November 3, 2019

Your Weekend Briefing

By remy tumin and lance booth

Good morning. We're starting today with a Times investigation into the first Twitter presidency.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

1. President Trump's aides once considered asking Twitter to impose a 15-minute delay on him. That didn't happen. Over 11,000 tweets later, his use of the social platform has reshaped the presidency.

In a deep examination of all of Mr. Trump's interactions on Twitter since taking office, The Times looked at how he has transformed it into a vital instrument of power. Our reporters reviewed his retweets and followers, and interviewed nearly 50 current and former administration officials, lawmakers, and Twitter executives and employees.

"He needs to tweet like we need to eat," said Kellyanne Conway, his White House counselor.

We looked at three areas of interest:

The platform has become a vehicle for conspiracy theorists, racists and spies to influence what Mr. Trump sees and amplifies to the world.
More than half his tweets have been attacks, and the person he has most singled out for praise is himself.
Ordinary people are plucked from obscurity, only to end up in Mr. Trump's tweets.

Here are the key takeaways from our investigation.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

2. The impeachment inquiry into President Trump is officially on the record after a bitterly divided House voted this week in a historic action that set up a critical public phase of the process.

Congress will be on a weeklong break, but the committees and staff conducting the investigation will continue interviewing a number of important witnesses. On Thursday, it could be former national security adviser John Bolton's turn — if he agrees. Here's what else happened in impeachment developments.

The inquiry is being led by Representative Adam Schiff. Depending on one's viewpoint, he will either save the republic — or destroy it.

Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with our news quiz. And here's the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and our crossword puzzles.

Jordan Gale for The New York Times

3. Senator Elizabeth Warren rolled out a $20.5 trillion Medicare for all plan. It's the most prominent example of how the Democratic Party is moving toward far more ambitious efforts to redistribute wealth.

Ms. Warren would impose huge tax increases on businesses and billionaires to pay for the health plan, but she said she would not raise taxes on the middle class.

We took a close look at how the government-run plan would shift nearly all the costs paid by states, households and employers into the federal budget.

Here's what else happened in the 2020 campaign this week.

4. The spate of destructive wildfires in California appears to have turned a corner, at least for now. Above, the Easy fire on hillsides near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library this past week.

But as the blazes raged, scientists say fires have been made worse by a changing climate, and as at least five large carmakers sided with President Trump's plan to roll back California's climate pollution standards, the state's status as the vanguard of environmental policy seemed at the very least diminished.

"We're waging war against the most destructive fires in our state's history, and Trump is conducting a full-on assault against the antidote," Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

Hundreds of cameras are set up in the state to watch for wildfires. One captured the moment the devastating Kincade fire erupted.

Akos Stiller for The New York Times

5. The E.U. spends $65 billion a year subsidizing agriculture. But a chunk of that money emboldens strongmen, enriches politicians and finances corrupt dealing.

A Times investigation, conducted in nine countries for much of 2019, uncovered a subsidy system that is deliberately opaque, grossly undermines the bloc's environmental goals and is warped by corruption. Above, fields near in Hungary.

"The European Union has very limited instruments for dealing with gangster member states," said one expert on the bloc's lavish farming subsidies. "It's a real problem."

Ricky Rhodes

6. Four women have accused Anthony Cailan, a rising star sommelier, of sexually assaulting them or having tried to do so.

The incidents followed a similar pattern: a late-night meet-up, an invitation to his apartment and then sexual aggression. Mr. Cailan has denied the allegations.

The #MeToo movement has made waves in the restaurant world, but few public complaints have been lodged in the wine business, another male-dominated industry.

And in West Africa, women who accuse men of sexual abuse have recently seen some change, but also an intense backlash — including threats and even a police investigation.

Benjamin Norman for The New York Times

7. Runners take your mark: The New York City Marathon is about begin. Above, the start of last year's race.

The race begins at 8:30 a.m., and winners are expected to cross the finish line around 11:45 a.m. Eastern. If you're in New York, here are the best places to watch the marathon.

Mary Keitany is the favorite to win in a field that includes a two-time Olympian and the 2018 Boston Marathon champion. She's going for a fifth win in New York. It's an unimaginable leap from her impoverished childhood in Kenya.

Lest we forget other champions earlier this week: The Washington Nationals won their first World Series title as a franchise. President Trump will host the team at the White House on Monday.

An Rong Xu for The New York Times

8. "I actually forget that I am aging."

Age is just a number for this Korean dance team at a Queens community center. The team is made up of energetic and glamorous women in their 60s, 70s and 80s, and rehearses twice a week. One of the choreographers said she would scour YouTube for moves "that our knees can handle."

And another story to make you smile: You never know when your favorite ride could close for good. Last-ride videos allow amusement park fans to replay their favorite moments, millions of times.

9. Funk — for a very long time — was decidedly uncool. We had a musicologist explain why the sound is everywhere again.

You can hear it in tracks by Bruno Mars and the Jonas Brothers, and the dance music of the Montreal producer Kaytranada and the Parcels from Australia.

"The unique unpredictability of the genre, which oddly makes it so identifiable, is also key to its current pop success," writes Nate Sloan in a Op-Ed. (Make sure to turn your sound on for this one.)

Andre D. Wagner for The New York Times

10. And finally, dig into one of our Best Weekend Reads.

We broke down how the new Syria took shape, spoke to Greta Gerwig about her new film adaptation of "Little Women" and went on an American road trip to see what the country looks like today, like in Charlottesville, Va., above.

For more ideas on what to read, watch and listen to, may we suggest these 10 new books our editors liked, a glance at the latest small-screen recommendations from Watching and our music critics' latest playlist.

Perhaps you got an extra hour of sleep this morning because of the annual "fall back." But not for some living in what's known as the Daylight Saving Doughnut in Arizona.

Have a bright week.

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