Latest news with #Shattered
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Handmaid's Tale' Stars Elisabeth Moss and Max Minghella on That Shattering Betrayal
[This story contains spoilers from season six, episode seven of , '.'] 'It was Nick who told me everything.' More from The Hollywood Reporter On Set for 'The Handmaid's Tale' Final Season With Hugs, Tears and Rebellion: "I Had a Full-Fledged Breakdown" How Josh Charles Found His Quiet Rage for 'The Handmaid's Tale' Samira Wiley on Finding Her Fire Again in Final Season of 'The Handmaid's Tale' The Handmaid Tale's June (Elisabeth Moss) first heard those words while hiding in a closet with Nick (Max Minghella), as High Commander Wharton (Josh Charles) informed fiancée Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski) that his son-in-law helped him thwart what could have been a debilitating attack on Gilead High Commanders at Jezebel's, orchestrated by June and the Mayday resistance group. The sixth episode in the final season of the Hulu series ended on that cliffhanger moment as viewers watched June internally digest what she just heard. This week's seventh hour, 'Shattered,' then picked up in that closet. The episode quickly zoomed over to Jezebel's to show viewers the devastating consequences of Nick's betrayal of June: All of the Jezebels (women who are forced to be sex slaves for High Commanders) are brutally shot and killed by Gilead officers. Janine (Madeline Brewer) is the only one who is spared, due to her relationship with High Commander Bell (Timothy Simons). The massacre of the Jezebel's women is a scene of shocking violence for the dystopian series, and the execution of so many women is a haunting vision June imagines when she's then told by Nick what happened. 'Have you ever had a moment where you hear something or learn something about someone and you can't unsee it? You can't go back,' asks Moss when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about this point of no return between lovers June and Nick. 'Everything changes in that moment for June. She cannot ever see him in the same way again. I think he completely shatters her.' Handmaid's Tale viewers had a big reaction after last week's episode, 'Surprise,' when finding out that Nick had ratted out June's resistance plan. But Minghella wasn't bracing for impact heading into season six's release. 'I don't really mind what they think of Nick morally,' he tells THR. 'I just hope [viewers] enjoy the narratives. Whether they have different feelings about me afterwards is not something I have much control in.' That's not to say that Minghella doesn't care deeply for his character. 'He's nothing like me, we're quite different. He's much more stoic; I'm a sort of mess of a person (laughs). I don't talk anything like Nick; Nick speaks and moves in a very specific way,' he says. 'But I can relate to this character [throughout the series]. I feel there is some temper between us. I understand him.' In the episode, Nick quickly clocks June's stunned reaction, and he confronts her about what she's chosen to ignore about him all along. He accuses her of turning a blind eye on his elite role in the fascist Gilead regime when it benefits her to do so. When she realizes that Nick is just like the evil men who run Gilead, he responds: 'And you love me. So what does that make you?' June then walks away from Nick. It's a moment that Nick acknowledges may be for good in a later conversation with Rita, where he leans into June thinking he's a self-serving monster. 'She's completely brokenhearted,' Moss tells THR. 'She's also so mad at herself that she ignored all the signs — that she should have seen it, that she should have known, that she should have not fallen for it or believed in him. All of that is going through her head in the same moment. And then thinking about those women and not being able to ever get that image out of her head, and not knowing about Janine and whether or not [she's alive]. Her mind is going a mile a minute.' June has been free from Gilead since escaping in season four. She's now a refugee and rebellion fighter who has reunited with husband Luke (O-T Fagbenle), friend Moira (Samira Wiley), former Martha Rita (Amanda Brugel) and the Mayday resistance fighters trying to take Gilead down, as she and Luke continue to fight to get her oldest daughter, Hannah (Jordana Blake), back. When June returns and tells Luke that Nick knew about the plan because of her, Luke finally expresses his true feelings about June and Nick's Gilead affair, which led to the birth of June's youngest daughter, Holly. 'Don't be in love with a fucking Nazi, how 'bout that!' Luke tells his wife. Fagbenle has been carrying around his own feelings about the love triangle at the heart of The Handmaid's Tale for some time. The actor accepts there is a trauma love bond between June and Nick, but as far as he's concerned, 'It's pathological on many levels,' he says. 'It's so blindingly obvious that Nick is part of a fascistic regime and this entire time, the only time he's acted against that was for his own selfish interest because he was in love with a woman. That doesn't erase the fact that you can't get promoted up the ranks of Gilead unless you're doing some really dark things. You don't get promoted up the ranks because you're baking nice pastries!' It's something that June, as well as viewers, have been guilty of overlooking, thanks to Minghella's performance and the chemistry between the pair as June and Nick's love story has unfolded over six seasons. 