeks that followed, few

have argued with that assessment.

“They were actually really simple,” Ms.

Guthrie said of her questions that night, sit-

ting outside a Le Pain Quotidien in TriBeCa,

not far from the home she shares with her

second husband, the communications con-

sultant Michael Feldman, and their two

children. “I’m just really grateful and re-

lived that it was OK because it could have

gone the other way so easily.”

Looking back on the crucial turning

points of this dizzying election, voters —

and historians — will surely remember Ms.

Guthrie in a hot-pink pantsuit sitting 12 feet

She Has Questions

And Savannah Guthrie wants answers, as the president and her NBC viewers

know. While considering herself lucky, she also does her homework.

Savannah Guthrie, above,

a co-host of the “Today”

show on NBC and a

presidential inquisitor.

By SRIDHAR PAPPU

YAEL MALKA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

The votes are in: Hasan Piker

won big on Twitch. Page 8.

Growing Audience

For Political Views

GETTY IMAGES FOR POLITICON