newyorker--2020-02-12--The New Hampshire Results Signal a Long Nationwide Democratic Battle

On Tuesday morning , Roger Lau , the campaign manager for Elizabeth Warren ’ s Presidential bid , sent a lengthy memorandum to Warren ’ s campaign workers and the media .
“ The road to the Democratic nomination is not paved with statewide winner-take-all victories , ” Lau wrote .
It is “ a district-by-district contest for pledged delegates awarded proportionally .
It ’ s not a straightforward narrative captured by glancing at a map , and the process won ’ t be decided by the simple horse race numbers in clickbait headlines.
” Hours after this memo was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the New Hampshire primary , recording just 9.5 per cent of the vote—a result that raised grave doubts about the onetime front-runner ’ s ability to endure the sort of lengthy nationwide battle for delegates that Lau described .
Despite Warren ’ s eclipse , however , the points Lau made are crucial to keep in mind when assessing the state of the Democratic race after Iowa and New Hampshire .
After winning the popular vote in the first two contests , Bernie Sanders has seen off the challenge from Warren on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a front-runner .
As I mentioned last week , after the Iowa caucuses , many observers underestimated him .
Still , in New Hampshire , as in Iowa , Sanders ’ s margin of victory over Pete Buttigieg was a narrow one : about four thousand votes , or 1.5 percentage points .
And , thanks to the quirks of the Iowa caucuses , Buttigieg is still ahead in the delegate count .
According to CNN , Buttigieg now has twenty-three delegates , Sanders has twenty-one , Warren has eight , and Amy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ third place in New Hampshire , has seven .
With 1,990 pledged delegates required to clinch the Democratic nomination , the candidates have barely crossed the starting line .
To win , Sanders , Buttigieg—or anyone else—will almost certainly have to grind it out until early June , when the final primaries will take place .
But that doesn ’ t mean the remaining candidates have a lot of time to get organized on a national level .
To the contrary , the timetable is about to speed up dramatically .
From New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nevada , which votes on February 22nd , and South Carolina , which votes a week later .
Then it goes into Super Tuesday , March 3rd , when fourteen states—Alabama , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Maine , Massachusetts , Minnesota , North Carolina , Oklahoma , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , and Virginia—will vote .
Seven days later , six more states will vote : Idaho , Michigan , Mississippi , Missouri , North Dakota , and Washington .
A month from now , almost half of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This compressed timetable favors a candidate who has four things : a clear message , a lot of money ( to pay for staffers and advertising ) , a national network of supporters , and a diverse set of voters .
At this stage , it ’ s not clear if any of the leading candidates check all of these boxes .
Sanders comes the closest .
As he pointed out in his victory speech on Tuesday night , he is the one Democrat with a nationwide grassroots movement .
He raised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 2019 .
His message is crystal clear .
As he said in his speech , he wants to create “ an economy and a government that works for all of us , not wealthy campaign contributors.
” The question for Sanders is how far he can enlarge his support beyond his base of young voters and left-leaning progressives .
In the New Hampshire primary four years ago , the senator from neighboring Vermont got about sixty per cent of the vote ; this year , he got about twenty-six per cent .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ got far more votes than Sanders did .
Now he moves on to compete in places that are far more diverse than Iowa and New Hampshire .
This time around , his campaign has made a big effort to reach out to African-Americans , Latinos , and other minority groups .
After Iowa , his supporters pointed to the gains he had made in that state ’ s Hispanic community and among other immigrants .
In the next couple of weeks , we will learn how successful the Sanders outreach efforts have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are minor compared to those facing the candidates he bested in New Hampshire .
Buttigieg certainly has money and a message , which is that he ’ s young , uncorrupted by Washington , and palatable to many different types of voters .
In New Hampshire , he attracted support from voters in a number of different demographics .
Citing a network exit poll , NBC News reported that “ his 23 percent support among college graduates put him right behind Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders , and he placed second behind Sanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Buttigieg also placed a close second behind Klobuchar among voters age 45 and over .
And Buttigieg beat out the field among women voters by a narrow margin and placed second behind Sanders among men.
” Coming out of Iowa , it looked as though Buttigieg was consolidating the support of center-left and moderate primary participants .
In New Hampshire , he again demonstrated an ability to pick up votes across various demographics .
Klobuchar ’ s surge muddied the picture a bit .
Coming off a strong performance in Friday ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot of ex-Biden supporters .
Among voters who made their decision in the last few days , Klobuchar got thirty per cent of the vote , according to the exit poll .
After struggling for months to break through , she will now get a good deal more media attention .
But , as the race goes coast to coast , neither Buttigieg nor Klobuchar has much in the way of a national network , and thus far they have both struggled to attract support from Latinos , African-Americans , and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roles in Nevada , South Carolina , and the states beyond .
( It is surely the candidates ’ weakness in this regard that persuaded Joe Biden , who got just 8.4 per cent of the vote in New Hampshire , to stay in the race—at least for now . )
Also looming over the Not Bernie contenders is Michael Bloomberg , with his staggering advertising budget—according to some accounts , he ’ s already spent about three hundred million dollars , more than the rest of the field combined .
After sitting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is set to properly join the race on Super Tuesday .
Right now , Bloomberg must be smiling to himself in his East Seventy-ninth Street townhouse .
With Biden ’ s support collapsing , Sanders emerging as the front-runner , and Buttigieg and Klobuchar dividing the moderate vote , the former three-term mayor of New York could hardly have drawn up a scenario more amenable to him .
But Bloomberg , too , will face tests ahead .
After he gets into the race for real , his opponents and the media will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from unblemished .
There are questions about how effective he will be as a candidate in the flesh , as opposed to one who appears in paid ads .
He turns seventy-eight this weekend , and hasn ’ t competed in an election for eleven years .
The online prediction markets , for what they are worth , are indicating that Sanders now has about a fifty-per-cent chance of getting the nomination .
But FiveThirtyEight ’ s forecasting model is suggesting that there is a one-in-three chance that no candidate will obtain a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could lead to a brokered convention .
In short , there is still a great deal of uncertainty , and a lot more sorting to be done .
The Nevada caucuses are in ten days .
See the election results from the New Hampshire primary .
“ This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump !
” Bernie Sanders said , at a primary-night party in New Hampshire .
Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary , but his performance was not as impressive as it was in 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump tried to make trouble for the Democrats .
In New Hampshire , Sanders and Warren promise bold , fundamental change .
But they struggle to conjure a vision of America that aggressively counters Trump ’ s .
After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa , Joe Biden is struggling in New Hampshire .

On Tuesday morning, Roger Lau, the campaign manager for Elizabeth Warren’s Presidential bid, sent a lengthy memorandum to Warren’s campaign workers and the media. “The road to the Democratic nomination is not paved with statewide winner-take-all victories,” Lau wrote. It is “a district-by-district contest for pledged delegates awarded proportionally. It’s not a straightforward narrative captured by glancing at a map, and the process won’t be decided by the simple horse race numbers in clickbait headlines.”
Hours after this memo was sent, Warren suffered a crushing disappointment in the New Hampshire primary, recording just 9.5 per cent of the vote—a result that raised grave doubts about the onetime front-runner’s ability to endure the sort of lengthy nationwide battle for delegates that Lau described. Despite Warren’s eclipse, however, the points Lau made are crucial to keep in mind when assessing the state of the Democratic race after Iowa and New Hampshire.
After winning the popular vote in the first two contests, Bernie Sanders has seen off the challenge from Warren on the left and consolidated his position as a front-runner. As I mentioned last week, after the Iowa caucuses, many observers underestimated him. Still, in New Hampshire, as in Iowa, Sanders’s margin of victory over Pete Buttigieg was a narrow one: about four thousand votes, or 1.5 percentage points. And, thanks to the quirks of the Iowa caucuses, Buttigieg is still ahead in the delegate count. According to CNN, Buttigieg now has twenty-three delegates, Sanders has twenty-one, Warren has eight, and Amy Klobuchar, who came in a strong third place in New Hampshire, has seven.
With 1,990 pledged delegates required to clinch the Democratic nomination, the candidates have barely crossed the starting line. To win, Sanders, Buttigieg—or anyone else—will almost certainly have to grind it out until early June, when the final primaries will take place. But that doesn’t mean the remaining candidates have a lot of time to get organized on a national level. To the contrary, the timetable is about to speed up dramatically.
From New Hampshire, the race moves on to Nevada, which votes on February 22nd, and South Carolina, which votes a week later. Then it goes into Super Tuesday, March 3rd, when fourteen states—Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia—will vote. Seven days later, six more states will vote: Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and Washington.
A month from now, almost half of the pledged delegates will have been chosen. This compressed timetable favors a candidate who has four things: a clear message, a lot of money (to pay for staffers and advertising), a national network of supporters, and a diverse set of voters. At this stage, it’s not clear if any of the leading candidates check all of these boxes.
Sanders comes the closest. As he pointed out in his victory speech on Tuesday night, he is the one Democrat with a nationwide grassroots movement. He raised $34.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. His message is crystal clear. As he said in his speech, he wants to create “an economy and a government that works for all of us, not wealthy campaign contributors.” The question for Sanders is how far he can enlarge his support beyond his base of young voters and left-leaning progressives.
In the New Hampshire primary four years ago, the senator from neighboring Vermont got about sixty per cent of the vote; this year, he got about twenty-six per cent. Buttigieg and Klobuchar, between them, got far more votes than Sanders did. Now he moves on to compete in places that are far more diverse than Iowa and New Hampshire. This time around, his campaign has made a big effort to reach out to African-Americans, Latinos, and other minority groups. After Iowa, his supporters pointed to the gains he had made in that state’s Hispanic community and among other immigrants. In the next couple of weeks, we will learn how successful the Sanders outreach efforts have been elsewhere. But the challenges Sanders faces are minor compared to those facing the candidates he bested in New Hampshire.
Buttigieg certainly has money and a message, which is that he’s young, uncorrupted by Washington, and palatable to many different types of voters. In New Hampshire, he attracted support from voters in a number of different demographics. Citing a network exit poll, NBC News reported that “his 23 percent support among college graduates put him right behind Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders, and he placed second behind Sanders among those without a college degree. Buttigieg also placed a close second behind Klobuchar among voters age 45 and over. And Buttigieg beat out the field among women voters by a narrow margin and placed second behind Sanders among men.”
Coming out of Iowa, it looked as though Buttigieg was consolidating the support of center-left and moderate primary participants. In New Hampshire, he again demonstrated an ability to pick up votes across various demographics. Klobuchar’s surge muddied the picture a bit. Coming off a strong performance in Friday’s debate, she seems to have attracted a lot of ex-Biden supporters. Among voters who made their decision in the last few days, Klobuchar got thirty per cent of the vote, according to the exit poll. After struggling for months to break through, she will now get a good deal more media attention.
But, as the race goes coast to coast, neither Buttigieg nor Klobuchar has much in the way of a national network, and thus far they have both struggled to attract support from Latinos, African-Americans, and other minority groups, who will play crucial roles in Nevada, South Carolina, and the states beyond. (It is surely the candidates’ weakness in this regard that persuaded Joe Biden, who got just 8.4 per cent of the vote in New Hampshire, to stay in the race—at least for now.) Also looming over the Not Bernie contenders is Michael Bloomberg, with his staggering advertising budget—according to some accounts, he’s already spent about three hundred million dollars, more than the rest of the field combined. After sitting out the first four contests, Bloomberg is set to properly join the race on Super Tuesday.
Right now, Bloomberg must be smiling to himself in his East Seventy-ninth Street townhouse. With Biden’s support collapsing, Sanders emerging as the front-runner, and Buttigieg and Klobuchar dividing the moderate vote, the former three-term mayor of New York could hardly have drawn up a scenario more amenable to him. But Bloomberg, too, will face tests ahead. After he gets into the race for real, his opponents and the media will scrutinize his record, which is far from unblemished. There are questions about how effective he will be as a candidate in the flesh, as opposed to one who appears in paid ads. He turns seventy-eight this weekend, and hasn’t competed in an election for eleven years.
The online prediction markets, for what they are worth, are indicating that Sanders now has about a fifty-per-cent chance of getting the nomination. But FiveThirtyEight’s forecasting model is suggesting that there is a one-in-three chance that no candidate will obtain a majority of delegates, an outcome that could lead to a brokered convention. In short, there is still a great deal of uncertainty, and a lot more sorting to be done. The Nevada caucuses are in ten days.
Latest Coverage
See the election results from the New Hampshire primary.
“This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump!” Bernie Sanders said, at a primary-night party in New Hampshire.
Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, but his performance was not as impressive as it was in 2016.
Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Trump tried to make trouble for the Democrats.
In New Hampshire, Sanders and Warren promise bold, fundamental change. But they struggle to conjure a vision of America that aggressively counters Trump’s.
After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa, Joe Biden is struggling in New Hampshire.


