The Week - USA (2021-02-26)

ARTS

22 Books

America’s failed

cyberwar strategy

23 Author of the week

How Vanessa Springora

sparked a cultural

reckoning in France

24 Stage & Music

All the Devils

Are Here offers a

master class in

Shakespearean

villainy

25 Film

Minari’s

elusive

American

dream

NEWS

4 Main stories

Donald Trump acquitted

in impeachment trial;

new Covid-19 variants

detected in the U.S.

6 Controversy of the week

Will the GOP remain the

party of Trump?

7 The U.S. at a glance

Rush Limbaugh dies

of cancer; New York

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s

nursing-home scandal

8 The world at a glance

A legal fi ght over

offensive comedy in

Canada; feminist activist

freed in Saudi Arabia

10 People

Ashley Graham on being

a plus-size role model;

Jon Bon Jovi’s gridiron

clash with Donald Trump

11 Briefi ng

Will renewable energy

sources ever be able to

replace fossil fuels?

12 Best U.S. columns

Tucker Carlson’s

conspiracy theories; a

new Hollywood blacklist

15 Best international

columns

Haiti spirals into a

violent political crisis

16 Talking points

Biden and the southern

border; diagnosing

liberalism’s failures in

California; the Lincoln

Project implodes

LEISURE

27 Food & Drink

A simple, oven-roasted

bang bang chicken; doing

good by ordering takeout

28 Consumer

Essential gear for winter

adventurers; how to get

through a power outage

BUSINESS

32 News at a glance

Citigroup’s $500 million

mistake; Tribune Publishing

sold to hedge fund

33 Making money

A warning about post-

pandemic infl ation; renting

in Zoom boomtowns

34 Best columns

Bitcoin and the crypto

bubble; how McKinsey

fueled the opioid epidemic

Central American migrants cross the border near El Paso, Texas. (p.16)

Ashley
Graham
(p.10)
Re

ute

rs,^

AP

America needs two viable, sane political parties. Parties provide

voters with a coherent choice of governing philosophies, and gal-

vanize people to unite behind an agenda and candidates; without

opposition, any party inevitably falls prey to corruption and ex-

tremism. Liberalism and conservatism are yin and yang, parts of

a whole, each contributing insights and values to guide the zig-

zag path forward. But when parties become enamored with un-

popular and foolish ideas, they can die: The Federalists, the

Whigs, and the Know Nothings all once flourished and then per-

ished. (See The Last Word, p. 36.) Many Republicans— including

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell—now worry that if

their party can’t evolve beyond blind fealty to Donald Trump,

the GOP will also fade into history. (See Controversy, p. 6.)

Many state Republican organizations remain in the grip of

Trumpist extremism. State parties have censured principled con-

servatives such as Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and

Sens. Bill Cassidy and Ben Sasse for voting their consciences

on impeachment. State party chairmen in Wyoming and Texas

are raising the possibility of secession. Michigan Senate Major-

ity Leader Mike Shirkey maintains that the Capitol assault was a

“hoax” that “was all staged” to discredit Trump and his support-

ers. In Virginia, State Sen. Amanda Chase—who describes herself

as “Trump in heels”—is running for governor on a platform that

includes preserving “white history” and Confederate statues. Re-

publican strategist Rick Taylor warns that the post-Trump GOP

is devolving into “a radicalized regional party” with “no lead-

ership and no vision.” The party’s agenda is set by Fox News,

where Tucker Carlson is telling his flock that a cop did not kill

George Floyd, and that shadowy, powerful elites are “lying” to

them about Covid vaccines. The Republican Party can be revived,

but it must first turn back from the Know Noth-

ing path it’s on now, which leads to Knowhere.

Editor’s letter

Contents^3

William Falk

Editor-in-chief

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