The Friday Brief

February 7, 2025

Inside: Courage vs. Karl Rove, the week the Democrats woke up, the Courts fight back, the Department of Gooners and Edgelords (DOGE), Sunnylands, Short Fiction: Sandtrap, A Gaza Story, What I’m Reading, and Scenes from the Home Front.


The Big Picture: Choosing Courage

Yesterday, I participated in a panel at the Rancho Mirage Writers Festival with Tim Miller, Molly Jong-Fast, and Karl Rove. Karl, always the strategist, argued that we should want Republican moderates to oppose Trump later—when it really counts, when the stakes are highest, and when the political winds are just right. 

You know, after the wreckage is smoldering and there’s nothing left to salvage. He even suggested they would “ruin their careers” if they cast tough votes against Trump now.

I disagreed. Vociferously.