newyorker--2020-02-12--Bernie Sanders Wins a Jumbled New Hampshire Primary

The Democratic consultant James Carville spent much of the past week on television , warning , with a Baptist intensity , of what would come if the Democratic Party nominated Bernie Sanders .
“ It ’ ll be the end of days , ” Carville said .
“ I am scared to death .
I really am.
” But in the final rallies and political meetings across New Hampshire , Sanders ’ s rivals barely spoke his name .
In Exeter on Monday , Pete Buttigieg talked of hope ; in a church basement in Gilford , Joe Biden told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had lost his job .
Curious Democrats arrived at Amy Klobuchar ’ s last events , suddenly debating among themselves the merits of Buttigieg , Klobuchar , and Elizabeth Warren .
They didn ’ t settle on one .
The results Tuesday evening broadly echoed those in Iowa : Sanders won about twenty-six per cent of the vote , with Buttigieg following close behind him , at nearly twenty-five per cent , and Klobuchar , with twenty , surprisingly still in the race .
Sanders captured New Hampshire .
Had he also captured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just yet .
By the end of the evening , the race remained as unsettled as it was before .
In 2016 , Sanders won sixty per cent of the vote in New Hampshire ; this time , his totals were less than half that .
Sanders is running a slightly different campaign this time : more focussed in its messaging and more conventional in its preoccupations .
“ Bernie Beats Trump ” is the slogan now , a declaration of electability .
There ’ s a slightly different coalition , too .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ areas of Iowa and New Hampshire .
This time , he lost many of those , to Buttigieg and Klobuchar , but held the six largest cities in the state .
His margins among young voters are vast .
The Democratic Party is , more than ever , an urban one , and Sanders ’ s victories in the midsize cities of Iowa and New Hampshire are a good sign for how he might perform in the country ’ s biggest cities .
If the Party looked like it was headed toward Sanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heading away from Barack Obama , whose Secretary of State lost the last Presidential election to Donald Trump and whose Vice-President is in danger of losing this one far earlier .
Biden ’ s weakness has been clear since the first contest of the year , if not much longer .
Even so , Obama ’ s longtime spokesman Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC that it ’ s “ stunning to see him in fifth.
” It was maybe not so stunning to Biden , who flew out of New Hampshire early tonight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
His hopes hinge now on the enthusiasm of the Southern African-American voters who supported Obama and seemed inclined to support him .
But even in South Carolina the polls have been narrowing , with some of Biden ’ s support abandoning him for the billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer , who together have spent more than three hundred million dollars on television ads , whereas Biden has spent ten million dollars .
Biden is asking for a lot of loyalty .
Suddenly , the primary in South Carolina , on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the contests in the Southern states , in general , seem much less certain—and more interesting .
In Iowa , the story turned out to be the undemocratic disarray of the caucuses .
In New Hampshire , it was the roving , often frantic , eye of its voters , who stopped reporters outside rallies to ask what they were seeing on the trail , who switched from Biden to Warren to Buttigieg based on poll and rumor and feel—the idea being to beat Trump , whatever would do the trick .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was how many voters turned toward Klobuchar , who has neither a signature policy idea nor a novel way of describing the problems facing the country .
However , she did adeptly point out , in Friday ’ s debate , that the progressive plans for remaking the health-care economy might not be realistic and that centrists might be naïve to invest their hopes in the inexperienced Buttigieg .
On the stump this week , she emphasized that she had won in red districts all over Minnesota ( “ including Michele Bachmann @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and , suddenly , she rose from fifth place to third .
On Monday night , Sanders filled an arena in Durham with seventy-five hundred people for a rally headlined by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Strokes ( all of them New Yorkers ) .
Klobuchar drew some two hundred people to an American Legion hall in Rochester , where , outside , there were a dozen small signs saying “ Amy for America ” and one huge one saying “ Play Keno.
” It seemed a little strange , given the formidable operations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that Klobuchar could surge to a full fifth of the vote in the last couple of days .
Maybe that is just New Hampshire .
Or maybe the race is that unstable .
The mainstream Democratic candidates collectively have earned about two-thirds of the votes in New Hampshire and Iowa , and the progressives have earned a third .
One plausible theory is that the anti-Sanders faction simply has a coördination problem , and that , once it decides which candidate should speak for the moderate majority , that candidate will sweep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faction ?
This week in New Hampshire , Buttigieg , Klobuchar , and Biden didn ’ t sound like they had all that much in common .
You could drive from a Buttigieg rally , where the vision was of a society spinning eagerly out into the future , to a Biden or Klobuchar one , where the stories were about miners and salesmen and the ethos was of an entrenchment in the past .
In any case , the time for the moderate Democrats to unite may be ending .
Bloomberg , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is already up to third place in some national polls , so the coming contest for the soul of the Democratic Party may be between two figures who , until very recently , were not Democrats at all .
Warren , who long seemed the pivotal figure in the race , the link between the Sanders faction and the rest , conceded early tonight , with vote totals around ten per cent .
Earlier in the afternoon , her campaign had circulated a memo insisting that she had a clear path to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cancelling television ads in South Carolina .
There have been some valedictory notes to Warren ’ s campaign this past week—a crowd stood to applaud her offstage at a rally on Monday afternoon , and then she appeared on the press bus and talked about how far she had come in the past ten years .
Onstage on Tuesday evening , she sounded more defiant , insisting that she would go on and decrying the divisive tone that she detected in the Buttigieg and Sanders camps .
“ Our campaign is best positioned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unite our Party , ” she said .
Then she quoted Jesse Jackson : “ It takes two wings to fly.
” That image suggested how much of the Party she ’ d already granted Sanders .
All of the candidates to her right got one wing .
Sanders got the other .
See the election results from the New Hampshire primary .
The New Hampshire results signal a long nationwide Democratic battle .
The Party ’ s candidates will almost certainly have to grind it out until early June , when the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump !
” Bernie Sanders said , at a primary-night party in New Hampshire .
Ahead of the New Hampshire primary , Trump tried to make trouble for the Democrats .
In New Hampshire , Sanders and Warren promise bold , fundamental change .
But they struggle to conjure a vision of America that aggressively counters Trump ’ s .
After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa , Joe Biden is struggling in New Hampshire .

