Issue June 15, 2018 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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Main storiesEditor’s letterThe public mea culpa has become a mainstay of the news cycle. Everyone, it seems, has an apology for bad behavior, from Starbucks to Mark Zuckerberg to Roseanne Barr to Samantha Bee (see Talking Points). Credit, or blame, social media and the outrage cycle that now dominates national discourse, where every gaffe and offense results in demands for firings and punishment. A simple “sorry” is no longer good enough; the quality of the contrition matters, too. Roseanne’s apology last week was deemed insincere after she tried to blame sleeping pills for a racist outburst; Bill Clinton displayed familiar self-righteousness and self-pity when he insisted he didn’t owe Monica Lewinsky an apology. And of course there’s President Trump, whose frequent demands for apologies—from ABC, ESPN, the intelligence community, The New York…3 min

Main storiesTrump’s assertion of unlimited authorityWhat happenedIn a confidential, 20-page memo, President Trump’s legal team told special counsel Robert Mueller that the president has limitless authority over federal investigations and thus cannot be charged with obstructing justice. The January 2018 document, obtained by The New York Times, asserts that the president could at any time “terminate the inquiry” into Russian interference in the 2016 election, or pardon anyone under investigation. It also contends that Trump cannot be subpoenaed and that submitting to an interview would demean the office of the presidency, which must remain “sacred and above the fray of shifting political winds and gamesmanship.”In a stunning revelation, the letter acknowledged the president dictated Donald Trump Jr.’s misleading July 2017 statement regarding his meeting with a Russian informant at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign—something…5 min

Main storiesTrump’s tariffs ignite a trade war with alliesWhat happenedThe Trump administration sparked a trade war with America’s closest allies this week, after it imposed steep tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union—which immediately retaliated with targeted tariffs on U.S. products. Trump’s tariffs, 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, were first announced in March, but the administration gave several key allies temporary exemptions while they negotiated deals with the U.S. When those talks failed to make rapid progress, Trump ordered the duties imposed. “The U.S. has been taken advantage of for many decades on trade,” the president said. “Those days are over.” Canada, Mexico, and the EU retaliated quickly, announcing nearly $20 billion worth of import duties in total on U.S. goods, including pork, steel, bourbon, peanut butter, and orange juice. Some…3 min

Main storiesIt wasn’t all badWhen Miranda Craig passed out while doing the dishes at her Texas home, her 3-year-old daughter Dorothy knew exactly what to do: call 911 on her mom’s cellphone. As Dorothy’s 5-month-old brother cried in the background, the toddler told the dispatcher her name and that her mom, who suffers from narcolepsy, was “on the ground.” Sheriff’s deputies tracked the cellphone and found the family by going door-to-door. Miranda taught Dorothy to call 911 when her daughter was very little. “She’s done it for me twice now,” she says. “She’s my little hero.”A British cat is being hailed as the world’s oldest feline after celebrating its 30th birthday. Michele Heritage adopted the orange-and-white cat, named Rubble, as a kitten in 1988, and the two have been inseparable ever since. Heritage credits…1 min

Controversy of the weekGay wedding cake: What the Supreme Court’s ruling meansIf this decision were a wedding cake, said Mark Joseph Stern in Slate.com, it would leave “everyone wanting more.” This week the Supreme Court released its long-awaited ruling in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Rather than tackle the central issue, though—whether a claim of “religious liberty” entitled a Christian baker to refuse to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding—the court effectively punted. In a surprisingly lopsided 7-2 decision, the justices ruled for the baker, Jack Phillips, but on the narrow grounds that members of the Civil Rights Commission had verbally disparaged Phillips’ religious beliefs when they said that “religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, including slavery.” These hostile comments, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority, violated the…3 min

Controversy of the weekGood week/bad weekGood week for:Preparation, after fashion brand Louis Vuitton hired a shaman to ensure that no rain would fall during last week’s outdoor fashion show in France. (No rain fell.) The unidentified holy man from Brazil reportedly only travels by private jet and commands a six-figure fee for every act of weather control.Gingers, after emojis representing red-haired people were finally added to the official Unicode alphabet of emojis, thanks to lobbying from Scotland, where 13 percent of the population is red-haired.Progress, after the Miss America Organization scrapped the notorious swimsuit portion of the contest. “We are not going to judge you on your outward appearance,” said new chairwoman Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America and onetime Fox News host.Bad week for:Ritual displays of patriotism, after President Trump appeared not to know…1 min

Issue June 15, 2018 - The Week Magazine (2024)

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