'Just look at her performance in that scene,' Fagbenle tells THR of Moss. 'It's brilliant, the look on her face. I'm always blown away by her.' After this, things can't be the same for June when it comes to Nick, says Fagbenle, who thinks it's about time. 'This entire journey for Luke, and myself as a person, I've been so surprised that more people don't see that,' says Fagbenle of Nick's role as a Commander. 'It's an interesting quirk of humanity that we're willing to whitewash a bunch of things around a person because we love them and we think they're hot or we think they're the person we want to fall in love with. I think it's really interesting on both the political level and a psychological level.' Co-showrunners Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang have also compared June's relationship with the two men in her life. 'With Nick it's more lusty and passionate, and with Luke it's the love of a super strong attachment to a husband who has stood by you,' Chang tells THR. Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) channels some of these confronting feelings in the episode, when he accuses June of being blind to trust Nick because of his 'smoldering' gaze. 'There are certain things about Nick that June is blind to and that our viewers — and we as writers — are blind to because we're invested in this romance. And that is that Nick is a Commander in Gilead, that's the truth of it,' says Chang. 'Because for Nick to have risen up to be part of the Gilead power regime — to be an Eye from the beginning and then all the way through to becoming a Commander — he has done some bad things, and we haven't shown them and so it was convenient to forget. But one of the themes in our story the season is that there is no such thing as a good Gilead Commander. If you're a man and you're powerful in Gilead, it means you are touched by some of that Gilead corruption. You just are.' When June returns to Mayday headquarters, it's Moira who comforts her and who understands why June fell in love with Nick — a romance, as Fagbenle has previously pointed out — that was borne out of and bonded by trauma. Perhaps that's why Luke stops short of leaving June and their marriage. If anything, the Nick betrayal and June's revelation afterwards bring the husband and wife closer, as they vow to never lose sight of what they are fighting for: their daughter Hannah, who is now a wife-in-training and still living under Gilead tyranny. The episode later reveals that Janine is now a handmaid for High Commander Bell, who has been sexually abusing her ever since she arrived at Jezebel's, and that even Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) can't get to Janine. 'Nick is not the person June fell in love with, and as much as she can mourn the loss of the person she fell in love with, it won't trump the loss of the women at Jezebel's,' says Moss of June's turning point. 'But there is pain there, too. I'm not going to say that there isn't complexity there.' Instead of pulling away in misery, however, the events push June to plan an even bigger Mayday coup. She plots their biggest resistance ploy yet — with the help of Lawrence, their Canadian ally Mark Tuello (Sam Jaeger) and Mayday — to enlist every handmaid and ally to use the upcoming Gilead wedding between Serena Joy and High Commander Wharton as a cover to slyly attack every Gileadean person in attendance. 'Those Commanders and those Wives are going to be so busy eating and dancing and having the time of their fucking lives that they will never see us coming,' says June at the end of the hour, ushering in what is sure to be a blessed evening for episode eight. *** The Handmaid's Tale releases new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu. Follow along with THR's final season coverage. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
The Hindu
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
The Hindu On Books newsletter: Pulitzer for Percival Everett's ‘James', reading Hanif Kureishi and more
Welcome to this edition of The Hindu on Books Newsletter. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2025, has been awarded to Percival Everett's James (Pan Macmillan). Working with Mark Twain's 1884 classic, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Everett tells the story from the perspective of Jim, the runaway slave. Everett gives agency to Jim, as first, he takes up a pencil to write his tale, giving himself a new name — James; and then picks a violent route to get his freedom. If Twain's attempt to convey the contradictions of slavery came up short and 'problematic', as Everett has said in interviews, he fills the vacuum by telling the story from the other side. Read the review here. In reviews, we read a former top Facebook staffer's account of the company's reckless ways, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new novel, Hanif Kureishi's memoir of his struggles after a fall paralysed him and more. Books of the week Sarah Wynn-Williams' Careless People (Pan Macmillan India) is a revelatory exposé of Facebook (now Meta) and its meteoric rise to global dominance, written by someone who was once in the inner circle. As a former Director of Global Public Policy, Wynn-Williams had a front-row seat to the corporate and political machinations that shaped Facebook into one of the world's most influential tools, and in many ways, its most reckless, writes the reviewer John Xavier. 