The Democratic consultant James Carville spent much of the past week on television, warning, with a Baptist intensity, of what would come if the Democratic Party nominated Bernie Sanders. “It’ll be the end of days,” Carville said. “I am scared to death. I really am.” But in the final rallies and political meetings across New Hampshire, Sanders’s rivals barely spoke his name. In Exeter on Monday, Pete Buttigieg talked of hope; in a church basement in Gilford, Joe Biden told a story about comforting a man who had lost his job. Curious Democrats arrived at Amy Klobuchar’s last events, suddenly debating among themselves the merits of Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren. They didn’t settle on one. The results Tuesday evening broadly echoed those in Iowa: Sanders won about twenty-six per cent of the vote, with Buttigieg following close behind him, at nearly twenty-five per cent, and Klobuchar, with twenty, surprisingly still in the race. Sanders captured New Hampshire. Had he also captured the base of the Party?
Not just yet. By the end of the evening, the race remained as unsettled as it was before. In 2016, Sanders won sixty per cent of the vote in New Hampshire; this time, his totals were less than half that. Sanders is running a slightly different campaign this time: more focussed in its messaging and more conventional in its preoccupations. “Bernie Beats Trump” is the slogan now, a declaration of electability. There’s a slightly different coalition, too. In 2016, he swept the outlying areas of Iowa and New Hampshire. This time, he lost many of those, to Buttigieg and Klobuchar, but held the six largest cities in the state. His margins among young voters are vast. The Democratic Party is, more than ever, an urban one, and Sanders’s victories in the midsize cities of Iowa and New Hampshire are a good sign for how he might perform in the country’s biggest cities.
If the Party looked like it was headed toward Sanders on Tuesday night, it was also heading away from Barack Obama, whose Secretary of State lost the last Presidential election to Donald Trump and whose Vice-President is in danger of losing this one far earlier. Biden’s weakness has been clear since the first contest of the year, if not much longer. Even so, Obama’s longtime spokesman Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC that it’s “stunning to see him in fifth.” It was maybe not so stunning to Biden, who flew out of New Hampshire early tonight, landing in Columbia, South Carolina. His hopes hinge now on the enthusiasm of the Southern African-American voters who supported Obama and seemed inclined to support him. But even in South Carolina the polls have been narrowing, with some of Biden’s support abandoning him for the billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, who together have spent more than three hundred million dollars on television ads, whereas Biden has spent ten million dollars. Biden is asking for a lot of loyalty. Suddenly, the primary in South Carolina, on the last day of this month, and the contests in the Southern states, in general, seem much less certain—and more interesting.
In Iowa, the story turned out to be the undemocratic disarray of the caucuses. In New Hampshire, it was the roving, often frantic, eye of its voters, who stopped reporters outside rallies to ask what they were seeing on the trail, who switched from Biden to Warren to Buttigieg based on poll and rumor and feel—the idea being to beat Trump, whatever would do the trick. The surprise, in the past few days, was how many voters turned toward Klobuchar, who has neither a signature policy idea nor a novel way of describing the problems facing the country. However, she did adeptly point out, in Friday’s debate, that the progressive plans for remaking the health-care economy might not be realistic and that centrists might be naïve to invest their hopes in the inexperienced Buttigieg. On the stump this week, she emphasized that she had won in red districts all over Minnesota (“including Michele Bachmann’s district three times”) and, suddenly, she rose from fifth place to third. On Monday night, Sanders filled an arena in Durham with seventy-five hundred people for a rally headlined by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Strokes (all of them New Yorkers). Klobuchar drew some two hundred people to an American Legion hall in Rochester, where, outside, there were a dozen small signs saying “Amy for America” and one huge one saying “Play Keno.” It seemed a little strange, given the formidable operations of Warren, Buttigieg, and Sanders, that Klobuchar could surge to a full fifth of the vote in the last couple of days. Maybe that is just New Hampshire. Or maybe the race is that unstable.
The mainstream Democratic candidates collectively have earned about two-thirds of the votes in New Hampshire and Iowa, and the progressives have earned a third. One plausible theory is that the anti-Sanders faction simply has a coördination problem, and that, once it decides which candidate should speak for the moderate majority, that candidate will sweep. But is there really an anti-Sanders faction? This week in New Hampshire, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Biden didn’t sound like they had all that much in common. You could drive from a Buttigieg rally, where the vision was of a society spinning eagerly out into the future, to a Biden or Klobuchar one, where the stories were about miners and salesmen and the ethos was of an entrenchment in the past. In any case, the time for the moderate Democrats to unite may be ending. Bloomberg, with his hundreds of millions to spend, is already up to third place in some national polls, so the coming contest for the soul of the Democratic Party may be between two figures who, until very recently, were not Democrats at all.
Warren, who long seemed the pivotal figure in the race, the link between the Sanders faction and the rest, conceded early tonight, with vote totals around ten per cent. Earlier in the afternoon, her campaign had circulated a memo insisting that she had a clear path to national victory, even as she was cancelling television ads in South Carolina. There have been some valedictory notes to Warren’s campaign this past week—a crowd stood to applaud her offstage at a rally on Monday afternoon, and then she appeared on the press bus and talked about how far she had come in the past ten years. Onstage on Tuesday evening, she sounded more defiant, insisting that she would go on and decrying the divisive tone that she detected in the Buttigieg and Sanders camps. “Our campaign is best positioned to beat Donald Trump because we can unite our Party,” she said. Then she quoted Jesse Jackson: “It takes two wings to fly.” That image suggested how much of the Party she’d already granted Sanders. All of the candidates to her right got one wing. Sanders got the other.
Latest Coverage
See the election results from the New Hampshire primary.
The New Hampshire results signal a long nationwide Democratic battle. The Party’s candidates will almost certainly have to grind it out until early June, when the final primaries will take place.
“This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump!” Bernie Sanders said, at a primary-night party in New Hampshire.
Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Trump tried to make trouble for the Democrats.
In New Hampshire, Sanders and Warren promise bold, fundamental change. But they struggle to conjure a vision of America that aggressively counters Trump’s.
After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa, Joe Biden is struggling in New Hampshire.


newyorker--2020-02-12--New Hampshire Primary Election 2020: Live Results, Maps, and Analysis

The New Hampshire results signal a long nationwide Democratic battle .
The Party ’ s candidates will almost certainly have @ @ @ @ @ early June , when the final primaries will take place .
“ This victory here @ @ @ @ @ end for Donald Trump !
” Bernie Sanders said , at a primary-night party in @ @ @ @ @ won the New Hampshire primary , but his performance was not as impressive as it @ @ @ @ @ of the New Hampshire primary , Trump tried to make trouble for the Democrats .
@ @ @ @ @ and Warren promise bold , fundamental change .
But they struggle to conjure a vision @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s .
After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa , Joe Biden is @ @ @ @ @

Latest Coverage
The New Hampshire results signal a long nationwide Democratic battle. The Party’s candidates will almost certainly have to grind it out until early June, when the final primaries will take place.
“This victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump!” Bernie Sanders said, at a primary-night party in New Hampshire.
Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, but his performance was not as impressive as it was in 2016.
Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Trump tried to make trouble for the Democrats.
In New Hampshire, Sanders and Warren promise bold, fundamental change. But they struggle to conjure a vision of America that aggressively counters Trump’s.
After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa, Joe Biden is struggling in New Hampshire.


newyorker--2020-02-12--The Democratic Race After Bernie Sanders’s Win in New Hampshire

On Tuesday night , Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire ’ s primary , leading Pete Buttigieg by one and a half percentage points .
The biggest surprise of the night was Amy Klobuchar ’ s showing : she finished several points behind Buttigieg , but with more than twice the support of Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren .
The next contest will be the Nevada caucuses , on February 22nd , followed , a week later , by the South Carolina primary .
And then comes Super Tuesday , March 3rd , when Michael Bloomberg is hoping that his astonishing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As it stands now , however , Sanders has the clearest path to the Democratic Presidential nomination .
To talk through the New Hampshire results and where the race is headed , I spoke by phone with Dave Wasserman , the U.S. House editor for the Cook Political Report and a contributor to NBC News .
During our conversation , which has been edited for length and clarity , we discussed how Sanders ’ s coalition has changed since 2016 , why Warren ’ s campaign has faltered , and whether Bloomberg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to woo black Democrats .
What was , demographically speaking , the biggest difference in the New Hampshire results , compared with the results in Iowa ?
The movement of college-educated , suburban voters to Klobuchar .
There is evidence she gained a lot of ground from Warren supporters .
The irony is that Warren finished ahead of Klobuchar in Iowa , and Warren [ a Massachusetts senator ] is next door to New Hampshire and Klobuchar [ a Minnesota senator ] is next door to Iowa .
So this is not what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But Klobuchar ’ s debate performance propelled her into a good showing in New Hampshire .
The question is where she goes from here .
What we know is that the two most critical groups in Democratic primaries nationally are African-Americans and suburban women , and , of course , those overlap slightly .
But Klobuchar ’ s route to the nomination is clearly suburban women , and that ’ s not to say it necessarily exists , but she has to hope it does .
Warren and Klobuchar are not typically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with Warren in the more left lane and Klobuchar in the more centrist lane .
Are we looking at this too often through the prism of ideology ?
It ’ s also about format .
Caucuses tend to draw out a more liberal set of attendees than primaries , and Warren was seen recently as a viable alternative on the left to Sanders .
But Sanders ’ s performance in Iowa likely demoralized some support on the left for Warren , and Klobuchar benefitted from a primary format in New Hampshire where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ participate .
Sanders continues to perform very solidly , despite doing less well in total percentage than he did against Hillary Clinton four years ago—although , admittedly , he only had one major opponent in that race .
Where is his campaign shining , and where is he losing support from 2016 ?
His strong showing in 2016 was always half due to the popularity of his own message and half due to skepticism of the Democratic establishment and Hillary Clinton herself .
We are seeing Bernie retain the diehards , but there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there were in 2016 , because , for much of 2016 , people didn ’ t take the notion of a Bernie Sanders nomination seriously to begin with , and had no idea that Donald Trump could win .
Well , now Democrats ’ emphasis on electability is costing Sanders some of the support he had in 2016 .
The upside for Sanders is that his opposition is much more divided this time , and the irony is that he has a much better shot at winning the nomination with these showings , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did with showings in the forties , in 2016 .
If this race gets down to Sanders and one or two opponents , how easily do you think he could increase his support ?
He has high favorability within the Party , and is the second choice of a lot of Democrats , so there is reason to think he could .
Well , look , this is the way I feel about the field right now .
The moderate wing of Democrats is earning a majority of votes in these two contests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ larger majority in future contests , but the progressive , Democratic-socialist wing of the Party , which you could argue are two different things , are more coalesced behind Bernie Sanders than the pragmatic wing is united .
And , at the same time , it ’ s tempting to think that if all voters just stay in their lanes and unite around a pragmatist , then it will be easy to stop Bernie .
The problem is that none of the candidates in the pragmatic lane are sure bets to stop Bernie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that Bloomberg has the most resources to stop Bernie Sanders , but he also has the weakest net favorability among the Democrats standing .
And he is an excellent foil for Bernie Sanders .
Sanders can call him a Wall Street billionaire who was an heir to Rudy Giuliani , even though he is portraying himself as an heir to Barack Obama .
That is a contrast that Sanders can uniquely highlight , or one that he has the unique ability to draw .
One major talking point of the Sanders campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boost turnout .
In Iowa , turnout was barely up from 2016 .
What was turnout on Tuesday , and what do you think it portends ?
The turnout was modestly up over 2016 in New Hampshire , but it wasn ’ t the kind of surge that some Democrats had hoped for .
After all , there were likely tens of thousands of voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary in 2016 who voted in this year ’ s Democratic primary .
Democrats might highlight that as evidence that some suburban @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reality , many of those Kasich and Rubio voters went on to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton in 2016 , so those aren ’ t necessarily gains .
And there is not much evidence that Democrats are way more fired up this year with Trump in the White House than they were in 2016 , when he was not even the nominee .
They are expressing to pollsters that they are more fired up , correct ?
Well , unfortunately , a more enthusiastic vote doesn ’ t count more than a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or South Carolina , in your view , offer a real opportunity for Buttigieg or Klobuchar to have continued success ?
The best news for Bernie Sanders is that the moderates who placed strongly in New Hampshire are uniquely ill-suited to parlay that success in South Carolina and Super Tuesday states , with the exception of Klobuchar ’ s home state of Minnesota .
The reality is that neither Buttigieg nor Klobuchar has made much progress with nonwhite voters or lower-income voters .
There is some evidence that Buttigieg is over-performing expectations in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bit more dependent on suburban voters .
The other factor is resources .
New Hampshire and Iowa reward retail .
Super Tuesday rewards broad name recognition and familiarity and resources .
Amy Klobuchar finished a distant fifth in Iowa and then shot to third in New Hampshire because of one debate .
It seems like the race is so unsettled that you can rise without a ton of money .
Or is that only true in a small state like New Hampshire ?

