Dana Milbank on “Destructionist” House Republicans, the Trump-Led Primary, and the Joys of Gardening

Views From Israel and Gaza • Murdoch Succession Drama • Gaetz of Hell [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( Dana Milbank on “Destructionist” House Republicans, the Trump-Led Primary, and the Joys of Gardening Good Saturday morning! “We are living in Newt’s world right now,” Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank [told]( Eric Lutz this week in discussing a new edition of his book on the “25-year crack-up of the Republican Party,” stretching back to Newt Gingrich’s Speakership. It was a fitting discussion given the GOP [Speaker chaos]( roiling Washington, full of ”bickering, backstabbing, and nail-biting,” as Molly Jong-Fast [put it](. The pettiness and dysfunction in Congress played out this week amid international crisis. Brian Stelter [checked in]( with journalists in Jerusalem and Gaza City for a moving episode of Inside the Hive, as Joe Pompeo [highlighted]( coverage coming out of Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. Plus, Gabriel Sherman [reported]( how Rupert Murdoch’s recent retirement helped protect Lachlan’s perch atop the media empire. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you Monday. —Michael Calderone, editor [Dana Milbank on “Destructionist” House Republicans, the Trump-Led Primary, and the Joys of Gardening]( By [Eric Lutz]( [The veteran Washington Post columnist talks to Vanity Fair about this combustible political moment and the challenges of debate when “we have no overlapping, shared set of facts anymore.”]( [Read more button](   [Sealed Off and Under Siege, Gaza Journalists Bear Witness for the World]( By [Joe Pompeo]( [“As I drove around, it felt as if there had been an earthquake,” writes the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Rushdi Abu Alouf, who describes his reporting this week from a decimated neighborhood as “the most difficult seven hours of my life.”]( [Read more button](   [Journalists in Israel and Gaza Discuss a Reporter’s Role in War]( By [Brian Stelter]( [“This entire country is one big war zone,” says a journalist in Jerusalem, as another, based in Gaza City, speaks of feeling like “a target at any moment.”]( [Read more button](   [House Republicans Have Opened the Gaetz of Hell]( By [Molly Jong-Fast]( [The Speaker’s race puts GOP dysfunction on display at a moment when leadership in Washington is sorely needed.]( [Read more button](   [Image may contain: Tie, Accessories, Accessory, Electrical Device, Microphone, Human, Person, Suit, Coat, and Clothing]( [How Rupert Murdoch’s Retirement Protected Lachlan’s Perch]( By [Gabriel Sherman]( [Sources say father and son discussed the move as a way to avoid a messy transfer of power, not unlike the scenario that played out on Succession’s final season. As one notes, “Truth is stranger than fiction.”]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe]( Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2023 Condé Nast