'Within a few chapters into the book, you will know why Meta has tried to block the book's sale and bar the author from further promoting it. What Wynn-Williams offers is a darkly funny, shocking, and ultimately devastating portrait of a company that has irreversibly transformed how people interact, communicate, and perceive the world—often for the worse.' In 2022, writer Hanif Kureishi had a bad fall in Rome. The spinal cord injury meant he could no longer 'walk, write or wash himself', and struggled to accept his new reality as a patient. But throughout his medical journey – he eventually returned to London where he is based – he dictated a 'series of despatches' to his family. The drafts were then revised and expanded into a profound book, Shattered (Hamish Hamilton). In his review, Chintan Girish Modi writes that the memoir is the story of Kureishi's determination 'to keep writing' and draw sustenance from words. 'In doing so, he has created a book that will give courage to the hopeless and evoke empathy in the cold-hearted.' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dream Count (Fourth Estate) tells interlocking stories of four women in the U.S. — Chiamaka, a Nigerian travel writer; Zikora, her lawyer-friend; Kadiatou, her Guinean housekeeper; and Omelogor, her acerbic banker-cousin. Through these stories, Adichie explores middle-age experiences, womanhood, class, and immigration. In her review, Radhika Santhanam calls it an 'extraordinary, expansive novel' though it is not a perfect book -- 'the feminism is so old-school that men are boring at best and abusers at worst. It also fizzles out towards the end.' But, says Santhanam, Adichie is a master storyteller who simply dazzles and hypnotises with her satire, wit, and prose. 'And for that reason alone, this novel that was 10 years in the making is well worth the wait.' Spotlight In continuing Israel strikes on Gaza, 16 people died on Sunday including at least three children. Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza in March after a two-month shaky truce in its war against Hamas which began after the Palestine military outfit's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Gaza's health ministry, news agencies report, has said over 2,000 Palestinians have died since March, and the overall toll has gone past 50,000. Three weeks into the bombardment of Gaza in 2023, Canadian-Egyptian writer and journalist Omar El Akkad had tweeted: 'One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.' The tweet went viral, and he picks the title of his new book from it. One day, everyone will have always been against this (Penguin) is a memoir and a reappraisal of Western liberal values – all 'lies', he contends. More importantly, he wonders aloud why the world and powerful powers are allowing the slaughter in Gaza to continue. Akkad writes that one of the hallmarks of Western liberalism is an assumption, in hindsight, of virtuous resistance as the only polite expectation of people on the receiving end of colonialism. 'While the terrible thing is happening – while the land is still being stolen and the natives still being killed – any form of opposition is terroristic and must be crushed for the sake of civilisation.' In Gaza, the horrors, he says, have been meticulously documented by Palestinians, and meticulously brushed aside by the major media apparatus of the Western world. He points out that Gaza has led to a fracture – 'a breaking away from the notion that the polite, Western liberal ever stood for anything at all.' But as the Vietnam War – the country celebrated 50 years of the end of the war and reunification of north and south on April 30 – and other wars have shown, the only antidote to indifference and silence is astute documentation of horrors inflicted on fellow human beings. Browser Caste in India is mostly reported from the experience of the oppressed. Caste as a privilege is not understood well. Ravikant Kisana documents the lives, concerns and crises of India's urban elites, framing the 'savarnas' as a distinct social cohort, oblivious of its own social rules, privileges and systems in Meet the Savarnas: Indian Millennials Whose Mediocrity Broke Everything (Ebury Press). (Ebury Press). In 2013, Puja Pabari, not a cricket fan, married ace batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, and witnessed firsthand the life of a player. In her memoir, The Diary of a Cricketer's Wife (HarperCollins), written with Namita Kala, she reflects on what it means to be a cricketer's wife in India, and the triumphs and struggles to be a player. (HarperCollins), written with Namita Kala, she reflects on what it means to be a cricketer's wife in India, and the triumphs and struggles to be a player. Lindsay Pereira's Songs Our Bodies Sing (Penguin) narrates the tale of a heartbroken father in London who turns to the Beatles to make sense of what he has lost. Other characters too turn to music to understand their world. The stories are set at points of intersections between the east and west – and the commonalities they share rather than differences. (Penguin) narrates the tale of a heartbroken father in London who turns to the Beatles to make sense of what he has lost. Other characters too turn to music to understand their world. The stories are set at points of intersections between the east and west – and the commonalities they share rather than differences. Once Upon a Beginning: Incredible Origin Stories from India (Hachette India) by Nalini Ramachandran are tales passed down through generations by indigenous communities from different parts of India. The collection of rare and untold creation myths piece together the mysteries of life and evolution.