On Tuesday night, Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire’s primary, leading Pete Buttigieg by one and a half percentage points. The biggest surprise of the night was Amy Klobuchar’s showing: she finished several points behind Buttigieg, but with more than twice the support of Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren. The next contest will be the Nevada caucuses, on February 22nd, followed, a week later, by the South Carolina primary. And then comes Super Tuesday, March 3rd, when Michael Bloomberg is hoping that his astonishing spending advantage will catapult him into contention. As it stands now, however, Sanders has the clearest path to the Democratic Presidential nomination.
To talk through the New Hampshire results and where the race is headed, I spoke by phone with Dave Wasserman, the U.S. House editor for the Cook Political Report and a contributor to NBC News. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed how Sanders’s coalition has changed since 2016, why Warren’s campaign has faltered, and whether Bloomberg is likely to succeed in his attempts to woo black Democrats.
What was, demographically speaking, the biggest difference in the New Hampshire results, compared with the results in Iowa?
The movement of college-educated, suburban voters to Klobuchar. There is evidence she gained a lot of ground from Warren supporters. The irony is that Warren finished ahead of Klobuchar in Iowa, and Warren [a Massachusetts senator] is next door to New Hampshire and Klobuchar [a Minnesota senator] is next door to Iowa. So this is not what we would have guessed several months ago. But Klobuchar’s debate performance propelled her into a good showing in New Hampshire. The question is where she goes from here. What we know is that the two most critical groups in Democratic primaries nationally are African-Americans and suburban women, and, of course, those overlap slightly. But Klobuchar’s route to the nomination is clearly suburban women, and that’s not to say it necessarily exists, but she has to hope it does.
Warren and Klobuchar are not typically seen as competing for the same voters, with Warren in the more left lane and Klobuchar in the more centrist lane. Are we looking at this too often through the prism of ideology?
It’s also about format. Caucuses tend to draw out a more liberal set of attendees than primaries, and Warren was seen recently as a viable alternative on the left to Sanders. But Sanders’s performance in Iowa likely demoralized some support on the left for Warren, and Klobuchar benefitted from a primary format in New Hampshire where Republican and independent voters can more readily participate.
Sanders continues to perform very solidly, despite doing less well in total percentage than he did against Hillary Clinton four years ago—although, admittedly, he only had one major opponent in that race. Where is his campaign shining, and where is he losing support from 2016?
His strong showing in 2016 was always half due to the popularity of his own message and half due to skepticism of the Democratic establishment and Hillary Clinton herself. We are seeing Bernie retain the diehards, but there are more concerns about his electability than there were in 2016, because, for much of 2016, people didn’t take the notion of a Bernie Sanders nomination seriously to begin with, and had no idea that Donald Trump could win. Well, now Democrats’ emphasis on electability is costing Sanders some of the support he had in 2016. The upside for Sanders is that his opposition is much more divided this time, and the irony is that he has a much better shot at winning the nomination with these showings, in the high twenties, than he did with showings in the forties, in 2016.
If this race gets down to Sanders and one or two opponents, how easily do you think he could increase his support? He has high favorability within the Party, and is the second choice of a lot of Democrats, so there is reason to think he could.
Well, look, this is the way I feel about the field right now. The moderate wing of Democrats is earning a majority of votes in these two contests and is likely to earn an even larger majority in future contests, but the progressive, Democratic-socialist wing of the Party, which you could argue are two different things, are more coalesced behind Bernie Sanders than the pragmatic wing is united. And, at the same time, it’s tempting to think that if all voters just stay in their lanes and unite around a pragmatist, then it will be easy to stop Bernie. The problem is that none of the candidates in the pragmatic lane are sure bets to stop Bernie by coalescing that support.
One paradox is that Bloomberg has the most resources to stop Bernie Sanders, but he also has the weakest net favorability among the Democrats standing. And he is an excellent foil for Bernie Sanders. Sanders can call him a Wall Street billionaire who was an heir to Rudy Giuliani, even though he is portraying himself as an heir to Barack Obama. That is a contrast that Sanders can uniquely highlight, or one that he has the unique ability to draw.
One major talking point of the Sanders campaign has been its belief that Sanders could boost turnout. In Iowa, turnout was barely up from 2016. What was turnout on Tuesday, and what do you think it portends?
The turnout was modestly up over 2016 in New Hampshire, but it wasn’t the kind of surge that some Democrats had hoped for. After all, there were likely tens of thousands of voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary in 2016 who voted in this year’s Democratic primary. Democrats might highlight that as evidence that some suburban voters are moving their way. In reality, many of those Kasich and Rubio voters went on to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton in 2016, so those aren’t necessarily gains. And there is not much evidence that Democrats are way more fired up this year with Trump in the White House than they were in 2016, when he was not even the nominee.
They are expressing to pollsters that they are more fired up, correct?
Well, unfortunately, a more enthusiastic vote doesn’t count more than a mildly enthusiastic vote.
Do either Nevada or South Carolina, in your view, offer a real opportunity for Buttigieg or Klobuchar to have continued success?
The best news for Bernie Sanders is that the moderates who placed strongly in New Hampshire are uniquely ill-suited to parlay that success in South Carolina and Super Tuesday states, with the exception of Klobuchar’s home state of Minnesota. The reality is that neither Buttigieg nor Klobuchar has made much progress with nonwhite voters or lower-income voters. There is some evidence that Buttigieg is over-performing expectations in rural areas. I think Klobuchar is a bit more dependent on suburban voters. The other factor is resources. New Hampshire and Iowa reward retail. Super Tuesday rewards broad name recognition and familiarity and resources.
Amy Klobuchar finished a distant fifth in Iowa and then shot to third in New Hampshire because of one debate. It seems like the race is so unsettled that you can rise without a ton of money. Or is that only true in a small state like New Hampshire?
Look, money is perhaps less of a factor than it used to be, because of all the ways candidates can reach voters through earned media. But when one candidate has such a decisive messaging advantage as Bloomberg is poised to have, and another candidate in the field has a breadth of familiarity and good will among nonwhite voters, as Biden does, it is difficult for Buttigieg and Klobuchar to build scale.


newyorker--2020-02-12--Things I’ve Done That Are More Embarrassing Than Getting Caught Watching Porn

Posting on social media about how I just had a big breakthrough in therapy , and nobody likes the post for nine hours .
Going on Facebook to check in with my Bitcoin-enthusiast group .
Accidentally saying , “ I love you , Dad , ” at the end of a conference call with my boss .
Accidentally unplugging my headphones while listening to music at the office and everybody hears that I still listen to Creed .
Initiating a group text with my friends about planning a weekend trip to Texas and nobody responds .
Slow-dancing alone in my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Always Be My Baby ” as a warmup before writing poetry .
Attending an acquaintance ’ s improv show because I planned on later mocking him , but it turns out that Richard is actually pretty good .
Writing “ your ” instead of “ you ’ re ” in a reply-all e-mail .
Sending another e-mail that just says “ *you ’ re ” two seconds later .
Feeling confident that it ’ ll only take me three seconds to remove a distressing booger dangling from my nose , but it actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extra time a teen-ager records it on TikTok .
Still picking my nose in public .
Turning off airplane mode after a six-hour flight and not receiving any new notifications except for a text from my dad asking , “ Do you want me to do your tax returns again ?
” Posting Instagram photos of myself jumping , midair , next to the Chicago Bean , the Statue of Liberty , the St. Louis Arch , and the Astor Place Cube , even though it ’ s 2020 .
Posting an Instagram @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I am bad at jumping .
Sitting down on the subway without noticing that there is a pregnant woman standing right next to me .
Creating a TikTok account even though I ’ m almost thirty .
Pretending to understand a pop-culture reference that my co-workers made even though I don ’ t like my co-workers .
Ordering a garden salad while on a solo trip in Texas .
Projecting my computer screen during a meeting and getting a notification for an e-mail from my dad that says , “ I filed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my waiter , Doug , who honestly tried his best to make sure that my garden salad contained , per my request , only a “ medium-to-light volume of croutons.
” Suggesting a group hangout in Times Square without going to see a play or having family in town but , like , just wanting to hang out there for fun .
Three people wishing me a happy birthday on Facebook and one of them is Richard .

