Katherine Krueger
Verified- Co-Owner, Discourse Blog
- Contributing Editor, Current Affairs
- Commissioning Editor, The Intercept
- None, Hearst
New York
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Articles by Katherine Krueger
Establishment Democrats to the Dustbin of History
When Hakeem Jeffries, who’s positioning himself to be House speaker if the Democrats retake the chamber come November, was shown on the screen at an election party full of socialists in Brooklyn Tuesday night, the crowd chanted, “You’re next! You’re next!” Before polls closed on the night that would see the Jeffries-endorsed candidates fall and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s candidates win, the New York congressman told reporters that he and the mayor have “agreed to strongly disagree” and that “a...
Stop Calling It a Ceasefire
Today, Iran launched missiles at the international airport in Kuwait.
Stop Calling It a Ceasefire
To any reasonable person, a ceasefire is exactly what it sounds like: It is the total cessation of military attacks to end a war. But to the mainstream American media outlets covering the U.S.–Israel war with Iran, what constitutes a “ceasefire” is a rhetorical exercise. Today, Iran launched missiles at the international airport in Kuwait.
Fuck Israel for Making Us Defend the New York Times (and Nick Kristof)
In a SHOCKING turn of events (Aleks was out of town), JACK is hosting this week’s episode, wherein The Intercept’s Katherine Krueger returns to discuss: New York State is eying banning potassium bromate, AKA the chemical that makes bagels taste so damn good Speaking of chemicals worth dying for, you can pry Katherine’s vape from her cold, dead hands Remembering Some Blogs (or the time Katherine tweeted about her “personal 9/11” and it caused a lot of drama at work) Protests outside the New...
Never Apologize
Another writer once told me that she never, ever apologizes. How unenlightened and abrasive, I thought at the time. This was circa 2019, when the specter of cancellation loomed large, where old tweets were being dug up, and public apologies abounded. I like to think we’ve come out on the other side a bit more canny. The era of overcorrection converted me to the idea that, with few exceptions, you should not publicly apologize, and you should not retreat.
The Media Just Can’t Help Turning Iran Fighter Jet Rescue Into “Black Hawk Down”
Neither Josh Hartnett nor Ewan McGregor were there, but the way the mainstream media is telling it, they might as well have been. The Sunday morning rescue of a U.S. airman shot down over Iran launched a thousand breathless tick-tock retellings from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and many, many more — helpful water-carrying for an administration prosecuting a deeply unpopular war without a clear end in sight.
“Melania” Is as Vacuous as Its Subject
It’s darkly fitting that “Melania,” the new $75 million snoozefest from Amazon about America’s first lady, was released in theaters the same day her husband’s Justice Department dropped 3 million pages of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
“Melania” Is as Vacuous as Its Subject
3 hours ago The director of the new documentary on US First Lady Melania Trump has appeared embracing a young woman in images released by the US Department of Justice on Friday. Brett Ratner, who also directed the Rush Hour films and X-Men: The Last Stand, can be seen sitting on a sofa beside the late sex …
We’re ringing in one full year of Trump’s second administration with Katherine back in the third chair to discuss how we’re all coping (not well), the key differences we’re noticing between Trump Era 1 and Trump Era 2 (spoiler alert: more organized, vicious fascism), and important digressions into: An exciting new segment called Katherine’s Snack Box We remember some political cartoons (I could not find the one Katherine mentions; if you know which one she’s talking about, PLEASE GET IN...
“CBS Evening News” With Tony Dokoupil Is a Right-Wing Show for Absolutely No One
2 days ago You may have seen reports from late last year about CBS News abruptly spiking a deeply reported “60 Minutes” segment about the Donald Trump administration deporting Venezuelan men to a Salvadoran prison. You might have heard that the segment got pulled because it lacked “additional reporting,” …
“CBS Evening News” With Tony Dokoupil Is a Right-Wing Show for Absolutely No One
It’s the 6:30 p.m. ET broadcasting block on Wednesday, and Tony Dokoupil, the shiny new host of “CBS Evening News,” is explaining away the killing of three journalists in Gaza even as a ceasefire deal apparently remains in place. That does not seem to matter much to Dokoupil, who before landing this plush gig at Bari Weiss’s CBS News was best known for hassling the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates for his “extremist” belief that apartheid is morally wrong.