Newsweek
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 7 – Release Date, Schedule, Where To Watch
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors A shocking revelation will cause June to spiral this week in a brand new episode of The Handmaid's Tale, set to air on Hulu on May 6. It's officially May, which means the season is set to wrap up later this month, but we still have four more episodes to get through. SAM JAEGER and ELISABETH MOSS in THE HANDMAID'S TALE – 'Shattered' – After a shocking revelation, June spirals. Serena plans for a prestigious future. (Disney/Steve Wilkie) SAM JAEGER and ELISABETH MOSS in THE HANDMAID'S TALE – 'Shattered' – After a shocking revelation, June spirals. Serena plans for a prestigious future. (Disney/Steve Wilkie) Disney/Steve Wilkie READ: The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Release Date, Plot Details, Where to Watch We have all the information below on how to watch The Handmaid's Tale season six, episode seven, including The Handmaid's Tale season six, episode seven release time and The Handmaid's Tale season six, episode seven release date. The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 7 Release Date The Handmaid's Tale season six, episode seven, releases May 6, 2025. New episodes of The Handmaid's Tale season six air weekly on Tuesdays through May 27, 2025. The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 7 – How to Watch The Handmaid's Tale season six, episode seven, will be available to stream on Hulu from 9 pm Pacific Time (PT) on May 5, 2025/Midnight Eastern Time (ET) on May 6. To watch The Handmaid's Tale, you will need a Hulu subscription. A monthly subscription is $9.99, or you can get the Disney Bundle, which includes Hulu, Disney+, and either ESPN+ or Max. That starts at $16.99 per month. What Time Does The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 7 Come Out? The Handmaid's Tale season six, episode seven, will be released at 9 pm Pacific Time on May 5/Midnight Eastern Time on May 6. New episodes of The Handmaid's Tale debut at different times depending on your time zone due to the late PT release. Here's what time new episodes become available globally: May 6 BRT : 1:00 am : 1:00 am BST : 5:00 am : 5:00 am CEST : 6:00 am : 6:00 am IST : 9:30 pm : 9:30 pm JST : 1:00 pm : 1:00 pm AET : 2:00 pm : 2:00 pm NZST: 4:00 pm The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 7 Runtime The official runtime for episode seven of The Handmaid's Tale season six is unavailable. So far this season, episodes have been between 39 and 55 minutes long. What Will Happen in The Handmaid's Tale Season 6 Episode 7? The official synopsis for The Handmaid's Tale season six, episode seven reads: After a shocking revelation, June spirals. Serena plans for a prestigious future. The episode is titled "Shattered". Synopses for previous episodes in season six of The Handmaid's Tale are as follows: Episode One: June and Serena's journey takes an unexpected turn. Moira makes a bold decision. Nick deals with a powerful visitor. June and Serena's journey takes an unexpected turn. Moira makes a bold decision. Nick deals with a powerful visitor. Episode Two: June tries to settle in a new community. Serena seeks a sanctuary. Luke and Moira take a big risk. June tries to settle in a new community. Serena seeks a sanctuary. Luke and Moira take a big risk. Episode Three: June struggles to save her loved ones. Commander Lawrence welcomes diplomats to New Bethlehem. Aunt Lydia searches for Janine. June struggles to save her loved ones. Commander Lawrence welcomes diplomats to New Bethlehem. Aunt Lydia searches for Janine. Episode Four: June disrupts the rebels' plans. Commander Lawrence gains power and influence. June disrupts the rebels' plans. Commander Lawrence gains power and influence. Episode Five: June and Moira go undercover. Serena and Nick make consequential choices. June and Moira go undercover. Serena and Nick make consequential choices. Episode Six: June hides in an unexpected place. (as per IMDb)
The Hindu
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Review of Shattered by Hanif Kureishi