Posting on social media about how I just had a big breakthrough in therapy, and nobody likes the post for nine hours.
Going on Facebook to check in with my Bitcoin-enthusiast group.
Running while wearing a backpack.
Accidentally saying, “I love you, Dad,” at the end of a conference call with my boss.
Posting status updates on LinkedIn.
Accidentally unplugging my headphones while listening to music at the office and everybody hears that I still listen to Creed.
Initiating a group text with my friends about planning a weekend trip to Texas and nobody responds.
Slow-dancing alone in my apartment to Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby” as a warmup before writing poetry.
Attending an acquaintance’s improv show because I planned on later mocking him, but it turns out that Richard is actually pretty good.
Writing “your” instead of “you’re” in a reply-all e-mail.
Sending another e-mail that just says “*you’re” two seconds later.
Feeling confident that it’ll only take me three seconds to remove a distressing booger dangling from my nose, but it actually takes longer than planned and in that extra time a teen-ager records it on TikTok.
Still picking my nose in public.
Turning off airplane mode after a six-hour flight and not receiving any new notifications except for a text from my dad asking, “Do you want me to do your tax returns again?”
Posting Instagram photos of myself jumping, midair, next to the Chicago Bean, the Statue of Liberty, the St. Louis Arch, and the Astor Place Cube, even though it’s 2020.
Posting an Instagram photo of me jumping, in general. I am bad at jumping.
Sitting down on the subway without noticing that there is a pregnant woman standing right next to me.
Creating a TikTok account even though I’m almost thirty.
Buying a voodoo starter kit on Alibaba.
Pretending to understand a pop-culture reference that my co-workers made even though I don’t like my co-workers.
Ordering a garden salad while on a solo trip in Texas.
Ordering a garden salad as a meal, in general.
Projecting my computer screen during a meeting and getting a notification for an e-mail from my dad that says, “I filed your tax returns.”
Crying while watching “Police Academy: Mission to Moscow.”
Being rude to my waiter, Doug, who honestly tried his best to make sure that my garden salad contained, per my request, only a “medium-to-light volume of croutons.”
Suggesting a group hangout in Times Square without going to see a play or having family in town but, like, just wanting to hang out there for fun.
Three people wishing me a happy birthday on Facebook and one of them is Richard.
Watching porn for the story line.


newyorker--2020-02-13--How the Trump Administration Uses the “Hidden Weapons” of Immigration Law

In the first week of the Trump Presidency , the Administration issued a travel ban aimed at seven predominantly Muslim countries .
The outcry was swift and immediate , with protesters showing up at airports and many Republicans criticizing the decision .
In June , 2018 , a third version of the ban was given a green light by a divided Supreme Court .
( The first two versions had been blocked by lower courts . )
Last month , the Administration extended the ban on immigrant visas to six more countries : Nigeria , Eritrea , Kyrgyzstan , Myanmar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , there were no large nationwide protests , and no signs of unease from Republican politicians .
The story hardly registered amid an impeachment trial and the Democratic primary campaign .
I recently spoke by phone with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick , the policy counsel at the American Immigration Council , about Trump ’ s increasing success in reshaping American immigration policy , from the travel bans to the crackdown on migrants trying to claim asylum at the Mexican border .
During our conversation , which has been edited for length and clarity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the travel ban aren ’ t sound , whether a Democratic President would be able to quickly reverse most of Trump ’ s changes , and the Remain in Mexico policy , which Reichlin-Melnick described as “ a stain on the rule of law.
” American immigration history tends to be broken down by eras .
When you look at immigration policy over the past three years , do you think we are in a new era ?
I ’ m not sure it ’ s a new era , because much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been to find the hidden weapons in existing immigration law and then use them to the full extent , which no one had ever imagined would ever be done .
If anything , what we ’ re seeing now is the full extent of the last era of immigration , coming to its fruition .
By that , I mean the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ( I.I.R.I.R.A. )
.
So much of what the Trump Administration has done is to take things created in that act that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And I don ’ t know if we ’ re in a new era because it ’ s hard to say that all of these changes are going to stick .
So it ’ s a little too early to say “ era ” yet , I hope .
Is the Trump Administration taking or trying to take steps that will move them beyond working with the existing paradigm , which I assume was formed by both the 1996 law and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security ( D.H.S. )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ those frameworks , and push them to the very limits of legality , or are there plans to move beyond that ?
The Trump Administration wants to move beyond the current paradigm , and they are taking a lot of steps that push the boundaries of what ’ s already on the books , to create loopholes that let them push beyond what the law says .
There ’ s a reason that so many of the Trump Administration ’ s policies have been blocked in court , and , even though some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Supreme Court and are currently in effect , there ’ s so much more that ’ s been blocked that barely even makes the national news .
To a large extent , what the Trump Administration has done on immigration that goes beyond the current paradigms has been through a series of international agreements with Mexico , Guatemala , Honduras , and El Salvador , which have reshaped the structure of who ’ s arriving at the southern border in ways that it is still too early to tell what the ultimate effect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mexico is the wall for a lot of the people who are arriving at the southern border , or who want to flee to the United States to seek asylum .
Mexico has become the wall .
Yes , you hear a lot of jokes on social media and late-night shows about Trump not getting his wall , or the wall not being built at a speed that he expected , but it seems like that may be missing the forest for the trees .
Can you explain what you mean by Mexico @ @ @ @ @ @ @ misses the point for two reasons .
The first reason is that , as much as the Trump Administration is mostly installing new wall in places where there previously were border barriers , there ’ s a huge difference between a four-foot-high vehicle barrier and a thirty-foot-high steel-bollard wall .
What we ’ re seeing is new fences going up in places across the southern border that are going to have huge effects on local communities and on the environment .
It is cutting off pathways for endangered species like ocelots and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in ways that the previous barriers didn ’ t do .
On the point about Mexico , the Trump Administration has , in many ways , strong-armed several governments to get them to stop people from ever even making it to the southern border .
Until recently , tens of thousands of people annually would come through Guatemala and through Mexico and then arrive at our southern border and seek asylum .
A lot of the migration towards the U.S. has been limited by non-U.S. actors , by the brand-new Guatemalan border patrol @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and by the Mexican National Guard , and through a series of regional pacts that the U.S. spent an enormous amount of effort negotiating over the past two years .
Whether these pacts are going to last past the Trump Administration remains to be seen , but right now it ’ s harder than ever for people who are seeking to come to the U.S. who aren ’ t Mexican to get to the border .
What is your biggest fear about the long-term impact of this ?
Is it the humanitarian consequences @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
It ’ s a combination of both .
We ’ ve created an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe at the U.S.-Mexico border through the creation of the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols—one of the most Orwellian names for a program that the U.S. has ever run .
The Department of Homeland Security says this is a program to increase access to court hearings , but , in reality , what it is doing is forcing sixty-two thousand-plus asylum seekers to wait in appallingly dangerous conditions with no hope that they ’ ll ever have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impossible chances of ever winning asylum , regardless of the strength of their claims .
We know that hundreds of people have been subject to kidnappings and have become the victims of serious crimes like rape , torture , and other really horrific things that the Trump Administration effectively is using as a deterrent .
At the same time that these programs are doing damage to the people who are going through them , they ’ re also doing damage to the rule of law .
Fundamental to a fair system is respecting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fair day in court .
Yet what we ’ re seeing is the Trump Administration effectively ending the asylum system in the United States by making it impossible for anyone to win , through structural obstacles as well as legal obstacles .
Trump banned asylum for the vast majority of people who are arriving at the southern border through two separate asylum bans—one of which got blocked , and the other one which is currently in place .
They ’ ve made it impossible for anyone to ever get in touch with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , winning an asylum case is extraordinarily difficult without a lawyer because the immigration-court process is filled with pitfalls .
Rather than do the responsible thing and put up signposts to help people navigate those pitfalls and make it through the system and have a fair day in court , the Trump Administration has spent the last year digging as many new pitfalls as they can and filling them with snakes .

