Break the Glass

For decades now, many of our leading newsrooms have covered American politics like it’s sports. There are two opposing teams; there are players on the field; there are people with money jockeying for power and acclaim behind the scenes. There are winners and losers. And there is a set of rules that everyone understands to determine which is which.

That way of looking at politics has always had blind spots. But the biggest one didn’t become fully apparent until recently: What if, even as we follow the play-by-play, someone is