Hello, and welcome to 2023. We made it! 

I’ve had a slow start to the year so far, and I’ve been relishing it. I blasted all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies on New Years Eve while lounging in a recliner and reading Ross Gay’s beautiful The Book of Delights which a friend gifted me.

As I get into the full swing of things, I’ve got one more interview to conduct for our upcoming fourth season of my How To Citizen podcast. You’re invited to join me virtually in conversation with Dr. Sam Rader about how our internal lives shape the way we show up in the world and how to citizen deeply from within. We’ll be talking this Thursday, January 12 at 2:30 p.m. ET. The new season launches in mid-February.

Meanwhile, I’d like to congratulate Rep. Kevin McCarthy on his “victory” in becoming “Speaker” of the House. I’m using quotation marks because the giveaways McCarthy made to the MAGA wing—I call them “giveaways” because it’s not a negotiation if you just give the other side what they want—ensure that he will structurally be a far weaker speaker than Nancy Pelosi, vulnerable to a vote of no confidence at basically any moment. Two years after the Jan. 6 insurrection, let’s remember that...

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TikTok on the Clock

What happens to the creator economy if the world’s most important new social platform is banned in the United States? We may be about to find out.

BARATUNDE THURSTON

It’s practically a certainty that you are aware of TikTok, even if you don’t use it, or are unwilling to admit you do. Is there some turn of phrase, some behavioral phenomenon, new fashion or dance trend that you can’t identify? It probably came from TikTok. One in three Americans use the app. Globally it has more than 1 billion active monthly users who spend an average of 90 minutes or more, daily, on the service, nearly double the number who use Instagram and three times that of Twitter (remember Twitter?). For Gen Z, it’s replacing television. For businesses, it’s a new marketing channel. For parents, it represents a terrifying, misinformation-rich addiction for kids, but also a bonding opportunity. For creators, it’s the latest path to attention and monetization...

FOUR STORIES WE'RE TALKING ABOUT

McCarthy-Scalise Detente

McCarthy needs to ensure his No. 2 doesn’t get any ideas.

TARA PALMERI

D.C. Talent Scouting

Notes on the game of music chairs within D.C.’s media scene.

DYLAN BYERS

Hollywood Predictions, Part 2

Featuring a handful of offbeat observations and preoccupations for ’23.

MATTHEW BELLONI

The MAGA Resistance

Here’s what the so-called Taliban Twenty really want.

TINA NGUYEN