In the first week of the Trump Presidency, the Administration issued a travel ban aimed at seven predominantly Muslim countries. The outcry was swift and immediate, with protesters showing up at airports and many Republicans criticizing the decision. In June, 2018, a third version of the ban was given a green light by a divided Supreme Court. (The first two versions had been blocked by lower courts.) Last month, the Administration extended the ban on immigrant visas to six more countries: Nigeria, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan, and Tanzania. This time, there were no large nationwide protests, and no signs of unease from Republican politicians. The story hardly registered amid an impeachment trial and the Democratic primary campaign.
I recently spoke by phone with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, about Trump’s increasing success in reshaping American immigration policy, from the travel bans to the crackdown on migrants trying to claim asylum at the Mexican border. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we also discussed why the security-based rationales for the travel ban aren’t sound, whether a Democratic President would be able to quickly reverse most of Trump’s changes, and the Remain in Mexico policy, which Reichlin-Melnick described as “a stain on the rule of law.”
American immigration history tends to be broken down by eras. When you look at immigration policy over the past three years, do you think we are in a new era?
I’m not sure it’s a new era, because much of what the Trump Administration has done has been to find the hidden weapons in existing immigration law and then use them to the full extent, which no one had ever imagined would ever be done. If anything, what we’re seeing now is the full extent of the last era of immigration, coming to its fruition. By that, I mean the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (I.I.R.I.R.A.). So much of what the Trump Administration has done is to take things created in that act that had never been used and use them. And I don’t know if we’re in a new era because it’s hard to say that all of these changes are going to stick. So it’s a little too early to say “era” yet, I hope.
Is the Trump Administration taking or trying to take steps that will move them beyond working with the existing paradigm, which I assume was formed by both the 1996 law and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.)? Are they content to work within those frameworks, and push them to the very limits of legality, or are there plans to move beyond that?
The Trump Administration wants to move beyond the current paradigm, and they are taking a lot of steps that push the boundaries of what’s already on the books, to create loopholes that let them push beyond what the law says. There’s a reason that so many of the Trump Administration’s policies have been blocked in court, and, even though some of them have been resuscitated by the Supreme Court and are currently in effect, there’s so much more that’s been blocked that barely even makes the national news.
To a large extent, what the Trump Administration has done on immigration that goes beyond the current paradigms has been through a series of international agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, which have reshaped the structure of who’s arriving at the southern border in ways that it is still too early to tell what the ultimate effect will be. In many ways, Mexico is the wall for a lot of the people who are arriving at the southern border, or who want to flee to the United States to seek asylum. Mexico has become the wall.
Yes, you hear a lot of jokes on social media and late-night shows about Trump not getting his wall, or the wall not being built at a speed that he expected, but it seems like that may be missing the forest for the trees. Can you explain what you mean by Mexico being the wall?
I think that misses the point for two reasons. The first reason is that, as much as the Trump Administration is mostly installing new wall in places where there previously were border barriers, there’s a huge difference between a four-foot-high vehicle barrier and a thirty-foot-high steel-bollard wall. What we’re seeing is new fences going up in places across the southern border that are going to have huge effects on local communities and on the environment. It is cutting off pathways for endangered species like ocelots and other [non-endangered] species that have cross-border migratory patterns in ways that the previous barriers didn’t do.
On the point about Mexico, the Trump Administration has, in many ways, strong-armed several governments to get them to stop people from ever even making it to the southern border. Until recently, tens of thousands of people annually would come through Guatemala and through Mexico and then arrive at our southern border and seek asylum. A lot of the migration towards the U.S. has been limited by non-U.S. actors, by the brand-new Guatemalan border patrol that the United States helped create, and by the Mexican National Guard, and through a series of regional pacts that the U.S. spent an enormous amount of effort negotiating over the past two years. Whether these pacts are going to last past the Trump Administration remains to be seen, but right now it’s harder than ever for people who are seeking to come to the U.S. who aren’t Mexican to get to the border.
What is your biggest fear about the long-term impact of this? Is it the humanitarian consequences, or is it a legal issue?
It’s a combination of both. We’ve created an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe at the U.S.-Mexico border through the creation of the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols—one of the most Orwellian names for a program that the U.S. has ever run. The Department of Homeland Security says this is a program to increase access to court hearings, but, in reality, what it is doing is forcing sixty-two thousand-plus asylum seekers to wait in appallingly dangerous conditions with no hope that they’ll ever have the opportunity to get a lawyer and virtually impossible chances of ever winning asylum, regardless of the strength of their claims. We know that hundreds of people have been subject to kidnappings and have become the victims of serious crimes like rape, torture, and other really horrific things that the Trump Administration effectively is using as a deterrent.
At the same time that these programs are doing damage to the people who are going through them, they’re also doing damage to the rule of law. Fundamental to a fair system is respecting people’s right to have a fair day in court. Yet what we’re seeing is the Trump Administration effectively ending the asylum system in the United States by making it impossible for anyone to win, through structural obstacles as well as legal obstacles. Trump banned asylum for the vast majority of people who are arriving at the southern border through two separate asylum bans—one of which got blocked, and the other one which is currently in place. They’ve made it impossible for anyone to ever get in touch with a lawyer. As a former immigration lawyer, winning an asylum case is extraordinarily difficult without a lawyer because the immigration-court process is filled with pitfalls. Rather than do the responsible thing and put up signposts to help people navigate those pitfalls and make it through the system and have a fair day in court, the Trump Administration has spent the last year digging as many new pitfalls as they can and filling them with snakes.


newyorker--2020-02-13--“Birds of Prey,” Reviewed: The Wasted Exertions of Margot Robbie

Looking forward to upcoming superhero movies often feels like running to kick a football held by Lucy van Pelt , but with “ Birds of Prey ” I at least felt a squib of cinematic contact .
Under the film ’ s hyper-formatted style and impersonal action , there ’ s a pretty good movie straining to break out—which makes the waste of its creators ’ earnest exertions all the more dismaying .
“ Birds of Prey , ” a spinoff of “ Suicide Squad , ” is centered on Harley Quinn ( Margot Robbie ) , who narrates her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Harleen Quinzel , an orphan , grew up to become a psychiatrist for the criminally insane ; she fell in love with an inmate under her care , the Joker , and helped him escape .
Then she went on the lam with him ; became his partner in crime , under the name of Harley Quinn ( as in Harlequin ) ; and also became a victim of his abuse .
Now , in “ Birds of Prey , ” she has broken up with him , but she hasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of her years as the Joker ’ s accomplice and victim .
Despite the abuse , she ’ s still somewhat in mourning for the relationship .
She is coming to grips with her years of misdeeds and attempting to rebuild her life—and the very premise of the film is that she ’ s going , once and for all , to tell her own story ( as she does in voice-over throughout ) .
Yet she also keeps encountering people from her grim recent past who have “ grievances ” against her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and whom , as a result , she has to battle .
That sense of reckoning lends “ Birds of Prey ” ’ s frenetic action an undertone of contemplative melancholy , albeit one that barely shows through the movie ’ s plasticized surfaces .
Cathy Yan ’ s direction offers several piercing moments of extreme quiet , in which Harley spontaneously ( even , once , drunkenly ) confesses to her feelings of remorse , regret , and self-loathing—unusually poignant moments that gain in power from their contrast with the fast-talking , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marks her voice-over narrative and most of her onscreen interactions .
The psychological intricacies of the character , as written by Christina Hodson , are never more than hinted at , but they are enough to spark imaginings of what the movie might have been—namely , a substantial and thoughtful refraction of superheroism and supervillainy , in the vein of “ Ant-Man ” or “ Black Panther.
” The movie ’ s MacGuffin is a diamond , laser-engraved with a deceased Mob family ’ s account codes , which the epicurean sadist Roman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Black Mask , covets .
Yet , when the gem is in the pocket of Roman ’ s henchman , Victor Zsasz ( Chris Messina ) , it ’ s stolen by a young pickpocket named Cassandra Cain ( Ella Jay Basco ) .
Cassandra gets arrested , Harley spectacularly springs her from police custody , and they go on the run together .
In the course of the movie , three other women , finding common cause against Roman , team up with Harley and Cassandra , each using her own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The superlative police detective Renee Montoya ( Rosie Perez ) , whose career has been thwarted by her male superior ( Steven Williams ) , has a lead on a series of crossbow killings—which turn out to be the work of Helena Bertinelli ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead ) , a.k.a .
Huntress , the sole survivor of the family to whom the diamond belongs , who is avenging her relatives ’ murders .
Dinah Lance ( Jurnee Smollett-Bell ) , a.k.a .
Black Canary , a singer in Roman ’ s night club @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voice as a devastating weapon ) , is forced to work as his driver but is biding her time until she can undermine his nefarious reign .
The unhinged , anarchic Harley ( did I mention she ’ s also a former roller-derby competitor ? )
is at the center of this crew and must learn to put aside her gleeful and heedless delight in destruction to become a reliable and unselfish partner in virtue .
Harley ’ s backstory depends on a barely coherent batch of elements that fit together too casually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the history of cinema is filled with cartoonish movies with flimsy premises that , by way of directorial invention and imaginative performance , nonetheless conjure deep resonances beneath the superficial action .
“ Birds of Prey ” leaves these possibilities almost completely unrealized , for reasons that are readily identifiable .
I never thought I ’ d hear myself say this , but while watching the movie I found myself missing the directorial presence of Todd Phillips in “ Joker ” —not his aesthetic sensibility or his cavalier editorializing but the relatively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In particular , what Phillips was able to provide , and what is absent from “ Birds of Prey , ” is a sense of the interstitial , the scenes-within-scenes that allow for reflection and introspection amid the churning and violent action .
( It ’ s worth adding that a few brief action sequences in “ Birds of Prey ” are cleverly staged—notably , a crime scene that comes to life under Renee ’ s probing gaze and the pickpocketing spree that lands Cassandra in trouble . )
Robbie ’ s performance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illuminated the character ’ s flashy veneer from within .
Her performance is made up of oversized expressions and heightened inflections—an art of exaggeration that ’ s all too rare in a Hollywood landscape that ’ s often petrified in naturalism—that , at times , suggest something of the tone of Lucille Ball in “ I Love Lucy.
” The difference is that Ball ’ s comedy seemed to flow and overflow effortlessly , whereas Robbie ’ s effort shows—the elements of performance seem created and applied as needed .
This isn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s an element of style that an actor and a director can collaborate to make constructive use of , and until now the directors Robbie has worked with have largely left her conspicuous exertions unchannelled and unfocussed .
( I ’ m greatly looking forward to her performance in the title role of “ Barbie , ” the next film by Greta Gerwig , who , I suspect , will have an altogether more original view of Robbie ’ s art . )
One notable exception was in “ Bombshell , ” in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ambition .
It was a mediocre movie that Robbie transcended , because the effort of her performance converged with the role to lend it an air of immediacy .
“ Birds of Prey , ” by contrast , lets Robbie ratchet her performance up to the most tightly sprung level she can reach .
But the cumulative effect of these taut comedic constructions is to let the script ’ s glimmers of introspection and painful self-recognition slip by undeveloped .
Both Robbie and Yan are hemmed in by a system of production , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the role of a director to that of a glorified functionary and closes off the margins for exploration .
Both are capable of more .

