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As she describes the search of those bags — “next he pulled out the heap of charger cords, as tangled as my insides” — you are right there with her. Finally, out come the two almost-empty cartridges of cannabis oil that would land her in a foreign prison for more than nine months.
Griner’s retelling for Post Opinions is adapted from her new memoir about the nightmare ordeal, “Coming Home.” Obviously, we know the story’s end — right there in the title, thank heaven — as well as its gnarly middle.
But still, as Griner’s narration propels her (and us) toward disaster, you find yourself longing for an out. The tipping point comes as Russian agents pressure Griner into signing a document she cannot read. No, no, no, no, no.
She relents eventually, with the thought that turned out so horribly wrong: “Maybe if I sign this, I can go.”
Chaser: On Monday, when imprisoned Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his commentary opposing the Putin regime, Evgenia Kara-Murza, his wife, spoke on his behalf in The Post newsroom. Here, you can watch video, produced by Shih-Wei Chou, of the moving speech.
Trump vs. Stormy, with a silver lining
“For nearly a decade, [Donald] Trump has been the nation’s main chaos agent,” Dana Milbank writes. “He causes the mayhem, and the rest of us have to react, adjust, adapt and try to stay calm. But for one day, somebody else was causing the chaos, and Trump and his lawyers were the ones who had to react and adapt.”
Enter Stormy Daniels.
Dana’s column captures in all its glory the adult-film actress’s barnburner of a day testifying in the hush money trial of the former president. There are the outbursts of laughter, the salacious accusations, the questioning about sex positions and condom use, the mugging for the cameras that weren’t even there.
In other words, Dana writes, Daniels “pulled a Trump on Trump.”
As delicious as this flip is, Dana worries: “There’s no way to know whether the Daniels testimony will hurt Trump or only make him look persecuted. Jurors were visibly uncomfortable during parts of her testimony.”
Ruth Marcus zooms out to assess this problem vis-à-vis the trial writ large. She sees a way in which Trump could turn his gag order and general humiliation into a “political windfall.” The man who has always made himself out as a victim has a particularly powerful opportunity in the threat of a brief jailing for violating a judge’s gag order.
“The bed won’t be as comfy as his Trump Tower mattress,” Ruth writes, “but the martyrdom in the eyes of his fans might be worth it.”
From Catherine Rampell’s column on the border cri … well, can we still call it a crisis?
Sure, especially if you’re a Republican. Illegal crossings are still historically high, but the sharp drop (during a time of year when crossings usually increase) is making the talking point less and less credible.
Mostly, Mexico is to thank. Our neighbor to the south stepped up a whole range of efforts to stop migrants from reaching its northern border. Other allies, too, are cracking down on smuggling or just absorbing more migrants themselves.
But as Catherine points out, countries do not simply do this out of the goodness of their hearts. “Deportation and migration are at heart diplomatic issues,” she writes, and one candidate this cycle is a whole lot better at garnering global goodwill than the other.
More politics
Emmanuel Macron recently released some photos of his biceps bulging during a boxing workout. Once you’re done looking at those (no judgment), let Lee Hockstader explain why the French president is punching below his weight.
Macron is exactly right in his warnings about the existential threat Europe faces from Russian aggression and U.S. disengagement, Lee writes, but his weak position at home makes him a horrible messenger. Lee surveys the slew of contradictions and hypocrisies, especially over European integration, that plague him.
“At this point in his presidency — his standing diminished, his archrivals ascendant,” Lee writes, “his words amount to little more than a glancing blow in the fight over Europe’s future.”
Smartest, fastest
- Campus crackdowns on protests over the war in Gaza have now gone way too far, Perry Bacon writes — intense, aggressive and wrongheaded.
- The State Department’s special envoy to Iran has been suspended for nearly a year without any official explanation for the investigation into him. Finally, Josh Rogin reports, some new information is coming to light.
- The Editorial Board writes that the Federal Trade Commission’s near-blanket ban on noncompete clauses oversteps. It would prefer a more tailored proscription from Congress.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
Another nightmare:
Trump trades ka-ching for the clink,
Emerges martyred
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Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
