Peter Baker

As Trump opens his second term, it’s important to understand his first. “THE DIVIDER” w/@sbg1.bsky.social now in paperback or Kindle goes behind the scenes of his first four years in the White House and helps explain the next four. politics-prose.com/book/9780593... www.amazon.com/Divider-Trum...

The @washingtonpost tracked where Trump's forces are patrolling in Washington. Spoiler alert: They're not where the crime is.

Vance: "If you go back to World War II, if you go back to World War I, if you go back to every major conflict in human history, they all end with some kind of negotiation." Washington Post, May 8, 1945: "Germany Surrenders Unconditionally."

"Trump’s biggest reveal is what he shows about those around him; he is a mirror, and not a flattering one, for other people’s souls." @sbg1.bsky.social reviews the "longest, cringiest Trump Cabinet meeting yet." www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

Oil prices surge, briefly topping $110 a barrel, the first time in almost four years it has exceeded $100, in a sign of growing concern that the war in the Middle East will continue to take a toll on energy supplies. @rfelliott.bsky.social Joe Rennison www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/b...

Iran has named Khamenei's son Mojtaba as supreme leader, signaling the government’s desire for continuity as Iran faces expanding attacks from the US and Israel nine days into the war. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

Pardon industry offers rich offenders a path to Trump: One inmate paid lobbyists and lawyers with ties to the president’s team and walked free. Others are following his blueprint, but it is not always clear who can deliver. @kenvogel.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/u...

Trump administration signals that it will reverse a rule meant to cut down on $100 billion of tax dodging by businesses. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

“Whenever I think I understand Iran, it throws me a curve.” @elainesciolino.bsky.social recalls interviewing Ali Khamenei in 1982 before he was supreme leader or even an ayatollah -- and how it got her banned from the country. airmail.news/issues/2026-...

Trump blames deadly strike on school on Iran. "We think it was done by Iran." But Hegseth does not back him up when asked if that was so. "We're investigating," he says. A @nytimes.com analysis indicates it was likely hit by US airstrike. @shawnmccreesh.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

A report by the National Intelligence Council completed before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran assessed that even a large-scale military assault on the country would be unlikely to topple its theocratic government. @julianbarnes.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/w...

Americans skipped the rally-around-the-president stage this time. JFK gained 13 points after Cuban Missile Crisis, LBJ 8 after bombing Hanoi, GHW Bush 18 during Gulf War, GW Bush 8 after Saddam captured, Obama 11 after OBL killed. Trump gained 0 since Iran. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/u...

Trump likes to assert that he has accomplished things no other president has. With the strikes on Iran, he has achieved another distinction: He is the first president in the era of modern polling to take America to war without the support of the public. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/u...

Trump, Sunday: "They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them." Trump, Friday: "There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender." www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...