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- He Ran New Orleans After Katrina. Will He Run for President?
AVONDALE, Louisiana — If I could only have one dinner in New Orleans, it would be at Mosca's. Yes, my favorite New Orleans spot isn't technically in the city. That's part of the charm. And that's why I went there last week, sitting down with former Mayor Mitch Landrieu at a groaning table filled with Oysters Mosca, Chicken a la Grande and a couple of meatballs An unremarkable-looking red sauce roadhouse perched on the side of Highway 90 — New Orleans is one way and Acadiana the other — Mosca's somehow manages to be both a hidden gem and bucket-list icon. Those who know know, as the saying goes. After opening in 1946, it was a fun, cash-only spot for a pair of couples or groups of friends. A young local reporter named Walter Isaacson reviewed it at the time — his clip is still framed on the wall. Then in 2010, Calvin Trillin wrote a love letter and Oysters Mosca became foodie famous. Alongside the chicken, with its garlic bath, the pasta bordelaise, the crab-speckled dinner salad and to-die-for shrimp, Mosca's became such a destination that it's common to see sprinter vans filled with epicurious pilgrims in the gravel-and-grass highway frontage. This is an Italian Creole mecca — yes, that's its own food genre— and it neatly captures the singularity of New Orleans. (I know what you're thinking: Red sauce in New Orleans?) This city is in the South but not fully of the South, closer spiritually and ethnically to fellow port towns around the world than Bible Belt burgs a couple hours north. Since marrying a native, and eventually moving here, I've described New Orleans as one part Deep South, one part Caribbean and one part Western Europe. Thankfully, and tragically, it has the vices and virtues of all three. But I’m a transplant, so I’ll let Landrieu riff about his town. This is where his dad was once mayor, too, and his sister represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate. Landrieu was first in state politics, serving as lieutenant governor of Louisiana and then mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. Most recently, though, he served in Washington as former President Joe Biden’s infrastructure czar. Together we talked about New Orleans, Democratic politics, why he's uneasy about the DSA and why he thinks he, and not Pete Buttigieg, could've been the breakout mayor-turned-presidential-candidate in 2020. Laissez les… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago - The ICE Officer in Austin Wasn’t Wearing a Body Cam
Sign up for Inside the Trump Presidency, a newsletter featuring coverage of the second Trump term.The ICE officer who shot a Venezuelan man last weekend in Austin was a recent hire who was not wearing his body camera, three officials at the Department of Homeland Security with knowledge of the incident told me. The officer, who has not been publicly identified, was hired last year, according to two of the officials, but he previously worked for another federal law-enforcement agency, one of the officials said. The officials were not authorized to discuss the investigation into the shooting, which left Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez with a bullet lodged in his upper torso, according to his attorney.ICE officials have rushed to distribute body-worn cameras to officers since the fatal shootings in July of a Mexican construction contractor in Texas and a Colombian delivery driver in Maine. Officers making arrests are required to have the cameras at all times. The agency has directed officers to activate the devices prior to engaging in enforcement activity, the three officials said, and ICE instructs them to stop recording only when the incident has safely concluded. Officers who do not follow these instructions are required to submit a written statement to their supervisors and could face possible disciplinary action, the three officials said.DHS and ICE public-affairs officials did not immediately respond to questions about the incident in Austin and whether the officer will face consequences.On Sunday, the officer was working with a partner who was driving in a separate vehicle. That second officer had a body-worn camera that was turned on, two officials told me. The officers were checking license plates using a system that helps them find targets for arrest using commercial databases and federal immigration files. When they ran the plates from the blue Toyota Corolla driven by Garcés Pérez, the officers saw he had an outstanding deportation order from an immigration judge.The ICE officers, who were driving unmarked vehicles, attempted to pull Garcés Pérez over, but he drove away, nearly striking one of the officers, according to one of the DHS officials. The official said the incident was recorded by the body camera of the ICE officer’s partner. The officers followed Garcés Pérez in their vehicles. The officer without the body camera found Garcés Pérez and attempted to detain him. When Garcés Pérez attempted to drive away again, that officer pulled his gun and… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago - Republicans’ Cash Blitz