WASHINGTON – President Biden did nothing this weekend.
Well, let’s rephrase: President Biden did nothing alarming this weekend.
There were exactly eight tweets, each rooted in what can best be described as reality. There was a visit to spend time with a sick friend, Bob Dole, the former Republican senator. And there was a stop at the church with the grandchildren.
Since Biden took office, weekends have been portraits of domesticity – MarioKart with kids at Camp David, bagels in Georgetown and football in Delaware. Devoted to the platoon, he didn’t even play golf. Biden’s demonstrable disinterest in generating audacious headlines only emphasizes how much the Trump-sized hole in Washington has created a sense of free time in all of the capital’s kingdoms. Psychically, if not literally.
Although the workload continues (after all, it’s still Washington), people are getting a few more hours of sleep in the period previously known as the weekend.
“I was leaving work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, not to work in the blink of an eye,” said Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat and one of the House managers who sued Donald J. Trump on his second impeachment , about his first position. trial hours. “And it took a while for my body and my mind to calm down.”
Lieu says he has already returned to work in full swing. Among other things, he is promoting legislation that he says will be drafted to close loopholes exploited by Trump, including a bill that would create penalties for those who do not respond to Congressional subpoenas.
But first, watching the compulsion: on the Sunday after the trial ended, Lieu spent his first hours without Trump watching episodes of “Snowpiercer”.
Biden, who is focusing on his $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, said he also wants to stop arguing about Trump. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” said the president during a meeting at CNN’s Wisconsin city hall last week. The reality is a little different. Biden repeatedly mentioned what he said were failures of the Trump administration, while seeking to gain public patience during the launch of coronavirus vaccines.
There is a parallel in the news industry, where reporters covering this new-old version of Washington say they are ready to return to the kind of journalism that does not involve deciphering a human humor ring. CNN and MSNBC, whose journalists and personalities have spent years defying Trump’s policies, have quietly reduced the number of Trump-focused journalists working under contract in recent months.
Of course, Trump predicted that the political news complex would fall apart without him. The members of this complex say they have space to breathe and, most importantly, to plan.
“As the host of a weekly program, the blatant absence of presidential scandals on Twitter means that I can plan ahead, with the expectation that our plan will actually be implemented,” said Brian Stelter, a former New York Times reporter who hosts “Sources “on CNN. “Informally, we used to leave a five-minute hole in my Sunday program, hoping for some big news on Saturday night. Now we don’t assume that this will happen anymore. “
Other journalists say they welcome renewed attention to politics.
“A linear policy-making process is still interesting,” said Jake Sherman, a Politico veteran and founder of Punchbowl News, of the relative return to normalcy brought about by the Biden era. “When you are sure that a rotating cast of characters will not change the course of the American government, that is a comforting thought.”
Olivia Nuzzi, a Washington correspondent for New York magazine, said she was reconfiguring her relationship with the White House – specifically, the idea that the current president has little interest in undermining his own press advisers and policy experts.
The New Washington
This weekend, Nuzzi said, she was also surprised to learn that Biden had quietly gone to church. She realized how much she had been following Mr. Trump’s every move, just in case he changed the news cycle on impulse.
“It is becoming clear, each day, how much what happened during that period had to do with how he was feeling,” said Nuzzi, “and how much our daily life focused on trying to get a sense of how he was feeling. feeling. “
Outside the isolated worlds of politics and the news media, there is no normal to return to. Washingtonians who don’t need to depend on every word from the president are still struggling to adjust to life in a city where the Capitol and the White House have been essentially militarized, and where daily life has been shaken by both the coronavirus and civil unrest.
Amy Brandwein, a chef and owner of Centrolina, saw brunch patrons return to the city center on weekends, but she and other restaurant owners struggled for nearly a year to recover the business lost due to the pandemic.
She also fears that political turmoil will continue. Ms. Brandwein said her plans to install bubble-like structures to provide a socially distant dining option were delayed because of the Capitol violence on January 6. She estimates that she lost about $ 100,000 in business in the days it had to close due to protests that attracted the Proud Boys and other extremist groups.
Mr. Trump may have left the capital, but she fears that her supporters are still putting her employees and businesses at risk. “I wonder about security in the future of downtown or generally in DC,” she said, “because the Trump movement is still going on.”
As Washington reels, it’s clear that Trump is happy to haunt the dreams of someone who is suddenly sleeping more.
He issued press releases through his post-presidential office, whose targets include not only the entire Democratic Party, but also Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. He gave interviews on Fox News, repeating controversial or false theories about his electoral defeat that allies like Sean Hannity refused to challenge.
And in Mar-a-Lago, his seaside fortress, Mr. Trump still expects a crowded crowd in the dining courtyard to stop and applaud, just as he did when he was in office.
Other Republicans filled the void left by Trump’s reduced profile. A good part of last week was dedicated to the talkative class of Washington gathered around an old-fashioned political scandal as if it were a campfire: Senator Ted Cruz of Texas fled to Cancún – Cancún! – while its voters suffered during a snowstorm and a blackout. Cruz’s maneuver was perhaps the strongest sign of a new political era: Trump was not around to cover Cruz for instinctively turning the spotlight on himself.
But supporters of the former president hope he will end his relative silence – perhaps with his speech scheduled for the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.
Wayne Allyn Root, a radio announcer and frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago, said Trump was indebted to Republican expectations that he would become a “king maker” for the party in 2022, if he himself does not become. a 2024 candidate.
“He needs time to heal,” said Root, “and I think that time is almost over.”
In the meantime, a battered and injured capital has adapted to life at a calmer pace, with quieter activities and words replacing the obscenities, characters and jargon that used to shape how the days went by. Bagels over Bannon. Grandchildren because of golf. Church on cowboy.
Historian Michael Beschloss said it would take some time to readjust to the idea that presidents do not usually assess their existence hourly based on the number of headlines they can generate.
“It is human nature that, to defend themselves, people trapped in a staggering car with a reckless driver should keep their eyes wide open and their hearts racing, with a lot of adrenaline flowing,” said Beschloss. “I hope that for most Americans, the car ride has stopped and we can stagger and catch our breath.”