Rebecca Onion is on leave; in her absence, various Slatesters will try vainly to replace her. Today that’s me, Gabriel Roth, senior editor. Hello.
Actually, the plural is … : Congressional Republicans have made it clear they don’t plan to press Trump on his (copious, unprecedented) conflicts of interest. But there’s another group that might: state attorneys general.
Deal or, more likely, no deal: Remember how Donald Trump was the master of “making deals”? Remember how he was itching to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to the negotiating table so he could scale the Everest of deals? It’s not working out, writes Fred Kaplan, because he doesn’t know anything about the Middle East.
At least TV is good now: In HBO’s thrilling Big Little Lies, Reese Witherspoon is finally playing to her strengths, writes Willa Paskin. And Aisha Harris is cheered that shows about the black experience, such as Atlanta, Insecure, and Black-ish, are connecting with viewers who aren’t black.
Today in Trump: He picked a new nominee for labor secretary who, though conservative, “might bring a dose of professionalism and civic-mindedness to the Trump administration.” Then he gave a press conference that can charitably be described as “not entirely hinged.”
An astonishing feat of archival research and critical acumen: All of the sex scenes from HBO’s Girls, ranked.
Feels like we’ve made it to the freaky next level,
Gabe