Meets a $5-Gas ElectionRepublican polling has so deteriorated this month that the only uncertainty remaining ahead of the midterms is the depth of the party’s losses. With early or mail ballot voting beginning in nearly half the country this week, that question will mainly be determined by which money matters more: the massive cash infusion from GOP groups into every competitive race or the price of gasoline soaring toward $5 a gallon.The spending advantage could mitigate Republican losses, especially in suddenly vulnerable precincts of red-state America. Yet those advertising dollars may be effectively nullified if the price of unleaded and diesel continues rising and grips the public’s attention more than any commercial.What’s clear is that GOP candidates are in a race against time.That urgency was on vivid display Monday when Mike Rogers of Michigan and Ashley Hinson of Iowa, Republicans running in two of the country’s most crucial Senate races, each said it was time to end the war.Multiple Republican lawmakers and strategists told me that their fate will be determined between now and early next month, by which point they’ll know if their onslaught of spending arrested the Democrats’ gains.“If there’s movement by the second week of October, we’ll know we’re in good shape,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who’s locked in one of the tightest races in the country. “Republicans always outperform their polling.”The cavalry can’t come soon enough for many Republicans. And, in fact, the money from President Donald Trump’s super PAC may have arrived too late. The high cost of living and a deepening fatigue with Trump’s self-obsession were cementing opinions about the midterms at the worst possible time for the GOP — in the critical weeks after Labor Day.“The bottom's beginning to fall out,” one House Republican from a blood-red district told me. Trump is even underwater in this lawmaker’s seat, which the president carried overwhelmingly two years ago. “We have money that we've never had before, but they have every strategic advantage in their direction, and the president's made it worse — nobody in my district cares about the Kennedy Center, arches or the Reflecting Pool, all this nonsense,” said this GOP member.The unpopular war and its impact on gas prices are the biggest drivers of voter dissatisfaction; the national average for regular unleaded was $4.48 a gallon as of Monday, according to GasBuddy. Yet not far behind is a recognition, even among the most loyal Republicans,… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago
- The Northern Passage
Photographs by Christopher Gregory-RiveraThe message from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services arrived on August 7 as Jeanne was finishing up her shift at a restaurant in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina. Her legal status in the United States had been terminated. Her work permit was no longer valid. Jeanne immediately switched off the location-tracking on her phone. What if ICE was already looking for her? What if she was deported back to Haiti?Five years in the United States had brought her physical safety but nagging stress. Jeanne, who asked me not to use her real name, arrived in the United States in July 2021 to visit family on a short-term visa. She had been mugged on the streets of Port-au-Prince a few months earlier, and gangs were taking over more of the city. The Biden administration had recently expanded Temporary Protected Status for Haitians—offering provisional residency, protection from deportation, and work permits—citing the country’s deteriorating security. Two days after Jeanne arrived, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in his bedroom. Jeanne overstayed her visa, applied for TPS, and tried to begin a new life in North Carolina. But she could never really settle in, she told me.As President Trump campaigned to return to the White House, he promised the largest immigration crackdown in history—and repeated false rumors about Haitian migrants in Ohio eating pets. Soon after he returned to office, he canceled TPS protections for Haiti, and Jeanne lost her job. She was scared to leave her home and had to drain her savings to pay bills. After a federal judge blocked Trump’s move in February 2026, effectively reinstating TPS, she got her job back. But in June, the Supreme Court sided with Trump, and when the ruling took effect last month, Jeanne was among the roughly 300,000 Haitians who could no longer work legally and faced possible arrest and deportation by ICE. Jeanne looked for advice online, finding mostly fear and despair. Her relatives urged her to head north and stay with her brother in Canada.Canada’s asylum rules allow migrants with close family members to enter the country and seek protection, but Jeanne worried about making the 900-mile journey to the border. She had read that ICE officers and Border Patrol agents were checking buses and trains, asking for papers. A friend gave her the number of a driver, who charged $700 for the one-way trip. “I was… [TheTopNews] Read More.2 weeks ago - The Company Trump Can’t IgnoreOn the evening of April 6, an unusual request began making its way from Washington to some of Wall Street’s most powerful executives. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wanted to see them first thing the next morning. The heads of Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo had already been in Washington for a routine meeting of the Financial Services Forum, a trade association whose gatherings are usually free of drama. But as the bankers wound down their day over dinner and drinks, that quickly changed. Bessent had learned that the artificial intelligence company Anthropic had developed a new model, called Mythos, which would be released the next day to approved users in the public and private sector, a limited rollout that Anthropic said was the safest way to release its most capable model yet. Treasury secretaries do not typically occupy themselves with Silicon Valley product releases, but the growing capabilities of AI presented a unique threat to the American economy.Anthropic had briefed the government on the advanced model, which was capable of finding holes in digital infrastructure at lightning speed — a skill that could be used for defense in the right hands, or to wreak havoc in the wrong ones. In late March, Microsoft had privately warned administration officials after receiving early access to Mythos that it represented a significant leap and could automate sophisticated cyberattacks against financial institutions, the energy grid and other critical infrastructure, allowing less skilled actors to carry out operations once limited to elite hackers.The White House spun into crisis mode. In the Situation Room, Cabinet secretaries met with the administration’s top science adviser to understand Mythos’ capabilities and brainstorm how their agencies could respond. Afterwards Vice President JD Vance convened a phone call with some of the country's most influential technology executives, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and his leading competitors. Vance conveyed that the administration wanted a partnership in addressing frontier AI that supported innovation while balancing security concerns.“We know today's hot button thing is Mythos, but we know that's not going to be the last one,” an administration official involved in the discussions said, describing the call.That engagement represented a turnabout for a president who had returned to office banking on continued expansion of the American artificial intelligence sector to drive the country’s economic growth. As his AI czar, President Donald Trump chose David Sacks, a cheerleader… [TheTopNews] Read More.3 weeks ago
- Mike Waltz Has Quietly Signaled He’s Looking Past the UNFailure doesn’t have to kill ambition. Mike Waltz ought to know.After the infamous Signal chat debacle, which contributed to President Donald Trump's decision to oust him as national security adviser, Waltz was sent to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Instead of hiding at the struggling global institution in New York, Waltz has seized chances to stay in the spotlight, from hosting hip-hop royalty to warning Cuba’s leaders to “change your ways” to blitzing the Sunday shows defending the U.S.-Israel war in Iran.Next week, Waltz will find himself near the cameras again as Trump attends the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders. It’s an opportunity for Waltz to get facetime with Trump as well as other heads of state in an array of settings. Maybe he will even pass out his team’s popular “MUNGA” hats (“Make the U.N. Great Again”).My understanding is that Waltz is thinking well beyond the corridors of Turtle Bay.Around Washington, there’s speculation that he might someday go for a Senate seat from Florida, and no one rules out a presidential run. I’ve also heard he wouldn’t mind a quicker return to the capital. The late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told people that Waltz had sought his support in becoming secretary of State should Marco Rubio, whom many pols suspect has presidential aspirations, leave the role. I heard this directly from two people Graham told in separate conversations, one of whom is a Republican elected official. One of them said their conversation with Graham took place several weeks before the senator died on July 11. Graham indicated that he’d spoken with Waltz very recently, the person said.Like many who spoke for this piece, I granted them anonymity to talk about sensitive matters.Asked about Waltz’s talk with Graham, Waltz’s office insisted in a statement: “This conversation never happened. It’s completely fake.” The office criticized POLITICO for reporting on the matter given that there’s no way for the late senator to refute it. Waltz’s office didn’t respond to questions about whether he had any other political aspirations.An aide to the late Graham did not respond to my emails seeking comment.Many people have had second, third or 15th lives in the era of Trump. The president prizes loyalty, or at least likes a good groveler. Waltz stands out, though, because he’s not widely despised or — the Signal screw-up aside — considered incompetent. If anything,… [TheTopNews] Read More.3 weeks ago
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