People who love Hanif Kureishi's work as a novelist and screenwriter were in for a rude shock as news of his fall and spinal cord injury in Rome made headlines in 2022. It was horrifying to imagine the enormity of his agony, as he was confined to a hospital bed and forced to take on the identity of a patient. He could no longer 'walk, write or wash himself', and struggled to accept this new reality that made him 'entirely dependent on the goodwill of others', as recounted in his new book Shattered — a profound work of contemplative prose. At the outset, the memoir compels the reader to think about what it means to write, not only as an outlet for creative expression or as a tool for socio-political change but as a physical act. The fall, we are told, resulted in neck hyperextension and immediate tetraplegia, which rendered Kureishi unable to move his limbs, scratch his nose, feed himself or make a phone call. He wondered if he would ever manage to hold a pen, or walk on his own. It began as 'a series of despatches' dictated to his partner, Isabella, and his sons Sachin, Carlo and Kier from hospital beds in Italy and in the U.K., where he now lives. These dictated drafts were revised, expanded and edited in the same collaborative manner with Carlo. Honest look at care The book offers an honest glimpse of how frustrating it can be to ask for and receive support. Kureishi admits, for instance, how impatient he gets with Isabella. 'She is Italian and English is her second language, so she doesn't always get what I say,' he notes. This slows down the process of his dictation and her note-taking. He acknowledges that his condition is a huge drain on her, and he is unsure if he would have been capable of offering the care she does. While this could be a fair evaluation of his own personality, it could be read as an admission of how patriarchy normalises the unequal distribution of care work in intimate relationships. Shattered belongs to the genre of autopathography, which focuses on autobiographical narratives about the experience of illness. It captures the inner life of a person who has nowhere to go and must learn to keep his mind occupied, even distracted, to avoid succumbing to suicidal thoughts. He thinks of himself as a 'vegetable', feels jealous of people who have 'fit bodies', and feels bad for himself because he cannot go back to the life he once enjoyed. In one of these moments, Kureishi writes, 'Will I ever get out of this, will I die here? I think about killing myself by overdosing. It would be a relief.' Leaning on humour Kureishi shows what it is like to feel imprisoned in a space that is meant to help him recover. He speaks on behalf of every person who has felt disempowered by the medical-industrial complex because it treats their body as an object to be inspected rather than respected. Since the food tastes like cardboard, and it is boring to stare at empty walls for hours at a stretch, Kureishi entertains himself by writing about the quirks of nurses and physiotherapists at the hospital. He appreciates their cheerfulness and hard work and feels sorry that they are not paid adequately for their labour. On one occasion, after three physiotherapists walk into his room, he remarks, 'I have become a big admirer of Italian men… Their skin is smooth and it glows. Their sharp dark body hair is inspiring. They are neither macho nor mummy's boys.' It is the author's sense of humour that seems to protect him from losing his bearings during this excruciating period. The humour is often dark and politically incorrect. Kureishi believes that psychiatrists are not good listeners; they are too eager to diagnose and prescribe anti-depressants. About his own psychiatrist, Kureishi writes, 'I've ended up analysing his dreams. Since he was struck by how often he dreams about Donald Trump, I had to inform him of how much he envies Trump's brutality and freedom to do or say whatever occurs to him.' This book makes the reader think about how people with disabilities are expected to be victims, heroes, or grateful beneficiaries of charity rather than complicated, imperfect beings who craft their own unique paths out of the hell they have been thrust into. Kureishi allows himself to whine and admit how 'the sick can dominate a family, sucking out all the oxygen' even as he expresses appreciation for his loved ones. This memoir is the story of his determination 'to keep writing' and draw sustenance from words. In doing so, he has created a book that will give courage to the hopeless and evoke empathy in the cold-hearted. (Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on these 24x7 helplines: KIRAN 1800-599-0019, Aasra 9820466726.) The reviewer is a journalist, educator and literary critic. Shattered Hanif Kureishi Hamish Hamilton ₹999
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Fight by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes review – scathing account of Biden, Harris and their election loss