Trump Needs You to Not Believe Minneapolis ICE Killing Videos
It didn’t take long at all for videos to emerge from the scene of the fatal shooting by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a raid in Minneapolis on Wednesday. And, just as quickly, the videos became a kind of Zapruder film, weaponized by people desperate to misinterpret events everyone can see with their own eyes to justify an innocent woman’s death. It’s more critical than ever to trust what you’re seeing with your own eyes.
Olivia Nuzzi Is Completely Oblivious
Olivia Nuzzi’s world is populated by beasts, and by monsters. “American Canto” opens with cockroaches, and a call from The Politician. “The Politician” is the tiring epithet Nuzzi uses throughout her memoir to reference Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the man with whom the whole world now knows she had some degree of affair. It ends with a red-tailed hawk and a drone, a juxtaposition that underscores the degree to which the journalist’s life is now mediated by public interest in what was once private.
Discourse Pod #08: Birds & the Cosmos
The holiday season is in full swing and we’re bursting with joy for: Whether Frequent Podcast Guest Katherine is still vaping (watch to find out) N*zz* Watch pt. 1,000,000,000 Trump took the brain test for people with dementia three times. Seems fine! The Warner Bros.
New Pentagon Press Corps Absolutely Loves Pete Hegseth
The welcome was so warm it could’ve been the first day of school for a new class of kindergarteners, and with the so-called reporters’ level of skepticism for the administration, they might as well have been. “I would also like to take a moment today to welcome all of you here to the Pentagon briefing room as official new members of the Pentagon press corps. We’re glad to have you,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in her December 2 briefing.
Discourse Pod #05: Staring Into the Epstein Files Abyss
Preeminent podcaster, Discourse Blog legend, and Intercept editor Katherine Krueger is third chair this week as we grimace through the newest cache of Jeffrey Epstein files, fume at the Democrats’ caving on the government shutdown, and wince at the return of former RFK Jr. paramore (and disgraced political reporter) Olivia Nuzzi.
New York’s Billionaires Are Bending the Knee to Zohran Mamdani
Boy does it feel good in New York City. On Tuesday night, just over 30 minutes after polls closed, Zohran Mamdani won the election to become the city’s next mayor. To do so, he overcame substantial political headwinds: The man who will be our first Muslim mayor was constantly tarred as an antisemite and, as too often seems to follow, was subject to an undercurrent of Islamophobic attacks about “sharia law” and “global jihad” throughout the race.
Donald Trump Is No Peacemaker
Israel will not conform to our prodding them in any direction other than the compete elimination of Palestinians and others from land they lust for, will kill for. If we want to solve this nightmare it's Israel that need eliminating. We can start by stop funding them...35 billion dollars of our tax dollars to date over the past 2 years so they can continue their genocide. Makes you proud to be an American....doesn't it.
Donald Trump Is No Peacemaker
An otherwise rational person might feel inclined to hand it to President Donald Trump after news broke on Wednesday that his administration had brokered a “peace” deal between Israel and Hamas. To that, I would say: hold up. There’s much we still don’t know about the deal.
We're Being Ruled Over by the World's Biggest Losers
This piece originally appeared in The Nation. In philosophy, the Nietzschean Übermensch frees himself from the pedestrian bounds of humanity to become a superior being that can rule us mere mortals. In our reality, the men who fancy themselves Übermenschen—and who, unfortunately, are currently in charge of both the U.S. government and much of the rest of the world—are huge losers and crybabies, despite getting basically everything they want.
Who's the Grossest Member of the Trump Administration?
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Who's the Grossest Member of the Trump Administration?
Writing about politics here and elsewhere has afforded me ample time to think about the gang of criminals and racists who make up Donald Trump’s administration. But today, editor Jack posed an impossible question to me, which I in turn posed to the rest of my Discourse Blog colleagues: Who is the grossest member of the administration of them all? And, before you get mad, let me tap the sign: It’s okay to make fun of the visages of people who are evil. I’ll begin with my own contenders.
