A President Unequal to the Moment

Plus: The coronavirus may mark the end of the handshake; the Peace Corps breaks ties with China; and Putin’s eternal Presidency. View in browser | Update your preferences Catch up on our COVID-19 coverage, from the science of testing, treatment, and developing a vaccine to the impacts of quarantines and social distancing. Letter from Trump’s Washington A President Unequal to the Moment Trump and the terrible clarity that comes during a crisis. By Susan B. Glasser News Desk What It Means to Contain the Coronavirus Minimizing the number of deadly cases depends on limiting not just the absolute scale of the epidemic but also the speed of its spread. By Robert P. Baird Our Columnists Camaraderie and Human Evolution Amid the Coronavirus Crisis Will COVID-19 mark the end of the handshake—and the birth of new human rituals? By Robin Wright The Sporting Scene The Day the Games Stopped The suspension of the N.B.A. season, after the Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, shows how suddenly the sports world has had to adapt to the spread of the disease. By Louisa Thomas As Told To The High-Risk Work of a Cruise-Ship Crew Member A Diamond Princess employee recalls how the handling of the coronavirus outbreak put passengers and crew alike at risk. By Elaina Patton Newsletters Sign Up for the New Yorker Recommends Newsletter Discover what our staff is reading, watching, and listening to each week. Letter from Fuling The Peace Corps Breaks Ties with China The agency has always been viewed as removed from political spats. But the timing of the U.S.’s decision seems suspicious. By Peter Hessler Dispatch Vladimir Putin Positions Himself to Become Russia’s Eternal Leader A proposed constitutional amendment could see Putin, already twenty years in power, extend his Presidency to 2036. By Joshua Yaffa The Art World The Dark Revelations of Gerhard Richter Though the artist was previously indirect in his references to the horrors of the Third Reich, he has reason to focus on them now, in a retrospective at the Met Breuer. By Peter Schjeldahl Humor from The New Yorker Daily Shouts A Brief History of Sports Three hundred thousand years ago, a group of advanced Homo sapiens were days away from discovering electricity and inventing history’s most complex language. Then Edgar threw a rock. By Cara Michelle Smith Daily Cartoon Thursday, March 12th By Andy Dubbin 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.