The Week Evening Review
The Washington Post's nixed endorsement, pink cocaine, and Trump's mass deportation plan

 
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

Why does WaPo's lack of endorsement matter?

In 2017, just weeks into Donald Trump's first term in office, The Washington Post announced a new slogan: "Democracy Dies in Darkness." The mantra quickly became a rallying cry for the media at large during the tumult of the Trump administration. As Trump awaits another Election Day, the slogan is back in the spotlight — this time in light of the paper's decision to nix a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris. The decision was allegedly "made by owner Jeff Bezos," the Post's union said on X. 

Although the impact may be electorally minimal, the implications of such a move may be more concerning. "This is cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave democracy as a casualty," former Post editor Marty Baron said to NPR. Trump "will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate" media owners.

What did the commentators say?
The Post's decision to cancel its endorsement, coupled with a similar decision by the Los Angeles Times not to endorse a candidate this year, is an example of "anticipatory obedience," said the Columbia Journalism Review. Owners like Bezos and the Los Angeles Times' Patrick Soon-Shiong are preemptively acting out of fear that if Trump wins, he could "take vengeance on companies that cross him." What's the use of having a net worth over $200 billion if Bezos can't buy "fearlessness in the face of a carnival-barking, would-be authoritarian?" said Brian McGrory at The Boston Globe. 

The nonendorsement has "already seemed to be impacting subscriptions," said Semafor. Some 2,000 people canceled within 24 hours after the announcement — an "unusually high number," according to one Post employee. By midday Monday, 200,000 people had canceled their subscriptions, said NPR.

But cancellations "do Donald Trump's work for him," by weakening these institutions, Baron said to The New Yorker. Canceling a newspaper subscription "helps politicians who don't want oversight," said CNN's Jake Tapper on X. Doing so will ultimately "result in fewer journalists trying to hold the powerful to account." Subscribers should instead be "canceling their Amazon Prime subscriptions," said The Atlantic.

What next?
The episode is an "argument against billionaires buying newspapers," said Jarvis DeBerry of MSNBC. While there may have been hell to pay if the Post and the Times had endorsed Harris and then Trump won, that hell will be "visited on more vulnerable people to a much greater degree." It's "unforgivable," then, that these owners are "more concerned with their own interests than the interests of the readers they serve."

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

'Although I am a fan of AI development, I believe that certain boundaries are being crossed more and more. The widespread use of AI must be done for people, not against them!'

Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland's minister of digital affairs and a deputy prime minister, responding to a local radio station's controversial choice to replace all of their journalists with AI-generated presenters

 
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

'Pink cocaine' is causing an uptick in drug deaths 

An emerging drug cocktail known as pink cocaine has doctors on edge and federal investigators sounding alarms. It surged in the headlines when former One Direction star Liam Payne, who died after falling from his hotel room balcony in Argentina, was found with pink cocaine in his system, according to ABC News.

What is it?
Despite its name, pink cocaine, also called tusi, does not usually contain cocaine. It's "typically a powdery mix of ketamine and illegal substances such as methamphetamine, MDMA (aka molly or ecstasy) or opioids," said NBC News. Food coloring is used to turn the powder pink, and the drug combo may also have a distinctive sweet smell. 

Other substances found in pink cocaine include "benzodiazepines, caffeine, hallucinogens and the street drug bath salts." Pink cocaine is referred to as "Russian roulette because its composition varies drastically between batches," Joseph Janes, a criminology lecturer at the U.K.'s Swansea University, said to Newsweek.

What's being done?
Officials are working to warn the public of pink cocaine's danger and get it off the streets. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has "begun targeting those individuals responsible for the sale of this illicit drug," DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino III said in a press release following a pink cocaine sting in Manhattan.

Efforts are also being made to stem the flow of pink cocaine from other countries, particularly ones with notable ties to illicit drugs. Earlier this year, U.S. officials reported seizing pink cocaine among other drugs off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South America, said The Associated Press. While these drugs were seized, it also offered evidence that pink cocaine was being smuggled into the U.S. at increasing rates. 

And the drug's effects might worsen, as researchers fear that fentanyl "may begin to appear in pink cocaine, increasing the potential for overdose and death," said the Los Angeles Times. Officials are being extra cautious with this potential shift, given America's already widespread opioid problem.

 
 

Statistic of the day

40%: The proportion of deaths in war zones last year that were women, according to a report from the United Nations. The U.N. recorded 33,443 civilian deaths in wars in 2023; over 13,377 were women. Children also made up a large portion of the dead; they accounted for about 30% of war zone deaths last year.

 
 
the explainer

Donald Trump's plan for mass deportations

Perhaps the No. 1 issue on Donald Trump's priority list is immigration. He's vowing mass deportations for millions of undocumented migrants should he win the election.

Trump has "long pledged" to conduct widespread deportations, said The Associated Press. But his record as president revealed a "vast gulf" between what he proposes and the "legal, fiscal and political realities" of mass deportations. Trump's mass deportation plan is "going to be logistically extraordinarily complicated and difficult," said Joseph Nunn of New York University's School of Law.