You Really Don't Have to Give It Up to Charlie Kirk
Much has already been said about the killing of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus on Wednesday, and we’re nowhere near the end of it. But as you seek to stake out the proper take to have, with the correct dose of disdain for “political violence,” you absolutely, positively do not have to sanitize his legacy. I woke up today to Ezra Klein writing about Kirk in The New York Times, a clear gesture at the necessity for crossing-the-aisle civility in moments like these.
Eric Adams is a Shameless Crook and a True Weirdo
From his bizarre antics to his outright corruption, Adams is a true creature of New York City—one who’s changed the city forever. Barring an electoral miracle this November, New York City Mayor Eric Adams will soon be gone, and we will all be poorer for it.
Guns Are the Problem, Period
School is back in session, which means that school shootings are too. This is the doomed country we live in, and there’s no point in obfuscating that fact. The news on Wednesday unfolded in the way we’re now accustomed: We learn that a gunman opened fire on a Catholic school in Minneapolis on Wednesday, an attack that left an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old dead and injured 17 others. We learn the identity of the shooter, Robin Westman.
The Worst Campaign Book Season of All Time Is Here
I love reading—mostly contemporary fiction, which I’m appropriately self-conscious about. I do occasionally stray into political non-fiction for the content and rarely find anything illuminating when I do. So it’s much to my chagrin that, this year, terrible political book season has come even earlier than usual and looks like a real doozy. We’ve got titles from such luminaries as a former failed vice president, a former failed senator, a current failed senator, and another current failed senator.
The New York Times Has Hit a Desperate New Low
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The New York Times Has Hit a Desperate New Low
If you’ve been following the New York city mayoral race, you’ll know that upstart Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani walloped former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Party primary, and that the establishment is doing everything in its power to stop Mamdani before the general election.
LET TRUMP AND ELON FIGHT TO THE DEATH
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LET TRUMP AND ELON FIGHT TO THE DEATH
Sure as night follows day, it was absolutely only a matter of time: Elon Musk and Donald Trump are no longer friends and they’re fighting like schoolyard babies online. To which I say: Let them finish each other off Bloodsport style!! Things have deteriorated fast since Musk’s recent exit from Trump’s White House.
It's Time for John Fetterman to Go
The situation is getting increasingly untenable for everyone’s least favorite pseudo-Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, whose behavior is reportedly increasingly erratic in public and private.
The Catholic Church Is So Washed
Is the Pope Catholic? Of course!!! And as of today, he’s also…American? For the first time ever in the Church’s long, long history?! On Thursday, the second day of the conclave, Robert Prevost was elected the next leader of the Catholic Church, taking the papal name Pope Leo XIV. The 267th Pope is 69, was born in Chicago, and holds a degree in mathematics from Villanova University (get this guy on the Knicks!!).
It's Time to Give the UK to Ireland
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It's Time to Give the UK to Ireland
Listen, the British have had their chance. In the ensuing, oh, hundreds of years of empire and its collapse, they’ve raped and pillaged the world over, carrying out genocides, famines, and more wars than any casual historian can rattle off. And in light of the UK Supreme Court’s expressly anti-transgender ruling on the “legal definition” of a “woman” as being a “binary” based on “biological sex,” it’s time to try something new: Let’s give the whole bloody thing to Ireland for a change.
The Price of Criticizing Israel Has Never Been Higher
It’s been a ghastly week for anyone who dares to criticize Israel. On Wednesday, video emerged of Runeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, being kidnapped in broad daylight by masked, plainclothes feds.
Don't Give the Bastards an Inch
Since Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia graduate and permanent legal resident of this country, was torn from his pregnant wife in the middle of the night by ICE and summarily disappeared to a detention center in Louisiana, I can’t get a grip. Even for an administration that’s already made life incalculably more cruel for people around the world, Khalil’s arrest feels like a new rupture in just how far the Trump administration will go to punish its political enemies.
Why Are You Voting for a Single One of These Monsters You Useless Shits
I’ve been thinking about this line almost on a loop since I first heard it, from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, leader of the apparent opposition to Donald Trump. “I’m trying to figure out what leverage we actually have,” he told reporters last week. “What leverage do we have? They control the House, the Senate, and the presidency. It’s their government.
