Seattle Times (July 1)
“And on the 476th day, Washington returned—sort of, mostly, cautiously, officially if not practically—to normal.” COVID-19 related restrictions began across the state on March 11, 2020. “One year, three months, two weeks and five days later, the last of those major restrictions melted away on Wednesday.” It’s not as easy as flipping a switch. COVID-19 and government-issued restrictions effectively “pulled the emergency brake on Washington’s economic and social life.” It is going to “take more than just releasing that lever to get the engine back to full throttle.”
Tags: 476 days, Brake, COVID-19, Economic, Emergency, Government, Life, Normal, Restrictions, Social, Washington
Los Angeles Times (January 21)
“On the first day of the Biden administration, we had already seen something almost entirely missing from Washington over the last four years: A-list stars. Also, music.” Whereas “Trump treated the arts as an adversary. Biden’s first day told a different story.”
Tags: A-list stars, Adversary, Arts, Biden, Music, Trump, Washington
Chicago Tribune (April 20)
J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois governor, has done “more than this inadequate and lame leader in Washington. Pritzker has donated $2 million of his own personal money, as well as is dealing with China directly to get PPE supplies instead of waiting on this dysfunctional administration. He has taken the bull by the horns to try and save people.”
Tags: China, Donated, Dysfunctional, Governor, Illinois, PPE, Pritzker, Supplies, Trump, Washington
OilPrice.com (October 9)
“Now that Brent has lost more than $13 since its mid-September spike many are saying that Middle East risk is underpriced. We’re taking a different view…. Washington and Beijing still pose more of a threat to oil prices than Tehran and Riyadh.”
Tags: Beijing, Brent, China, Middle East, Oil prices, Risk, Riyadh, Spike, Tehran, Threat, U.S., Underpriced, Washington
The Economist (June 22)
Already “one in five Americans calls Texas or California home.” The behemoths are now “the biggest, brashest, most important states in the union, each equally convinced that it is the future.” But their vision is “heading in opposite directions, creating an experiment that reveals whether America works better as a low-tax, low-regulation place” or a “high-tax, highly regulated one.” Given Washington dysfunction, “the results will determine what sort of country America becomes almost as much as the victor of the next presidential election will.”
Tags: Biggest, Brashest, California, Dysfunction, Election, Experiment, Future, Regulation, Tax, Texas, U.S., Washington
Time (February 28)
“Trump landed in Hanoi early this week eager for a victory as drama was unfolding in Washington.” Instead, he left “empty-handed,” with nothing to show from the second summit with Kim Jong Un.
Tags: Drama, Eager, Empty-handed, Hanoi, Kim, Summit, Trump, Unfolding, Victory, Washington
The New Yorker (November 7)
“A Democratic majority in the House will not only thwart Donald Trump’s legislative ambitions; it could also intensify the state of crisis and siege in Washington” because the result was mixed. “The vote certainly was not a decisive repudiation of Trump, nor was it anything like the resounding endorsement he craved.”
Tags: Crisis, Democratic, Endorsement, House, Majority, Repudiation, Thwart, Trump, U.S., Washington
Washington Post (September 8)
“Washington feels like the capital of an occupied country,” filled with “institutional and administrative chaos; our military chain of command is compromised; people around the elected president feel impelled to act above the law and remove papers from his desk. The mechanisms meant to protect the state from an incompetent or dictatorial president are not being used because people in power no longer believe in them, or are afraid to use them. Washington feels like the capital of a state where the legal order has collapsed.”
Tags: Administrative, Chain of command, Chaos, Collapsed, Dictatorial, Elected, Incompetent, Institutional, Law, Legal order, Military, Occupied, Power, President, Protect, Washington
Caribbean Business (October 1)
Although he “spent years hammering his predecessor, Barack Obama, both for playing golf and leaving Washington too often,” President Trump “appeared unconcerned with the optics of spending his Sunday afternoon watching The Presidents Cup at the Liberty National Golf Club as the crisis continued” in Puerto Rico. As victims of the hurricane clamor for help, President Trump is also expected to “present a trophy to the tournament’s winning team.”
Tags: Crisis, Golf, Golf Club, Hurricane, Obama, Optics, Predecessor, Puerto Rico, Trump, Unconcerned, Victims, Washington
LA Times (July 26)
“Washington’s biggest problem isn’t gridlock or wasted dollars—it’s men…. Men tried to pass a bill that only 13% of Americans supported, contributing to the (true) perception that the majority of Congress does not give a damn about what ordinary citizens think.” Their errant attempts were initially thwarted women who stood up for their beliefs, something they continue to do “even in the face of massive dissent” and political strong-arming.
Tags: Beliefs, Citizens, Congress, Dissent, Gridlock, Men, Strong-arming, Support, Washington, Waste
