It appears I got Joe Biden very wrong

A brief mea culpa.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story March 13, 2021 By Jamelle Bouie Opinion Columnist I think it's a good exercise to return to your past predictions and analyses and take stock of what you got right and what you got wrong. In my case, looking back at what I wrote during the Democratic presidential primaries, I got one big thing wrong. Joe Biden. In 2019, I wrote that "the possibility of defeating Trump without defeating Trumpism looms over Joe Biden's possible run for the 2020 Democratic nomination." That a campaign centered on Biden's appeal to white, blue-collar workers was a campaign that would recapitulate the conceit of "Make America Great Again" under the guise of rejecting it. And I worried, throughout the campaign, that Biden was simply not inclined to make the changes and force the confrontations necessary to de-Trumpify the government, much less push the country away from its austerity mind-set. Looking at Biden's nominations, appointments and executive actions thus far — looking at the size and scope of the relief bill and the extent to which he outright ignored Republican demands to make it smaller and less generous — it turns out I was wrong! I greatly underestimated Biden's inclination and ability to do these things. It is clear that Biden sees the presidency not as a capstone to a long career, but as a final opportunity to make his mark on the country, and he intends to do so. If these first 50 days are a sign of what's to come, then his mark will be a much greater one than I could have ever anticipated. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT What I Wrote My Tuesday column was a dialogue of sorts with my friend Jelani Cobb, who wrote an essay for The New Yorker on the future of the Republican Party. I disagreed with a few of his analogies and wrote about it. There are ways in which I think this comparison works. Like the Federalists then, the Republican Party now is struggling to reorient itself to a new era of mass politics, its reinvention held back by its aging white base. Rather than broaden their appeal, many Republicans are fighting to suppress the vote out of fear of the electorate itself. And just as the Whigs struggled internally and failed to forge a cross-sectional compromise over slavery, the Republican Party does risk fracturing over its commitment to democracy itself. Jelani responded to my column on Twitter, and you should read his thread as well. My Friday column was on the American Rescue Plan, President Biden's Covid relief bill, which does much more than just address the panic. I would even say that the American Rescue Plan compares favorably with the signature legislation of Roosevelt's first 100 days, in that its $1.9 trillion price tag dwarfs the mere tens of billions (in inflation-adjusted dollars) spent by Congress during the earliest period of the New Deal. The challenge is very different — a Great Depression and its attendant unemployment and immiseration versus a health crisis and its economic impact — but the ambition is of similar scope. I also did a Twitter live chat, which you can watch here. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Now Reading Timothy Noah on the end of welfare reform in Politico magazine. Jeff Weiss on the rapper Freddie Gibbs for The Ringer. Katy Waldman interviews the actress Kathryn Hahn for The New Yorker. Zeeshan Aleem on the impossibility of productive dialogue on the internet, in his personal newsletter. Gabriella Paiella on the fashion choices of the director Pedro Almodóvar for GQ. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Feedback If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider recommending it to your friends. They can sign up here. If you want to share your thoughts on an item in this week's newsletter or on the newsletter in general, please email me at jamelle-newsletter@nytimes.com. You can follow me on Twitter (@jbouie) and Instagram. Photo of the Week I recently picked up a very small and fairly old digital point-and-shoot from my local camera store. Now, "old" here means "released in 2006," but that still leaves it far behind compared with modern cameras. It's slow, with poor battery life and a small sensor. But those are exactly the qualities I'm interested in. I've been in a rut lately, and the limitations of an older camera are exactly what I need to spur some inspiration and creativity. It helps, as well, that the native aspect ratio on the sensor is 16:9, like a high-definition film. It's a slightly different way of framing the world, and it helps as I look for scenes or objects to photograph. All of that out of the way, this is a photo of one of my favorite corners in downtown Charlottesville, Va., framed in a somewhat cinematic way with the wide angle and narrow aspect ratio. Now Eating: Swiss Chard and Herb Tart I made this for dinner earlier in the week and it was a huge hit with the toddler. The recipe comes (slightly modified) from Deborah Madison's "The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone." The main difference is I did not have cheese on hand, but I did have heavy cream, so I used that instead of her combination of Gruyère and milk. I also added a handful of chopped parsley and an additional egg. As always, you should make your own pie (or tart) crust! I use this technique from Serious Eats, scaled up or down depending on how many crusts I want to make. I also substitute half the butter for leaf lard, which helps with rolling out the dough and makes for a flakier crust. You can get leaf lard from your local butcher if you have one. Ingredients One pie crust 2 bunches of Swiss chard, leaves blanched, drained and chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium yellow onion, diced 1 cup chopped parsley 1 teaspoon lightly toasted fennel seeds sea salt and freshly ground pepper 3 large eggs, beaten a little less than 1 cup heavy cream Directions Prepare the greens and set aside. Heat a wide skillet and add the olive oil. Add the onion and fennel seeds and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the parsley and cook another 2 minutes. Add the chopped chard leaves, season with salt and pepper, and cook a few minutes more. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. You can pre-bake your pie crust if you'd like, but I don't think it's necessary here. Combine the green mixture and the eggs and add the heavy cream. Pour the mixture into the crust. If pre-baked, the tart just needs 30 minutes. If not, it needs 50 minutes. You can tent the tart with aluminum foil at the 30-minute mark to make sure it doesn't brown too much. Let cool and serve warm or at room temperature. IN THE TIMES He Came From Thailand to Care For Family. Then Came a Brutal Attack. The fatal assault in San Francisco on a defenseless older man was the latest terrifying episode for Asian-Americans, many of whom have endured racist taunts, rants and worse during the pandemic. By Thomas Fuller In Georgia, Republicans Take Aim at Role of Black Churches in Elections New proposals by the G.O.P.-controlled Legislature have targeted Sunday voting, part of a raft of measures that could reduce the impact of Black voters in the state. By Nick Corasaniti and Jim Rutenberg How Biden Is Trying to Help Working-Class Voters in Red-State Alabama The president's support for the rights of unionizing Amazon workers delighted political organizers in Alabama who are hoping to build long-term Democratic momentum in a reliably red state. By Astead W. Herndon Police Unions Won Power Using His Playbook. Now He's Negotiating the Backlash. As officer perks and protections draw new scrutiny, an architect of longtime police bargaining tactics says unions are at risk of losing it all. By Michael H. Keller and Kim Barker Read the full Opinion report here. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Jamelle Bouie from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

The Daily: The Children in Government Detention

Artwork from children depicting the emotional toll of family separation. Plus, how we booked Officer Harry Dunn.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story March 12, 2021 By Lauren Jackson Hi, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Our team is grateful to be inching toward spring and ready to say goodbye forever to this pandemic winter (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). We hope it's sunny wherever you are. This week in the newsletter, we're following up on Monday's episode to take a closer look at the emotional toll of the United States' recent border policies. Then, our producer shares how she found our guest from Wednesday, Officer Harry Dunn of the U.S. Capitol Police. Let us know what episode stood out to you this week — our team would love to hear from you. Behind the statistics in Monday's episode This undated drawing depicting one child's perception of government detention was created by a migrant child at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas.American Academy of Pediatrics, via Associated Press Few words were as evocative during the Trump era as "family separation." The policy, aggressively pushed by President Trump and his top aides in 2018, was one part of a zero-tolerance approach to immigration enforcement that separated nearly 3,000 migrant children from adults. So when Joe Biden ran for the presidency, he had an easy promise to make: If elected, he would treat migrants with compassion and provide them the opportunity to request protection in the United States. But, as we described in our episode on Monday, actually delivering on that promise requires reforming a knotty and complicated system that predates the Trump administration. "Biden's intent to create a more humane approach" to the United States' border policy, reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs said, "is bumping up against all kinds of challenges that are making it difficult to not recreate the same problems of Trump and Obama." Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT The perception of a friendlier stance on migration has led to a surge in attempted border crossings — including thousands of families as well as unaccompanied children. In January, Border Patrol agents caught nearly 6,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border, and many are now being confined in government shelters. Families and unaccompanied children are still being processed through a system that is stretched beyond capacity, and short-term crisis response at the border is complicating the administration's attempts at structural reform. While we discussed these statistics in the show, we wanted to offer some context on the emotional toll of extended detention for children, both those who have been separated from their families and those who arrive unaccompanied. So we reached out to organizations working to place migrant children in shelters, and they shared with us some art produced by children who have been detained over the last few years. We selected a diary entry, a drawing and a poem that reveal how two children — one young girl and one teenage boy — have perceived the passing of time during their detention. Take a look below, then listen to our episode to hear Zolan detail how the Biden administration is addressing the current crisis. LISTEN TO MONDAY'S EPISODE: Luis Antonio Rojas for The New York Times Biden's Dilemmas, Part 2: Children at the Border In the second part of our look at the issues the current administration is facing, we examine the president's response to the growing number of minors at the border. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Counting the days In this diary entry, a seven-year-old girl counted the number of days she remained separated from her family while she was in immigration custody in 2018. She was reunited with her father after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reunite some separated families. Unlike some parents, her father, Daniel Paz, was still in the country when the court order was issued, allowing the government to reunite him with his daughter before he could be deported back to Honduras. Courtesy of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project 'Melting into an hourglass' In this drawing and poem, David, a teenager from Central America, depicts his experience longing for his family while spending 671 days in federal custody, first in Illinois and later in Virginia. According to the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, David was recently released and reunited with his sister, who also entered the country as an unaccompanied child. He is now concurrently seeking asylum and special immigrant juvenile status. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Courtesy of the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights An excerpt from David's poem titled, "Te Amo": "I only want to be with you and forget about the past Thank you for the care you have given me And for your heart and your love that you have given me I only want to fall apart with you When I think of you, even my heart falls asleep I just pass the time thinking that you and I are hugging We're melting into an hourglass" How we found Officer Harry Dunn "It was a traumatic, traumatic historical event," Officer Harry Dunn of the Capitol Police said of the attack on Jan. 6.Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times By Desiree Ibekwe When our producer Jessica Cheung saw a video of Eugene Goodman, a Black Capitol Police officer, fending off rioters inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, she knew she wanted to talk to an officer who had been on the front lines. "I was particularly interested in hearing from a Black officer, given the Confederate flags and white supremacist symbols we were seeing on the Hill that day," Jessica said. So, she set out to find police officers who were willing to talk openly about their experiences. She contacted officers, but none were quite ready or willing to share their stories. She had heard from others that they were forbidden to speak with the press and that they feared retaliation from their employers. And, in fact, the Capitol Police press office said officers would not be granting interviews at this time. But after multiple tries, Jessica found Officer Harry Dunn. "It was about a week after the riots that I reached Officer Dunn," Jessica said. "He sounded pretty shaken up as he recounted his experience being called the N-word multiple times by rioters, fighting against them while being punched at and pepper sprayed with his eyes closed. I knew when I got off the phone with him that his was the story people needed to hear." But getting him on the show wasn't easy. He had already shared his story anonymously with another publication but feared retaliation if he were to go on the record. Jessica went back and forth with the standards team, which advises newsroom reporters and editors on ethics, fairness and style for our journalism, trying to work out how we could get him on the show. She wondered whether The Times could offer him anonymity. Perhaps we could alter his voice on The Daily? Ultimately, he decided against it. But she didn't let up. Jessica called Officer Dunn every couple of weeks to check in on him. Then, finally, after the Capitol Police changed its policy on officers speaking to the press, he agreed to go on the record with The Times. He acknowledged that his decision was not without risk (on the night of the interview, he said he'd had a new security system installed), and Officer Dunn remains one of the only Capitol Police officers to go on the record about his experience on Jan. 6. LISTEN TO WEDNESDAY'S EPISODE: 'I Thought I Was Going to Die': A Capitol Police Officer Recounts Jan. 6 Officer Harry Dunn tells us what the Capitol riot was like from the inside. For your playlist this weekend Illustration by The New York Times; Texture Fabrik (torn paper) This Week in Narrated Articles: Speaking of Britney, What About the Others? Five articles from around The Times, narrated just for you.   Odessa A struggling school system. An oil bust. A marching band determined to keep playing through a pandemic. This is the story of one Texas high school in crisis — and trying to reopen its doors. By Annie Brown, Sindhu Gnanasambandan, Soraya Shockley, Liz O. Baylen, Lisa Tobin, Tamir Kalifa and Lauren Jackson The New York Times The Return of Still Processing The culture writers Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris are back for another season — and no topic is off limits. On The Daily this week Monday: In part two of our look at President Biden's early dilemmas: How will the deal with the surge of unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border? Tuesday: A universal child benefit had long seemed impossible in the U.S. This week, it passed. How did we get here? Wednesday: The storming of the Capitol from the perspective of Harry Dunn, a Capitol Police officer who was on duty when it all happened. Thursday: In explosive interviews separated by 25 years, Princess Diana and Meghan Markle forced the royal family to confront the truth about itself. Friday: In Part 2 of Odessa, one high school tries to bring back football during the pandemic. That's it for The Daily newsletter. See you next week. Have thoughts about the show? Tell us what you think at thedaily@nytimes.com. Were you forwarded this newsletter? Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox. Love podcasts? Join The New York Times Podcast Club on Facebook. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for The Daily from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018