Looking forward to upcoming superhero movies often feels like running to kick a football held by Lucy van Pelt, but with “Birds of Prey” I at least felt a squib of cinematic contact. Under the film’s hyper-formatted style and impersonal action, there’s a pretty good movie straining to break out—which makes the waste of its creators’ earnest exertions all the more dismaying.
“Birds of Prey,” a spinoff of “Suicide Squad,” is centered on Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), who narrates her elaborate backstory in an animated prologue. Harleen Quinzel, an orphan, grew up to become a psychiatrist for the criminally insane; she fell in love with an inmate under her care, the Joker, and helped him escape. Then she went on the lam with him; became his partner in crime, under the name of Harley Quinn (as in Harlequin); and also became a victim of his abuse. Now, in “Birds of Prey,” she has broken up with him, but she hasn’t tossed away the style and the attitude of her years as the Joker’s accomplice and victim. Despite the abuse, she’s still somewhat in mourning for the relationship. She is coming to grips with her years of misdeeds and attempting to rebuild her life—and the very premise of the film is that she’s going, once and for all, to tell her own story (as she does in voice-over throughout). Yet she also keeps encountering people from her grim recent past who have “grievances” against her (mentioned in onscreen supertitles), and whom, as a result, she has to battle.
That sense of reckoning lends “Birds of Prey” ’s frenetic action an undertone of contemplative melancholy, albeit one that barely shows through the movie’s plasticized surfaces. Cathy Yan’s direction offers several piercing moments of extreme quiet, in which Harley spontaneously (even, once, drunkenly) confesses to her feelings of remorse, regret, and self-loathing—unusually poignant moments that gain in power from their contrast with the fast-talking, antic, sarcastic stream of bravado that marks her voice-over narrative and most of her onscreen interactions. The psychological intricacies of the character, as written by Christina Hodson, are never more than hinted at, but they are enough to spark imaginings of what the movie might have been—namely, a substantial and thoughtful refraction of superheroism and supervillainy, in the vein of “Ant-Man” or “Black Panther.”
The movie’s MacGuffin is a diamond, laser-engraved with a deceased Mob family’s account codes, which the epicurean sadist Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), a.k.a. Black Mask, covets. Yet, when the gem is in the pocket of Roman’s henchman, Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), it’s stolen by a young pickpocket named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). Cassandra gets arrested, Harley spectacularly springs her from police custody, and they go on the run together. In the course of the movie, three other women, finding common cause against Roman, team up with Harley and Cassandra, each using her own powers to set Gotham City aright. The superlative police detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), whose career has been thwarted by her male superior (Steven Williams), has a lead on a series of crossbow killings—which turn out to be the work of Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a.k.a. Huntress, the sole survivor of the family to whom the diamond belongs, who is avenging her relatives’ murders. Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a.k.a. Black Canary, a singer in Roman’s night club (with the superpower to use her voice as a devastating weapon), is forced to work as his driver but is biding her time until she can undermine his nefarious reign. The unhinged, anarchic Harley (did I mention she’s also a former roller-derby competitor?) is at the center of this crew and must learn to put aside her gleeful and heedless delight in destruction to become a reliable and unselfish partner in virtue.
Harley’s backstory depends on a barely coherent batch of elements that fit together too casually to develop any substantial psychology. Nonetheless, the history of cinema is filled with cartoonish movies with flimsy premises that, by way of directorial invention and imaginative performance, nonetheless conjure deep resonances beneath the superficial action. “Birds of Prey” leaves these possibilities almost completely unrealized, for reasons that are readily identifiable. I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but while watching the movie I found myself missing the directorial presence of Todd Phillips in “Joker”—not his aesthetic sensibility or his cavalier editorializing but the relatively free hand the film afforded him. In particular, what Phillips was able to provide, and what is absent from “Birds of Prey,” is a sense of the interstitial, the scenes-within-scenes that allow for reflection and introspection amid the churning and violent action. (It’s worth adding that a few brief action sequences in “Birds of Prey” are cleverly staged—notably, a crime scene that comes to life under Renee’s probing gaze and the pickpocketing spree that lands Cassandra in trouble.)
Robbie’s performance offers hints of how she could have illuminated the character’s flashy veneer from within. Her performance is made up of oversized expressions and heightened inflections—an art of exaggeration that’s all too rare in a Hollywood landscape that’s often petrified in naturalism—that, at times, suggest something of the tone of Lucille Ball in “I Love Lucy.” The difference is that Ball’s comedy seemed to flow and overflow effortlessly, whereas Robbie’s effort shows—the elements of performance seem created and applied as needed. This isn’t necessarily a negative; it’s an element of style that an actor and a director can collaborate to make constructive use of, and until now the directors Robbie has worked with have largely left her conspicuous exertions unchannelled and unfocussed. (I’m greatly looking forward to her performance in the title role of “Barbie,” the next film by Greta Gerwig, who, I suspect, will have an altogether more original view of Robbie’s art.)
One notable exception was in “Bombshell,” in which Robbie played a character of brazen ambition. It was a mediocre movie that Robbie transcended, because the effort of her performance converged with the role to lend it an air of immediacy. “Birds of Prey,” by contrast, lets Robbie ratchet her performance up to the most tightly sprung level she can reach. But the cumulative effect of these taut comedic constructions is to let the script’s glimmers of introspection and painful self-recognition slip by undeveloped. Both Robbie and Yan are hemmed in by a system of production, endemic to franchise movies, that reduces the role of a director to that of a glorified functionary and closes off the margins for exploration. Both are capable of more.


newyorker--2020-02-13--Bill Barr Rushed to Walter Reed Medical Center After Remote-Control Implant in Brain Fails

BETHESDA , Maryland ( The Borowitz Report ) —Attorney General William Barr was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical @ @ @ @ @ the remote-control implant in his brain briefly failed , the White House has confirmed .
@ @ @ @ @ signs of the implant ’ s malfunction during an interview Barr gave to ABC News @ @ @ @ @ General was immediately strapped to a gurney and transported to Walter Reed .
A team @ @ @ @ @ identify the problem with Barr ’ s implant after an examination revealed a “ low-power @ @ @ @ @ Reed spokesperson said .
After the surgeons replaced the tiny battery in Barr ’ s @ @ @ @ @ appeared to be recovering well and was able to speak to reporters at his bedside @ @ @ @ @ our greatest President , ” he said , staring into the middle distance .

BETHESDA, Maryland (The Borowitz Report)—Attorney General William Barr was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Thursday afternoon after the remote-control implant in his brain briefly failed, the White House has confirmed.
White House aides first noticed signs of the implant’s malfunction during an interview Barr gave to ABC News, after which the Attorney General was immediately strapped to a gurney and transported to Walter Reed.
A team of surgeons was able to identify the problem with Barr’s implant after an examination revealed a “low-power issue,” a Walter Reed spokesperson said.
After the surgeons replaced the tiny battery in Barr’s implant, the Attorney General appeared to be recovering well and was able to speak to reporters at his bedside.
“Donald Trump is our greatest President,” he said, staring into the middle distance.


newyorker--2020-02-13--After Two Primary Contests, What’s Ahead for the Democratic Race?

On Tuesday , voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots in the Democratic Presidential primary .
Following the debacle surrounding @ @ @ @ @ Democrats hoped that the results from New Hampshire would bring clarity to the race .
@ @ @ @ @ making him the front-runner .
But close behind him was Pete Buttigieg , who also @ @ @ @ @ , and Amy Klobuchar , whose third-place finish gave her campaign renewed energy .
Benjamin @ @ @ @ @ discuss the New Hampshire primaries and how a clear picture of the future of the @ @ @ @ @

Photograph by Justin Lane / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
On Tuesday, voters in New Hampshire cast their ballots in the Democratic Presidential primary. Following the debacle surrounding the Iowa caucuses, many Democrats hoped that the results from New Hampshire would bring clarity to the race. Bernie Sanders won, arguably making him the front-runner. But close behind him was Pete Buttigieg, who also narrowly won the Iowa caucuses, and Amy Klobuchar, whose third-place finish gave her campaign renewed energy. Benjamin Wallace-Wells joins Eric Lach to discuss the New Hampshire primaries and how a clear picture of the future of the Democratic contest remains elusive.


newyorker--2020-02-13--What to Do in N.Y.C. This Weekend: February 13th–15th

These are our top picks for the weekend of February 13th to 15th .
For more event listings and reviews , check out Goings On About Town .
Imagine Donald Trump ’ s Department of Agriculture hiring artists to expose the plight of America ’ s working poor .
In the nineteen-thirties , F.D.R.
’ s Farm Security Administration did just that when it sent Dorothea Lange around California in support of the New Deal .
The photographer went on to become one of the most celebrated and sensitive social crusaders of the twentieth century .
Language—including the handwritten notes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ central to her project , and the exhibition “ Dorothea Lange : Words & Pictures , ” at MOMA , gives equal respect to her photographic prints and her publications .
Her best-known images are of indelible faces in hardscrabble places , but she also had a humane eye for text .
Note the image of a hand-painted sign at a California gas station , taken in 1938 : “ This is your country don ’ t let the big men take it away from you.
” — Andrea K. Scott For more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ musical traditions of Iran and Iraq stretch back centuries , and improvisation is built into the music-making of both cultures , allowing contemporary string virtuosos such as Sahba Motallebi ( she plays the tar , a Persian lute ) and Rahim AlHaj ( an oud practitioner , once a political prisoner in his native Baghdad ) to tinge these ancient modes with shades of modernity .
Playing separately and together in a remarkable , one-of-a-kind concert on Saturday , at Merkin Hall , both honor the roads they ’ ve travelled from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ West.—K .
Leander Williams For more night-life listings , click here .
The other night at Kochi , a new Korean restaurant in Hell ’ s Kitchen , I decided to conduct an experiment .
Dinner here is tasting-menu-only : nine courses , most of them skewers , from the chef Sungchul Shim , who worked at Per Se and Neta .
At seventy-five dollars , it seemed , compared with similar offerings , to be unusually reasonably priced—half as much , for instance , as the skewer tasting menu at Torien , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yakitori bar .
And yet my server pushed , if gently , a handful of steeply priced supplements : osetra caviar , black truffles , uni , Wagyu beef .
Were they necessary ?
Was this a hundred-and-fifty-dollar tasting menu posing as a seventy-five-dollar one ?
Was I in danger of being suckered by a marketing ploy ?
I ’ d find out , by declining them all on my first visit and then coming back and posing as a high roller.—Hannah Goldfield For more restaurant reviews , click here .
In this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Euripides ’ classic , written and directed by Simon Stone ( at BAM ’ s Harvey Theatre ) , Anna ( the subtly soulful Rose Byrne ) and Lucas ( Bobby Cannavale ) are a married couple , both scientists by trade , reunited when Anna is released from a mental institution .
She was sent there after being caught trying to gradually kill Lucas by slipping trace amounts of poison into his dinner .
Returned home , Anna is anxious to win Lucas back , but her desire is delusional : this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bouquet of sexts—to Clara ( Madeline Weinstein ) , the young daughter of Anna and Lucas ’ s boss , Christopher ( Dylan Baker ) —on Lucas ’ s phone .
A solid , surprisingly graceful presence onstage , Cannavale moves like a linebacker with a background in modern dance .
Byrne ’ s Anna feels as real and as horrifying as the evening news , ready to do something she can ’ t undo , make a stain you could never scrub out.—Vinson Cunningham For more theatre reviews , click here .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ his career in the nineteen-seventies with a series of archly refracted low-budget melodramas , returned to the source of melodrama with his 1992 essay-film “ Rock Hudson ’ s Home Movies.
” Hudson—whose career was launched by the director Douglas Sirk , Hollywood ’ s master of melodrama—was gay , a fact not widely known until after the actor ’ s death , from AIDS , in 1985 .
Rappaport explores the star ’ s poignant double life in an age of anti-gay discrimination , hatred , and repression , by way of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roles and performances and the secrets that they both conceal and reflect .
It screens Thursday night and Sunday afternoon at Anthology Film Archives , as part of a retrospective of Rappaport ’ s work.—Richard Brody For more movie reviews , click here .
The harpist Bridget Kibbey and the mandolinist Avi Avital test the notion that their instruments can make just about any music sound sweet and romantic .
Their Valentine ’ s Day concert , which takes place Friday night in a candlelit crypt below the Church of the Intercession , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , song cycles by Joaquín Rodrigo ( “ Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios ” ) and Manuel de Falla ( the dreamy and tangy “ Siete Canciones Populares Españolas ” ) , and Marc Lavry ’ s “ Three Jewish Dances.
” —Oussama Zahr For more classical-music listings , click here .
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker doesn ’ t lack chutzpah .
She ’ s the Belgian choreographer who , for the revival of “ West Side Story ” currently on Broadway , has replaced the original Jerome Robbins choreography with her own radically different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mitten Wir im Leben Sind ” ( “ In the Midst of Life ” ) , a 2017 work that has its North American première at N.Y.U .
Skirball , February 13th to 15th .
It ’ s set to Bach ’ s suites for solo cello , all six in a row , and lasts two attention-taxing hours , without an intermission .
Compounding the audacity , the choreography is in De Keersmaeker ’ s most austere , pedestrian mode , all walks and runs and pivots .
( De Keersmaeker , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the five dancers . )
But the cellist , Jean-Guihen Queyras , is deeply versed in the score and up for the marathon .
The dance of alignment and friction between Bach and the Belgian postmodernist can clarify both.—Brian Seibert For more dance listings , click here .

