You readers of Wide World of News are a curious bunch.
Every day, I get questions galore from all y’all, many on a repeat basis, including:
1. How early do you get up to write the newsletter? (It varies.)
2. How often do you write any of the newsletter the night before? (Only three times in its history; my daily copy is as fresh as an In-N-Out special order burger.)
3. Who helps you put the newsletter together? (No one.)
4. Do you really have regular readers who are senators and billionaires/millionaires who continue to chose not to pay anything to read the newsletter? (I do.)
5. Why do you charge so much? (It’s a lot of work and see #3 and #4 above.)
6. Are your readers more Blue or Red? (I’m proud to say I have so many of both that I can’t say which there are more of.)
7. Are those Ron Klain memos real? (I’m not sure but I don’t think so.)
But the two questions I get asked as much as any others are
A. Who is in the Gang of 500?
B. How can I join the Gang?
If you want a better sense of the Gang, you can show up this morning at 11am at our weekly Lauriol Plaza brunch (which the late Rush Limbaugh seemed to think was a real thing), or you can read about who makes up the cohort in this New Yorker profile of someone.
So, anyway, the answers to A and B are pretty much the same.
If you know the answers to the following five questions, you are in:
1. When you hear the name “Fred,” do you think
A. Astaire.
B. Hochberg.
C. Flintstone.
D. Armisen.
2. When you hear the name “Wayne,” do you think
A. Rooney.
B. Garth.
C. Bruce.
D. Berman.
3. If you are in New York from DC having breakfast, you are
A. Grabbing something from Starbucks.
B. Ordering room service at the Ritz.
C. Air kissing Al Sharpton at the Regency.
D. Who has breakfast?
4. With live theater back in Gotham City, you are most excited to see
A. “Hamilton” (again).
B. “The Music Man.”
C. “A Turtle on a Fence Post.”
D. “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
5. You miss
A. Vernon Jordan.
B. When The Monocle served some of the best food in DC.
C. The Delta Shuttle flying out of the Marine Air Terminal.
D. All of the above.
Here are the answers to your (inevitable) next questions, inspired by today’s edition:
I. The Gang of 500 is as real as the Ron Klain memos.
II. Yes, Lauriol Plaza is a real restaurant, and, no, I won’t be eating there today.
III. No, I am not revealing all the answers to the Gang of 500 quiz, since only those who effortlessly get all five questions right could possibly be considered for admission, and if you got all five answers effortlessly correct, then you are already a member (even if you didn’t know it).
IV. I will say that the answer to #4 above is, in fact, “A Turtle on a Fence Post,” which you should buy tickets for now, if you haven’t already (which, if you haven’t, means you are definitely not in the Gang).
V. Yes, you can read all of the content from Wide World of News for free, but you can also financially support the work I do on this newsletter seven days a week by either subscribing (at those high prices!) or making a contribution.
Both forms of support are voluntary.
Subscribe monthly, yearly, or a Founding Member.
Or, arrange to make a contribution in a simple manner by emailing me at markhalperintalk@gmail.com and asking how you can do that. ANY and ALL amounts gratefully accepted.
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ESSENTIAL READING
1. The Washington Post has a well-reported look at the connections between the Biden-Harris-Klain-Pelosi-Schumer legislative agenda and the existential fate of this presidency.
Want to know where you stand on these questions?
Ask yourself if this paragraph from the piece is too apocalyptic, pure Goldilocks, or understates the case:
This upcoming stretch may be Biden’s last chance to revive a presidency that has suffered major blows in recent months. Since being rocked by the Afghan withdrawal and the surging delta variant over the summer, Biden’s approval rating has fallen steadily, hitting a low of 38 percent in the latest Quinnipiac poll. Some of the campaign pledges that inspired Biden’s supporters, from voting rights to immigration reform, have fallen by the wayside. A jobs report Friday suggested the economy has been slowed down by the delta variant.
One nugget from the piece that is true and known to all Capitol Hill reporters: Team Biden is notably passive and poker faced in dealing with members of Congress. Joe Biden may end up with a legislative record rivaling LBJ’s but it won’t be because of an LBJ-ish, in-the-face style.
2. Politico and the Des Moines Register have extensive write ups of Donald J. Trump’s Saturday night live rally at the Iowa fairgrounds, with Politico emphasizing both the former president’s falsehoods regarding the 2020 election and the strong hold he has over the Hawkeye State’s Republican elites and grassroots.
Whereas the Register’s coverage is epitomized by this thumbnail portrait:
3. The storyline of “prominent anti-Biden-pandemic-policy conservative gets COVID” has, unfortunately, become a well-worn trope, but Allen West’s infection still stands out:
This one probably won’t break into the mainstream but for a certain category of Red and Blue Americans, the outcome of West’s case will serve as a colossal metaphor and talking point.
4. The New York Post’s Tina Louise profile is just amazing. The Post leads with the “Gilligan’s Island” thesp declaring Jim Backus the sexist man on the island, but you will likely delight more in the details of the only living cast member’s current Manhattan routines following decades of being defined by her work on the iconic program, as well as a delightfully varied professional and personal life arc.
5.
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