Glenn Thrush
@GlennThrush
New York Times DC correspondent, ex-POLITICO, ex-Newsday, ex-City Limits. Win-win lose-lose.
‘When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when a people become an audience... then a nation finds itself at risk’ — Neil Postman, 1985
Kanye West hugs President Trump, drops F-word and talks social issues ... and hydrogen planes and mental health and endorsement deals and politics and, oh, so much more. By @catherine_lucey: apne.ws/Uqkr7pt
Everybody knows Paranoid but do yourself a favor — give Sabotage, the least appreciated great Black Sabbath album a listen in honor of Ozzy.
Not a lot of people founded a genre, credibly inserted "I love you Cleveland!" into a song about a space robot destroying humanity cos he was misunderstood, or performed a Lemmy ballad to get his cash-poor pal a mega payday. But Oz did. RIP. nytimes.com/2025/07/22/art…
A plus photo editing right here
GOP megabill’s final score: $3.4T in red ink and 10 million kicked off health insurance, CBO says ow.ly/ufyG106gsSx
King’s daughter, today, on releasing the files: “For me, there is no real value in it; there is only reliving the trauma.”
Great to spend time with Dr. Alveda King today before the release of the MLK Jr. files. Her uncle, Martin Luther King Jr.‘s, dream still lives on today in our great nation.
George Floyd's name does not appear in the Tweet, the headline, and pops up below two ads in paragraph 7.
Minneapolis mayor who oversaw BLM riots loses Dem backing to Somali-American socialist trib.al/13WTPl0
What could possibly go wrong
"Japanese First": A right-wing populist who says he learned emotional button-pushing themes and norm-breaking language from Trump is leading his surging party into elections that will test his appeal. @martfack nytimes.com/2025/07/19/wor…
As well they should
Mets are recalling Francisco Alvarez from Syracuse, according to a source.
If there’s a better (ie funnier) lede written this year tell me “Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book is one of the most cursed documents ever compiled in this miserable, dying country.”
Epstein’s "little black book" totals 97 pages, containing 1,571 names and roughly 5,000 phone numbers. At least 38 names are mysteriously circled, including Donald Trump's. “I got my hands on a copy,” writes Leland Nally. “I made close to 2,000 phone calls.”…
Top Ten idiosyncratic guitar takes 3/3 7. Michael Schenker = EVH 8. Samantha Fish > John Mayer 9. “Achilles Last Stand” = greatest guitar song. 10. Dimebag once handed me his guitar, played drums, and we jammed on ‘Ace of Spades.’ He said: ‘Don’t give up the day job.’
Top Ten Idiosyncratic guitar takes: 2/3 4. Prince’s solo on “While My Guitar” was the greatest guitar solo ever (for ppl who don’t listen to guitar solos). 5. Lennon’s in “Get Back” actually might be. 6. Crest of a Wave” (Rory Gallagher) should be as famous as as “Stairway”
Top Ten Idiosyncratic guitar takes: 1/3 1) Paul Kossoff in Free > Eric Clapton in Cream 2) Clapton in Blind Faith is better than anybody 3) Eric Gales of the greatest blues-rock guitar player (under 80) currently drawing breath on planet erff.
Just fell out of an old book… Brighton boardwalk looking west toward the Coney Island parachute jump circa 1982-3
He's always super quotable
"I'm happy that his number is getting retired - he's one of the all-time great Mets" On David Wright's number retirement day, Jacob deGrom talks about his former teammate having his number 5 forever enshrined at Citi Field
👀
US official criticizes Israeli strikes in Southern Syria: "Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time." Source: @BarakRavid
President Donald Trump has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask a judge to release pertinent grand jury transcripts from the Jeffrey Epstein case. Will this satisfy those who demand more transparency? @GlennThrush: "It isn't now. It's putting a band-aid on a wound that is…
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Periodic reminder that the Senate Intel Committee, led at the time by a certain future secretary of state Marco Rubio, concluded this in its comprehensive review of Russian interference in the 2016 election: intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/upl…
Graf 3: The president cited “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein” for his directive, which falls far short of demands from some congressional Republicans to make public all investigative files collected by the department and the F.B.I., not just testimony…
.@GlennThrush takes 12¶¶ before he explains that grand jury transcripts wouldn't include all evidence in the Epstein case. He DOESN'T explain why GJ transcripts would almost certainly NOT include the evidence in issue. This is the opposite of news. nytimes.com/2025/07/17/us/…