New York Times veteran writer Sally Quinn, who has been working with the paper since 1969, says the atmosphere in DC is more bleak and “poisoned” than in the days of Nixon’s Watergate.
“Nobody feels safe. Nobody feels protected,” Quinn writes. “… Even those who work for President Trump are scared. The capricious and shambolic way he governed in his first 100 days has them all insecure in their jobs. Mike Waltz is out. Bets are on as to how long Marco Rubio will remain in all his roles and Pete Hegseth in his. Elon Musk is on his way out … Those most afraid are the Republicans on Capitol Hill. They are afraid of not just being primaried but also facing retribution. Lisa Murkowski said it out loud. ‘We are all afraid,’ she said. ‘Retaliation is real. And that’s not right.’”
Quinn, who is 83, described a talk with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) during President Obama’s second term. At the time, Graham regretted the widening gap between Republicans and Democrats and suggested hosting “small dinner parties for Republicans and Democrats to get together and talk,” to which Quinn agreed. But it never happened, and Quinn says “that conversation could never take place today.”
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“Republicans are so busy demonstrating their fealty to Mr. Trump that there’s no chance to have a conversation with anybody not also trying to do that,” Quinn writes. “We aren’t even trying to get to know one another. With Mr. Trump in the White House, anyone who socializes with Democrats can come under suspicion.
Diplomats from other countries are also “reeling,” unsure how to host entertainment and meetings while not knowing if people will ignore invitations, refuse to speak or angrily storm out, especially with Trumpian opinions coming down from on high and changing by the minute.
“The hallmark of this administration is cruelty and sadism, vengefulness carried out with glee,” writes Quinn. “Mr. Musk said it best: ‘The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”
Even the night scene is different. Trump’s billionaire friends and Cabinet are “snapping up luxury real estate all over town, especially Georgetown.” Restaurants and hot spots that used to host an assortment of ideologies are being replaced with Donald Trump Jr.’s co-owned Executive Branch, with a “Mar-a-Lago-esque membership fee of $500,000.”
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Quinn offers no solid solution to the “city in crisis” beyond the value of a “sense of community.”
“Pick the members of your community carefully, knowing that you will lose many friends along the way but gain many as well,” she writes.
Read the full Times opinion here.