'You have to do what you have to do'
Trump says a flood of undocumented migrants has contributed to increased crime and drug trafficking in America. Many of the migrants are "from prisons, many of them from mental institutions," he said in an interview with Time. And he pointed out mass deportations have been conducted in modern American history, under President Dwight Eisenhower. A modern-day version of that effort, he said, would probably involve the National Guard and even the military. "You have to do what you have to do to stop crime and to stop what's taking place at the border," he said.

It would be costly. Deporting 11 million people during a single four-year presidential term would cost "more than 20 times" what the nation has spent on deportations over the last five years, said CBS News in an analysis. And there would be other forms of fallout, say critics. Migrants form much of the labor force for American agriculture, and home builders say Trump's deportation plans would "drive up home costs," said NBC News.

Narrowing paths to legal immigration
Trump is also taking aim at legal migration, said The New York Times. The former president argues that legal immigration programs created under President Joe Biden, such as those that permit Haitian refugees into the country, "allow immigrants into the country who would otherwise be turned away." 

One aspect is clear: Trump's rhetoric on immigration over the last decade has moved the country to the right. "Public opinion toward immigration in general has soured," Christian Paz said at Vox.

 
 

Good day 🔋

… for Arkansas. A trove of lithium in an underground brine reservoir in Arkansas has been located by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey and state government. There may be 5 million to 19 million tons of lithium in the state, according to researchers, "more than enough to meet all of the world's demand for the metal," said The New York Times.

 
 

Bad day 📞

… for the Trump campaign. Chinese state-affiliated hackers have obtained audio from phone calls of several U.S. political figures, including an unnamed Trump campaign adviser, said The Washington Post. The hackers are part of a Chinese government-affiliated group called Salt Typhoon, according to American researchers.

 
 
Picture of the day

Bongo baby

A critically endangered eastern mountain bongo calf is the first born at the U.K.'s Woburn Safari Park in more than a decade. The antelope species has been hunted almost to extinction in the wild, with fewer than 100 remaining. The park said the birth of the male calf was a "major success" for global conservation efforts.
Woburn Safari Park

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
The Week recommends

It's impossible to eat a movie scene, but that has not stopped filmmakers from saluting food over the years. The plate, spoon and knife always have a lot to say about what it means to be human.

'Chocolat'
Any movie that centers pleasure as an essential element of human existence is keen-eyed. The 2000 film 'Chocolat' (pictured above) plays with the capacity of chocolate to alter how the residents of a French village live. Juliette Binoche stars in this "call for tolerance, not just tolerance for indulgent pleasures like chocolate but a deeper appreciation for the wide expanse of human foibles and quirks," said director Lasse Hallstrom to Cinema.com.

'In the Mood for Love'
As the romance between two neighbors in early 1960s Hong Kong blooms in this 2001 film from Wong Kar-wai, the hazy density of the city becomes a character itself. So, too, do the meals, including one in which Mrs. Chan cooks sesame soup for her would-be lover, "pouring into the pot the cares and the repressed love toward her beloved, which until the end remains a distant, impossible dream," said Italian publication Gambero Rosso.

'The Substance'
Not every movie that stars eating and food need be a dewy-eyed paean to pleasure. Food, instead, is a weapon in 2024's "The Substance." As Elisabeth (Demi Moore) gorily cooks her way through a classic French cookbook, the film's stance crystallizes, depicting the "cruelty that women face as they age in the glare of the spotlight." For Elisabeth, "each meal becomes an opportunity for self-flagellation," said Eater.

 
 

Poll watch

Americans view Canada in a very favorable light, according to a new Ipsos poll. The poll surveyed 1,004 adults and found that 87% view Canada favorably, the highest among nine countries polled. Americans also view Canada as the U.S.'s second-strongest ally in world affairs behind the U.K. 

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'Why is the US so behind on animal welfare?'
Peter Singer at Time
Why does America "lag so far behind the U.K. and EU on animal welfare? One view is that Americans are still influenced by a Wild West mentality that tolerates the rough handling of animals," says Peter Singer. But it's "not because Americans care less about animals than Europeans but because the U.S. political system is less democratic" than Europe's. Most Americans "care about animals and would like their country to be among the leading nations in protecting animals."

'Blackouts expose the Cuban regime's excuses for failure'
Arturo McFields at The Hill
Cuba's blackouts have "shed light on the lies of communism," says Arturo McFields. Cuba is "not a paradise of free health care and social welfare" but an "impoverished and miserable island whose military leadership has been living in luxury for 65 years at the expense of its people." Communism "never creates wealth — it only creates unemployment, hunger and misery." But the "bravery of the Cuban people is impressive," as "protesting on the island requires an extra dose of courage."

'How education and religion have redrawn America's political map'
Shadi Hamid at The Washington Post
The "declining salience of class represents perhaps the most consequential political shift of the past century," says Shadi Hamid. Liberalism among Democrats has "made them more skeptical of the role of religion." Secularization has not been "equally distributed, mapping instead onto preexisting divisions around education and geography, as well as party affiliation." These "religious transformations mean that the two large cultural groupings of Americans — conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats — increasingly orient their lives in different ways."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

mankeeping

Because men's social networks have "shrunk significantly compared to women's," the burden of being men's source of emotional support has fallen to their women partners, a strain dubbed mankeeping by Stanford researchers, said Forbes. 

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz, Anahi Valenzuela and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; Joaquin Sarmiento / AFP Via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker / Staff / Getty Images; Entertainment Pictures / Alamy