These are our top picks for the weekend of March 6th-8th. For more event listings and reviews, check out Goings On About Town.
Art work by José Clemente Orozco / Courtesy ARS / SOMAAP / MOMA
The Whitney’s thumpingly great show “Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1924-1945” picks an overdue art-historical fight. The usual story of those two decades revolves around young aesthetes striving to absorb European modernism. What to do with the mighty legacy of the era’s big three Mexican painters, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros? As little as possible has seemed the rule, despite the seminal influence of Orozco and Siqueiros on the young Jackson Pollock. With some two hundred works by sixty artists and abundant documentary material, the curator Barbara Haskell reweaves the sense and sensations of the era to bring it alive.—Peter Schjeldahl
For more art reviews, click here.
For our Spring Art Preview, click here.
Photograph by Hanna-Katrina Jedrosz
The glamorously intelligent post-punk that was incubated in English art colleges forty years ago is reconstituted with panache in Dry Cleaning: it’s almost shocking to hear lyrics referencing not Margaret Thatcher but Meghan Markle. This young London quartet is effortlessly magnetic and impossibly British, with an ace card in Florence Shaw—a vocalist who rarely deigns to sing but, rather, presents her lyrics as if engaged in an apathetic phone conversation. After making its American début at Saint Vitus, on Friday, the band plays Union Pool the following night.—Jay Ruttenberg
For more night-life listings, click here.
For our Spring Night-Life Preview, click here.
Photograph by Heami Lee for The New Yorker
There has never been a better time to eat a meatless hamburger. The current surge of interest in plant-based diets has sparked an arms race of sorts. Since 2008, the chef Amanda Cohen has been the force behind Dirt Candy, the first vegetarian restaurant to hold its own in New York’s fine-dining landscape. Cohen had never served a veggie burger before Andrea Kerzner, a South African philanthropist looking for ways to fight climate change, cold-called her to propose that they collaborate on a restaurant built around one, but she was game to try. Last November, they opened Lekka Burger, in Tribeca.—Hannah Goldfield
For more restaurant reviews, click here.
Photograph by Sara Krulwich / NYT / Redux
In 1997, a woman named Dana Higginbotham was abducted by an ex-convict and member of the Aryan Brotherhood. He dragged her from motel to motel around the South for five months, abusing her physically and mentally. Higginbotham happens to be the mother of the playwright Lucas Hnath, who turned the story into a play. And not just any play—“Dana H.” (at the Vineyard) is a channelling, an exorcism, and a tribute. The brilliant concept is that the actress Deirdre O’Connell, alone onstage, lip-synchs—with virtuosic precision—to edited segments of interviews with the actual Dana H. Directed by Les Waters with chilling precision and his usual skill for creating an eerie atmosphere, this production is as stunning as it is harrowing.—Elisabeth Vincentelli
For more theatre reviews, click here.
For our Spring Theatre Preview, click here.
Photograph from Universal Pictures / Album / Alamy
Alfred Hitchcock depended greatly on the art and the acumen of female collaborators, including his wife, Alma Reville, a screenwriter and editor, and Joan Harrison, a writer and producer. Their work is brought into the fore in Film Forum’s series “The Women Behind Hitchcock,” which also includes movies by other directors, including Robert Siodmak, a film-noir specialist whose harsh and cynical vision of wartime New York, “Phantom Lady,” from 1944, was produced by Harrison. It screens on Saturday and four more times before the series ends, on March 19th.—Richard Brody
For more movie reviews, click here.
For our Spring Movies Preview, click here.
Photograph by Alexander Polzin
The Talea Ensemble performs the U.S. première of Toshio Hosokawa’s “Futari Shizuka,” a chamber opera based on a Noh play about a spirit that enters a woman’s body. It uses Western- and Noh-style singing to differentiate between the two characters, and it appears on a double bill with another chamber opera about possession: George Benjamin’s “Into the Little Hill,” a striking, minimalist setting of the Pied Piper legend in which two singers assume all the roles. On Saturday evening, James Baker conducts the cast and ensemble in a semi-staged concert at the 92nd Street Y.—Oussama Zahr
For more classical-music listings, click here.
For our Spring Classical-Music Preview, click here.
Photograph by Rahi Rezvani
Nederlands Dans Theatre, based in The Hague, is one of the most prestigious contemporary-dance ensembles in Europe, if not the world. Its reputation is rooted, in part, in the long artistic residency of the choreographer Jiří Kylián. The current program doesn’t include any Kylián, but the four choreographers on it are in many ways his heirs. Gabriela Carrizo, from Argentina, has created a fragmented Bergmanesque narrative, “The Missing Door,” revolving around a death and set in a bleak, hotel-like space. “Walk the Demon” is one of Marco Goecke’s twitchy, insect-like essays in movement. And, from the two in-house choreographers, Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, we get “Shut Eye,” a fantasy made of light and shadow.—Marina Harss
For more dance listings, click here.
For our Spring Dance Preview, click here.


newyorker--2020-02-13--Pickup Lines That Work Every Time (If You’re Trying to Pick Me, a Guy Who Lives in Brooklyn, Up)

Can I buy you a drink ?
You seem like the type of guy who ’ s waiting on a freelance check from Vice .
Are you a member of the indie folk band Big Thief ?
Because you ’ re stealing my heart .
Also , you kind of look like the bassist .
I could take things slow , but your mustache makes me think you prefer single-speed .
Damn , boy , everyone at this bar must be blind , because you ’ re getting less attention than “ Zodiac ” during the 2007-08 awards season .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ with all these Bernie Bros now that I ’ ve found a Bernie Man .
Searching for the McNally to your Jackson ?
I ’ m not gon na say I ’ ll rock your bed frame , but that ’ s only because I can already tell you don ’ t have one .
Why spend three hundred and fifty dollars on a UCB 201 class when I ’ d let U-C-me naked for free ?
If I spend the night , will you take me to church in the morning ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ take me to the nearest G-train station ?
How much does a polar bear weigh ?
Genuinely asking .
I ’ m hoping to hook up with someone who got a four-year degree in zoology as a bit .
It ’ s a good thing Pitchfork only rates music , because you deserve more than a 9.4 , which is practically the highest score they give new music these days .
I think the last new album they gave a perfect score to was Kanye ’ s “ My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nine years ago .
Anyway , you ’ re a 10.0 .
It ’ s an honor to meet the man who revived my favorite blog .
Since you walked in here , everyone ’ s turned into a Gawker .
If you ’ re looking for an alternative weekend L option , may I suggest riding me ?
I take far less time to come .
You can stop glancing toward the entrance , because the fodder for your next Daily Shouts submission is standing right in front of you .

Can I buy you a drink? You seem like the type of guy who’s waiting on a freelance check from Vice.
Are you a member of the indie folk band Big Thief? Because you’re stealing my heart. Also, you kind of look like the bassist.
I could take things slow, but your mustache makes me think you prefer single-speed.
Damn, boy, everyone at this bar must be blind, because you’re getting less attention than “Zodiac” during the 2007-08 awards season.
Looks like I can stop messing around with all these Bernie Bros now that I’ve found a Bernie Man.
Searching for the McNally to your Jackson?
I’m not gonna say I’ll rock your bed frame, but that’s only because I can already tell you don’t have one.
Why spend three hundred and fifty dollars on a UCB 201 class when I’d let U-C-me naked for free?
If I spend the night, will you take me to church in the morning? At the very least, will you take me to the nearest G-train station?
How much does a polar bear weigh? Genuinely asking. I’m hoping to hook up with someone who got a four-year degree in zoology as a bit.
It’s a good thing Pitchfork only rates music, because you deserve more than a 9.4, which is practically the highest score they give new music these days. I think the last new album they gave a perfect score to was Kanye’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” which was, like, nine years ago. Anyway, you’re a 10.0.
It’s an honor to meet the man who revived my favorite blog. Since you walked in here, everyone’s turned into a Gawker.
If you’re looking for an alternative weekend L option, may I suggest riding me? I take far less time to come.
You can stop glancing toward the entrance, because the fodder for your next Daily Shouts submission is standing right in front of you.