Gaetz’s Unholy Grail, Disney Drama, Iowa Tea Leaves

Today, we lead with Bill Cohan’s masterful annotation of the curious half-steps and unforced errors plaguing Bob Iger’s second stint running Disney. Is the great C.E.O. playing Vulcan chess, or something much less magical?

Plus, below the fold: Tina Nguyen maps out Tucker Carlson’s far-right global safari, Ramaswamy’s surprising edge in Iowa, and McCarthy’s impeachment imbroglio. Dylan Byers digs into why the Disney-Charter resolution is a case of “emergency room triage.” On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri chats with Michael LaRosa about Biden’s impeachment counterpunch. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby huddles up with Bill and Dylan to exchange observations on the Disney-Charter deal, and to interpret the Pay TV tea leaves.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

Running Disney may be close to impossible, but Iger is supposed to be the one guy with near complete free rein—isn’t everything on the table?—to do it. Are his various half-step initiatives early signs of Vulcan chess, or something much less magical?

TINA NGUYEN

News and notes on Vivek’s primary conundrum, Carlson’s journey to the Middle East, and McCarthy’s barbarians at the gates.

DYLAN BYERS

New and notes from the last bastions of the cable bundle: ESPN and CNN.

TARA PALMERI

Tara chats with First Lady Jill Biden's former press secretary, Michael LaRosa, about whether the president should be punching back.