No Hell Is Hot Enough for Joe Biden
It’s difficult to know exactly what to say about the passing of the torch from President Joe Biden to President Again Donald Trump. So I’ll just say this: the latter could not exist without the former. I also know, soul-deep, that Biden has made this world a more violent, a more deadly, and an even more hateful place.
Try Not to Lead a Life That Makes People Celebrate Your Death
Before I started writing this, I was once again investigating what’s going on with my health insurance. I’ll give you the short version: I am on COBRA after getting laid off of my second job in less than two years (this one, in the tech sector, I held for a record-losing two weeks before being told we, the marketing team, weren’t “meeting targets” set by the corporate overlords). I hadn’t even had time to get my health insurance up and running before getting the axe, and then it became COBRA.
Bury The #Resistance, Once And For All
By Katherine Krueger, The Nation Rather than engage in meaningful self-reflection, though, many top Democrats are looking for someone other than party leadership and their own candidate to blame. Just like after Clinton’s 2016 loss, they’re landing on the progressive wing of the party and voters from marginalized groups. They’re also flailing wildly.
Bury the #Resistance Once and For All
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Bury the #Resistance Once and For All
You can also read this piece at The Nation. The truism that insanity means trying the same thing again and again and expecting another result is as threadbare as they come. But the Democrats—who seem to love nothing more than redeploying the same losing tactics, even against the same candidate, and expecting to win—are powerful evidence of why that cliché sticks around.
Bury the #Resistance Once and For All
You can also read this piece at The Nation. The truism that insanity means trying the same thing again and again and expecting another result is as threadbare as they come. But the Democrats—who seem to love nothing more than redeploying the same losing tactics, even against the same candidate, and expecting to win—are powerful evidence of why that cliché sticks around.
Bury the #Resistance, Once and For All
Politics / November 21, 2024 Bury the #Resistance, Once and For All It had a bad run, and now it’s over. Let’s move on and find a new way to fight the right. Ad Policy Kamala Harris and Liz Cheney hold a moderated town hall discussion at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan, on October 21, 2024. (Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images) The truism that insanity means trying the same thing again and again and expecting another result is as threadbare as they come.
Kamala Harris Isn't Acting Like a Candidate Who Wants to Win
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Kamala Harris Isn't Acting Like a Candidate Who Wants to Win
At this point, I’ve made my feelings about Vice President Kamala Harris perfectly clear. I have argued that she could move the needle on Gaza even slightly in an effort to earn my vote. She has refused to do so. I live in true blue New York state, so there’s really no point in scolding me (further). The Harris campaign has made its choices, just as I’ve made mine.
Kamala Harris' Deeply Demoralizing Campaign
What have the Democrats done, in any material fashion, to protect abortion rights in the past 35 years at the national level? Because from my vantage point, they've only done the following: * Refused to even try legislating abortion rights * Used abortion rights as a major (fund raising) issue each and every election cycle * Talked a big game about stacking the SCOTUS and other stuff (see campaign fundraising) * Materially? Nothing. It serves the corporate Dems better if abortion is 100% illegal.
Kamala Harris' Deeply Demoralizing Campaign
Today’s top story is that Israel bombed yet another hospital in Gaza, burning alive already injured Palestinians. Photos are circulating that show arms, with IV tubes still attached, reaching out of the inferno. Actually, the site Israel bombed was hardly even a hospital. Most of the people there were part of a tent camp for displaced Palestinians. According to Al-Jazeera, Israel continues to carry out daily airstrikes in Gaza, even as it executes a ground offensive into southern Lebanon.
The #Resistance Is Back. Be Afraid.
You can also read this piece at The Nation. If you squinted at various points through this election season, it almost felt like old times—specifically, 2017, when a loose coalition of voters, elected officials, and former TV game show contestants joined together with the singular goal of resisting a newly inaugurated president, Donald Trump, whom they viewed as an existential threat to democracy and the republic itself.
The #Resistance Is Back. Be Afraid.
Democratic partisans are cheering for cops and war criminals, tweeting nonsense, and trying to crush dissent. How are we back here? Chris Swanson, sheriff of Genesee County, Michigan, speaks onstage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024, in Chicago.
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