Trump’s Mad Proposal for Gaza
The DailyYou’re reading The New Yorker’s daily newsletter, a guide to our top stories, featuring exclusive insights from our writers and editors. Sign up to receive it in your in-box.In today’s newsletter, an article by Rivka Galchen on new research about how the tiger got his stripes. But, first, the President’s disgraceful Gaza plans. Plus:What happened to the Trump resistance?New trends: raw milk, luxe travel, and knittingThe Weeknd tests the limits of his villainous alter egoPhotograph by Mohammed Salem / ReutersDonald Trump’s MadnessTo Benjamin Netanyahu’s delight, Trump proposes the wholesale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the creation of a new “Riviera.”By David RemnickMore than five hundred years ago, Machiavelli, the philosopher of political practice and modern republicanism, suggested, in “Discourses on Livy,” that “at times it is a very wise thing to simulate madness.” Richard Nixon, according to his chief of staff H. R. Haldeman, apparently arrived at a similar conclusion, saying, “I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We’ll just slip the word to them that, ‘for God’s sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about communism. We can’t restrain him when he’s angry—and he has his hand on the nuclear button’—and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace.”On Tuesday, President Trump appeared alongside the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the East Room at the White House, and declared that the two million Palestinians in Gaza should be forced out of the Strip. The United States would “take over” Gaza and “own” it. The Palestinians, after having suffered tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of countless homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, and other infrastructure, would, it appears, have nothing to say about any of this and would be sent . . . elsewhere. Egypt. Jordan. Whatever. It hardly seemed to matter to Trump that such a policy represents ethnic cleansing. Morality is of no interest when there is a real-estate deal to be made. Keep reading the story »The Briefing RoomDemonstrators protest in Washington, D.C., at the Women’s March, on January 21, 2017, a day after Donald Trump’s Inauguration.Photograph by Lucas Jackson / ReutersThe end of the resistance era: “If Trump’s first Presidency was characterized by widespread revolt, his second term has so far been defined by the lack of dissidence,” Brady Brickner-Wood writes. Where there were once millions of participants in Women’s Marches worldwide and surges of funding for groups such as the A.C.L.U. and Planned Parenthood, there are now only a few solitary voices speaking up against this Administration’s decimation of the government. What has happened to the Democrats’ defiance? The federal employees behind foreign aid: By Friday, the entire workforce of the American foreign-aid agency U.S.A.I.D., save for “essential personnel,” will be put on leave, a potential first step toward its dismantling (a move that may be illegal, as the agency was created by congressional mandate). How the nearly ten thousand global employees will be transported back to the United States—some from countries where wars or conflicts are actively raging—remains unclear. Last year, Casey Cep covered the Sammies, an annual awards show to recognize these kinds of federal workers and a “surprisingly moving” celebration of civil service. The mystery of Tulsi Gabbard: The Senate Intelligence Committee voted yesterday to advance Gabbard’s nomination as the director of National Intelligence. If confirmed, she would oversee the nation’s spy agencies and the President’s Daily Brief. After the initial hearings, Kelefa Sanneh followed up on his 2017 Profile of Gabbard, noting that the politician has had an “unusually circuitous” career path, and exploring what might be motivating her now.More Top StoriesHow the Tiger Really Got His StripesAbel Tesfaye Says Goodbye to the WeekndTrend Alert! Raw Milk, Luxe Travel, and KnittingDaily CartoonCartoon by Brendan LoperCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copiedShopShopMore Fun & GamesPlay today’s beginner-friendly puzzle. A clue: Title for Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr. Three letters.Play Laugh Lines No. 5: New York City. Can you guess when these New Yorker cartoons were originally published?Shouts & Murmurs: America!: Greenland’s Reindeers Politely Reject Our Annexation OverturesP.S. There is a less than two-per-cent chance—not nothing!—that a recently spotted asteroid will strike Earth in December of 2032. In T. Coraghessan Boyle’s propulsive and moving story “Chicxulub,” from 2004, the narrator is preoccupied with space rocks, and with the potential of a meteor strike. “Astrophysicists call such objects ‘civilization enders,’ and calculate the chances that a disaster of this magnitude will occur during any individual’s lifetime at roughly one in ten thousand,” he notes, “the same odds as dying in
In today’s newsletter, an article by Rivka Galchen on new research about how the tiger got his stripes. But, first, the President’s disgraceful Gaza plans. Plus:
- What happened to the Trump resistance?
