THE BIG STORY

Trump has kicked Donald Trump off for good

It’s hard to overstate the way Donald Trump’s presidency has elevated Twitter and increased its urgency. In the last four years, Twitter became a necessary platform if you wanted to keep up with the president’s latest decrees.

But on Friday, Twitter banned the president for good. The social media giant permanently suspended Trump, days before the end of his presidency, after he used his account to incite an insurrection on Capitol Hill.

For Trump, it’s a seismic event. For years, he has used Twitter as FDR used the radio or Kennedy the television — his most powerful way to directly communicate with his followers, who numbered almost 90 million at the time of the ban.

It also raises questions about how Trump will continue to hold sway over the national conversation, or how he will keep up the possibility of a 2024 presidential campaign.

The move preceded another significant one: Apple expelled Parler, the pro-Trump social network, from its App Store after it failed to implement a moderation policy. And right after that, Amazon booted Parler off its web hosting services.

Twitter

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

The fallout of the riots at the US Capitol

👉 These Black Capitol police officers described fighting off “racist-ass terrorists.” Two Black officers told BuzzFeed News that their chief and other upper management left them totally unprepared and were nowhere to be found on the day.

👉 DC leaders were briefed that Trump might go to extremes. In a closed-door meeting, DC’s City Council was briefed on a memo analyzing the risk that Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act to seize control of the city’s police department.

👉 Republicans are calling for “unity” after 147 of them voted to try to overturn the election following the deadly Capitol attack.

👉 The man accused of bringing zip ties to the Capitol has been arrested. The shirtless horned man who was photographed storming the Capitol was charged. A West Virginia lawmaker who live streamed himself from the Capitol has resigned (and then he was charged). Look, a lot of people were arrested.

SNAPSHOTS

A man is accused of killing 3 people and injuring 4 others in a four-hour-long shooting spree in Chicago. The suspect was later killed in a police shootout.

These emails reveal the drama behind the GSA’s decision not to certify Biden’s win. According to newly released documents, GSA officials even considered the legal ramifications of an unusual path forward: funding two transitions at once.

An 18-year-old saw her mom, aunt, and uncle in DC in a video — so she named them. Many families have been torn apart by politics and social unrest in the Trump era. Here's one teen's story.

This pro-Trump YouTube network sprang up just after he lost the election. A group of channels connected to the Epoch Times is pumping out hoaxes and lies without identifying their connections to the right-wing newspaper.

Meet the guys exposing other gay men partying during the pandemic. Gay men are using Instagram to name and shame those attending big parties during the pandemic. We spoke to those behind the accounts — and those who've been targeted.

THE NEXT STEP

Trumpism won’t disappear overnight

The Republican leaders who have invested energy into opposing Donald Trump over the last four years did so again in the wake of the riots in the Capitol. But this time around, they were joined by a few more voices inside their party, too.

Now, they’re about to find out if they’re on the cusp of a post-Trump party. If so, what does that look like?

As Henry Gomez reports, “It’s a moment that Republicans who never accepted Trump might be tempted to see as an opening: a chance to banish his politics of antagonism and grievance and return to more pragmatic and policy-oriented conservatism.”

But is that even possible? The ones we spoke to told us they are skeptical that a reversion to the norm is afoot.

PARENTHOOD IN THE PANDEMIC

Photos of the beautiful chaos that is life with kids

Ever zoom out for a brief moment and think about all the chaos of life with kids? I wouldn’t blame you if you said: no, I’m too deep in the chaos to zoom out of it.

In Julie Blackmon’s photographs — taken in and around her home in Springfield, Missouri — she creates fantastical, surreal landscapes and portraits of families who appear to be caught in a moment of unplanned, unmitigated chaos.

We talked to her about how the pandemic has influenced her work and why parents and children need space in their relationship. I highly recommend the conversation, and the photographs are incredible. Here’s one:

Julie Blackmon

Wishing you momentum and good coffee this morning,

Elamin