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When Kara Swisher learned the month after Donald Trump’s election that the president-elect had invited many of the leaders of the tech world to a no-agenda meeting in Trump Tower, she knew things were about to fall apart.
“If I had to pick the moment,” she writes in an essay adapted from her upcoming book, that is “when it all went off the rails for the tech industry.”
The eminent tech journalist and C-suite whisperer — who started her career at The Post and is, full disclosure, married to the editor of this newsletter — spent the next few days trying to persuade the bosses to beg off, but too many thought they could shape the unshapeable Trump.
As she writes of Tesla, etc. CEO Elon Musk, he “thought his very presence would turn the fetid water into fine wine, since he had long considered himself more than just a man but an icon and, on some days, a god. Good luck with that.”
And Trump wasn’t the only problem. Once-scrappy disrupters have a way of “wrapping themselves in expensive cashmere batting” as they get richer and more powerful, Swisher writes, until comfort and privilege are their real priorities. That, she says, is what these CEOs were really after — a reason none of them wanted to admit, and one that would lure them into deeper compromise than ever before.
Swisher tracks what followed in an incisive essay that contains the sentence “Let me be clear: Hitler didn’t need Instagram” and cleaves all visionaries by Weltanschauung into either the “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” camp. (She is a Trekkie, she explains.)
The big theme is carelessness. It’s what led the tech elite to Trump Tower in 2016, and it’s what led the rest of us into the mess that came next.
T-minus …
Four! The number of signs Jen Rubin sees that Trump’s weaknesses are deepening.
Obviously, the man commands most Republican primary voters, but beyond that? Jen isn’t convinced. There’s this week’s special House election in New York, which flipped the seat from R to D. There are GOP senators’ breaks with Trump on border reform and aid to Ukraine and Taiwan. There are the 21 Republicans leaving the House this cycle as some fear a wipeout. And there are, of course, Trump’s ever-approaching trials.
Three! The number of crises that David Ignatius says give President Biden a chance to prove his doubters wrong.
Can he face Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu down to secure a long pause in fighting in Gaza as well as the release of Israeli hostages? Can he twist Republicans’ arms so that Congress sends enough aid that Ukraine can push back Russian troops at this do-or-die moment of its war? And can he un-poison the politics of the border with some savvy executive actions? A hat trick by Biden, David writes, “would demonstrate his fitness to govern” at the time he needs it most.
Two! The poles of Republican delay represented by the House and the Senate, Jason Willick writes.
Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) are both less popular than their counterparts in Democratic leadership, Jason notes, and he writes that “there’s a lesson here about the GOP’s political bind and democracy itself.” He makes the case that Johnson is too beholden to the whims of voters — and McConnell too detached.
One! … blastoff?
Maybe. Planetary science professor Bethany Ehlmann writes that as the world approaches an exciting frontier in space exploration, U.S. leadership is at risk; a budget stalemate in Congress and job cuts at NASA jeopardize our ad astra aspirations.
You can bet China, however, is steadily progressing toward the dark side of the moon, with other nations forging past us in deep space, too. “Such is not befitting of the U.S. space program,” Ehlmann writes, “a jewel of our nation.”
And if that’s not enough, David Ignatius writes in another column that Russia is working on weapons for war in space — a development Congress considers a “serious national security threat.”
Chaser: Josh Rogin is losing optimism on Ukraine, and he urges Biden to stop pretending everything will be fine. Tell Ukraine that aid is not coming soon and maybe not at all.
Bonus chaser: But Marc Thiessen thinks moderate House Republicans’ “skinny” version of an aid package can still get (some) help to Ukraine.
More politics
Earlier this week, Catherine Rampell explained what a boon to the economy the recent increase in immigration promises to be.
Now Eduardo Porter and Youyou Zhou are putting forward a plan to harness that boom, with a slew of maps and graphs directing those migrants on where they might go to ease the country’s labor shortage most efficiently.
Check out the interactive map showing which states are most hurting for workers; read the rest of the column for the full analysis, including on which industries most need the help.
Chaser: On his podcast, Jonathan Capehart interviews Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) on the “catastrophe” of U.S. immigration policy.
Smartest, fastest
- Edith Pritchett cartoons the conveyor belt of style and more highlights from New York Fashion Week.
- The Editorial Board writes that the Democratic victory in the special election for ex-congressman’s George Santos’s (R-N.Y.) seat shows where the center is on immigration: common-sense reform.
- Jim Geraghty writes that after all this controversy, the special counsel who interviewed Biden should release his transcripts.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
Star Wars or Star Trek?
Well, at the moment: neither
Houston’s got problems
***
Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