- New trends: raw milk, luxe travel, and knitting
- The Weeknd tests the limits of his villainous alter ego
Donald Trump’s Madness
To Benjamin Netanyahu’s delight, Trump proposes the wholesale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the creation of a new “Riviera.”
By David Remnick
More than five hundred years ago, Machiavelli, the philosopher of political practice and modern republicanism, suggested, in “Discourses on Livy,” that “at times it is a very wise thing to simulate madness.” Richard Nixon, according to his chief of staff H. R. Haldeman, apparently arrived at a similar conclusion, saying, “I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We’ll just slip the word to them that, ‘for God’s sake, you know Nixon is obsessed about communism. We can’t restrain him when he’s angry—and he has his hand on the nuclear button’—and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace.”
On Tuesday, President Trump appeared alongside the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the East Room at the White House, and declared that the two million Palestinians in Gaza should be forced out of the Strip. The United States would “take over” Gaza and “own” it. The Palestinians, after having suffered tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of countless homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, and other infrastructure, would, it appears, have nothing to say about any of this and would be sent . . . elsewhere. Egypt. Jordan. Whatever. It hardly seemed to matter to Trump that such a policy represents ethnic cleansing. Morality is of no interest when there is a real-estate deal to be made. Keep reading the story »
The Briefing Room
The end of the resistance era: “If Trump’s first Presidency was characterized by widespread revolt, his second term has so far been defined by the lack of dissidence,” Brady Brickner-Wood writes. Where there were once millions of participants in Women’s Marches worldwide and surges of funding for groups such as the A.C.L.U. and Planned Parenthood, there are now only a few solitary voices speaking up against this Administration’s decimation of the government. What has happened to the Democrats’ defiance?
The federal employees behind foreign aid: By Friday, the entire workforce of the American foreign-aid agency U.S.A.I.D., save for “essential personnel,” will be put on leave, a potential first step toward its dismantling (a move that may be illegal, as the agency was created by congressional mandate). How the nearly ten thousand global employees will be transported back to the United States—some from countries where wars or conflicts are actively raging—remains unclear. Last year, Casey Cep covered the Sammies, an annual awards show to recognize these kinds of federal workers and a “surprisingly moving” celebration of civil service.
The mystery of Tulsi Gabbard: The Senate Intelligence Committee voted yesterday to advance Gabbard’s nomination as the director of National Intelligence. If confirmed, she would oversee the nation’s spy agencies and the President’s Daily Brief. After the initial hearings, Kelefa Sanneh followed up on his 2017 Profile of Gabbard, noting that the politician has had an “unusually circuitous” career path, and exploring what might be motivating her now.
- How the Tiger Really Got His Stripes
- Abel Tesfaye Says Goodbye to the Weeknd
- Trend Alert! Raw Milk, Luxe Travel, and Knitting
Daily Cartoon
- Play today’s beginner-friendly puzzle. A clue: Title for Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr. Three letters.
- Play Laugh Lines No. 5: New York City. Can you guess when these New Yorker cartoons were originally published?
- Shouts & Murmurs: America!: Greenland’s Reindeers Politely Reject Our Annexation Overtures
P.S. There is a less than two-per-cent chance—not nothing!—that a recently spotted asteroid will strike Earth in December of 2032. In T. Coraghessan Boyle’s propulsive and moving story “Chicxulub,” from 2004, the narrator is preoccupied with space rocks, and with the potential of a meteor strike. “Astrophysicists call such objects ‘civilization enders,’ and calculate the chances that a disaster of this magnitude will occur during any individual’s lifetime at roughly one in ten thousand,” he notes, “the same odds as dying in an auto accident in the next six months—or, more tellingly, living to be a hundred in the company of your spouse.”
