Michael Schaffer

Washington, D.C.

Capital City columnizer, @POLITICOmag. Co-host, @citycast_dc. Formerly: Editor of @washingtonian & @wcp. D.C. Native. Admirer of schemes.

Articles

DC Statehood is Going Nowhere. Is It Time to Think About Joining Maryland?

6 days ago | politico.com | Michael Schaffer

The fear is epic: When the president posted a bizarre AI video depicting a Trumpified Gaza, one city source told me, colleagues worried they’d be next. In this environment, no one is talking seriously about statehood. Or, at least, they’re not talking about 51st statehood.
DC Isn’t Becoming a State. But It Could Become Maryland.

6 days ago | yahoo.com | Michael Schaffer

To protect the District of Columbia, it might be necessary to eliminate the District of Columbia — and merge it into the neighboring state of Maryland. It’s an idea that many people think makes eminent practical sense in the name of running the city. Yet it’s only in the air right now because of dramatic political reversals in the age of Donald Trump.
Mark Zuckerberg Is the Mystery Buyer of a $23 Million DC Mansion

3 weeks ago | politico.com | Michael Schaffer

And on Wednesday, the same day Zuckerberg was spotted at the White House, a Meta spokesperson confirmed it to POLITICO Magazine: “Mark and Priscilla have purchased a home in D.C., which will allow Mark to spend more time there as Meta continues the work on policy issues related to American technology leadership,” the spokesperson told me in a statement referencing Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
It’s Now a Hate Crime to Vandalize Teslas in DC

4 weeks ago | politico.com | Michael Schaffer

The document was accompanied by security-camera pictures of a man and a woman believed to be the perps. They are still at large. The department’s X post about the investigation was subsequently reposted without comment by Musk himself. Even in a month when Bowser placated Republican critics by tearing up the iconic Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street, the tone seemed over the top. The incidents, after all, involved writing on car windows, not blowing up automobiles.
They Were Raised to Serve America. MAGA Sees Them as Its Enemies.

1 month ago | politico.com | Michael Schaffer

Michael Abramowitz and James Boasberg both grew up as children of Washington notables, becoming friends at Saint Albans, the venerable prep school where the local elite has long educated its kids. Their fellow students included future Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), future White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and the sons of a vast array of Washington VIPs ranging from Jesse Jackson to G. Gordon Liddy.
They Were Raised to Serve America. MAGA Sees Them as Its Enemies.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Michael Schaffer

Michael Abramowitz and James Boasberg both grew up as children of Washington notables, becoming friends at Saint Albans, the venerable prep school where the local elite has long educated its kids. Their fellow students included future Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), future White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and the sons of a vast array of Washington VIPs ranging from Jesse Jackson to G. Gordon Liddy.
A Congresswoman with Dementia Stopped Coming to Work. The DC Press Corps Never Noticed.

1 month ago | politico.com | Michael Schaffer

Here’s the story behind how the media missed the story. Illustration by Nikki Ernst for POLITICO Michael Schaffer is a senior editor and columnist at POLITICO Magazine. He has covered national and local politics for over 20 years and spent seven years as editor-in-chief of the Washingtonian. His Capital City column chronicles the inside conversations and big trends shaping Washington politics.
Dying in Darkness: Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section

1 month ago | politico.com | Michael Schaffer

In personally announcing that he was dramatically re-orienting the editorial line, and in fact wouldn’t even run dissenting views, Bezos added another sharp example to a narrative that represents a grave threat to the Post’s image: The idea that its owner is messing around with the product in order to curry favor with his new pal Donald Trump, who has the power to withhold contracts from Amazon and other Bezos companies.
Dying in Darkness: Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Michael Schaffer

On Wednesday morning, outgoing Washington Post Opinion Editor David Shipley huddled with his soon-to-be former staff.
Boats! Catwalks! Persian Gulf Outposts! A Trump Trustee Has Big Plans for the Kennedy Center

2 months ago | politico.com | Michael Schaffer

“I see the Center like La Scala of Milano,” he added, speaking in a lilting Italian accent. “So luxurious. So prestigious.” It’s a vision of the Kennedy Center that’s dramatically different from the one that has for a half-century been a magnet for earnest fans of classical music. But it’s also different from the future evoked by the gallows humor of liberals who think Trump’s takeover will mean monster truck rallies in the opera house or stripper poles in the Eisenhower Theater.