The Truth About Mitt Romney’s Vote: It Doesn’t Matter

Plus: Behind the disastrous Iowa-caucus app, the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Rush Limbaugh, and the “BoJack Horseman” finale. View in browser | Update your preferences Letter from Trump’s Washington The Wrenching Truth About Mitt Romney’s Vote Is That It Doesn’t Matter Donald Trump’s impeachment-trial acquittal makes him the President he always wanted to be: inescapable and utterly unaccountable. By Susan B. Glasser Our Columnists Mitt Romney’s Act of Political Courage Romney’s public-service career has long been characterized by discordant narratives. On Wednesday, he may have finally resolved them. By Michael Luo Daily Comment In Honoring Rush Limbaugh, Trump Celebrated Racial Division Watching Limbaugh receive the Medal of Freedom during the State of the Union called to mind Lee Atwater, the continuing tradition of race-baiting, and how it infects our debased politics. By David Remnick News Desk Inside the Tech Consultancy Behind the Disastrous Iowa-Caucus App The leader of Acronym, Tara McGowan, seems like a starry-eyed techno-utopian, prone to believing that a wide array of societal ills can be cured by another innovation. By Andrew Marantz Q. & A. The “Self-Evidently Bad Idea” That Tanked the Iowa Caucuses Nate Cohn, of the New York Times, discusses the disastrous start of the Democratic primary. “They jerry-rigged a new caucus rather than starting from scratch.” By Isaac Chotiner PAID POST “One of the strongest and most affecting works in [Allende's] long career.” —The New York Times Book Review Spanning decades and crossing continents, this sweeping novel follows two people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a new place to call home. A Long Petal of the Sea shows bestselling author Isabel Allende at the height of her powers. The New Yorker Documentary “The Last Conversation” and the Difficult Questions of Dementia In this short documentary, a son grapples with how to talk to his mother about her husband’s death—and discovers a moving artifact from their marriage. By Julia Rothchild Culture and More On Television The “BoJack Horseman” Finale: A Hollywoo Reckoning The show had a long, strange, galloping run, charting an ever-sinking series of rock bottoms. By Rachel Syme Culture Desk Oscars 2020 Spotlight: The Directors All five directors’ movies are unmistakable in atmosphere: this one gritty and blood-spattered, that one sunny and blood-spattered. Come to think of it, they’re all blood-spattered. By Michael Schulman Humor from The New Yorker Daily Shouts Job-Interview Questions They’re Dying to Ask You Are your palms always this sweaty? By Alex Watt Daily Cartoon Thursday, February 6th By Jon Adams Sign up for more newsletters from The New Yorker. Visit The New Yorker shop. Question about your subscription? Contact Customer Care. New Yorker digital subscribers get unlimited access to everything on newyorker.com. Log in to your account here. We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please send your thoughts and suggestions to TNYinbox@newyorker.com. This e-mail was sent to you by The New Yorker. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, NewYorker@newsletters.newyorker.com, to your address book. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2020. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.