In their book Fight, Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes offer an account of the 'Wildest Battle for the White House' – and a scathing indictment of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the losers of that battle. By 2023, a year before the campaign, Biden's age and fitness to be president were the topic of conversation among senior aides. He had difficulty stringing together a coherent sentence yet, there was no serious discussion of his exiting the ticket until it was way, way too late. Harris, meanwhile, was isolated in her party and terrified of facing the press. She took the wheel of a badly listing ship. It sank. Allen is a veteran political reporter, now at NBC. Parnes is a senior political correspondent for the Hill. Both were once with Politico. Together, they have written two books on Hillary Clinton, HRC and Shattered, and Lucky, an account of how Biden beat Donald Trump to win the White House in 2020. Parnes and Allen possess perspective. Their writing is sober, their sourcing solid. Their message is clear: Biden should never have sought reelection and his selection of Harris as his running mate was a mistake from the start. By 2024, Biden was too old and too unpopular. He appeared feeble, if not outright addled. But his aides came to view Harris as a liability and so did those at the top of the party. The president's wife, Jill Biden, opposed Harris's place on the ticket. Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi lacked faith too. At the same time, Jill and Hunter Biden, the 46th president's wayward surviving son, bolstered the president's determination to cling on. They could not let go. 'Nobody walks away from this,' Mike Donilon, a longtime Biden adviser, purportedly told one prominent Democrat. 'No one walks away from the house, the plane, the helicopter.' Allen and Parnes add: 'That was doubly true for the first lady.' Pushback could be construed as disloyalty. Biden's closest advisers were family members or dependent on him for their living. That proved to be a problem. There were no social peers with incomes and lives of their own, figures in the mold of James Baker, secretary of state and chief of staff to George HW Bush, or Valerie Jarett, senior adviser and confidante to Barack and Michelle Obama. Biden bristled at being challenged but was a schmoozer, not a leader. He owed his comeback to Covid-19. On 27 June 2024, Biden faced Trump on the debate stage in Atlanta – and gave perhaps the most disastrous display in history. Allen and Parnes describe a reception hosted by Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey, two days later. The president's aides had affixed fluorescent tape to the carpet, 'colorful bread crumbs [that] showed the leader of the free world where to walk'. 'He knows to look for that,' one aide explained. Think, President Grampa Simpson. It's a lousy image, whoever the other side is running. In 2020, the Trump campaign mocked Biden for hiding in his basement. In turn, Bidenites twitted Trump for his inability to handle stairs. Time passed. By 2023, Trump was approaching 80, but Biden had shuffled past it. In public, he froze. The memes flowed but Biden's woes were not comedic. According to Parnes and Allen, Harris aides 'strategized around the possibility that Biden might die in office'. Jamal Simmons, Harris's communications director, drew up a 'death-pool roster' of federal judges who might swear his boss in. After the debate, Obama and Pelosi were distraught. The debacle left Obama shocked, if not exactly surprised. 'The 44th president never had much faith in [the] political ability' of his former vice-president, Parnes and Allen write. 'Less than two weeks earlier, at [a] Los Angeles fundraiser, Obama led Biden offstage by the wrist after the president stood frozen for a few moments while staring into the crowd.' Obama was disturbed. Parnes and Allen describe a post-debate call. 'What is your path?' Obama asked Biden. 'What's my path? Biden thought as he listened to Obama. What's your fucking plan?' He intuited Obama's endgame. But Obama also lacked faith in Harris. 'Obama already had determined that he didn't think Harris should take the president's spot on the ballot,' Parnes and Allen write. ''That was his position from the outset,' according to one person who spoke to him at the time.' Pelosi, like Harris from northern California, unlike her a hardened politico with ruthless instincts, thought the same way. 'She actually was worried when people were panicking the night of the debate, saying 'Oh my God, it's going to be her,'' Parnes and Allen quote 'someone who spoke to Pelosi'. Obama and Pelosi applied pressure. Biden caved. Harris generated buzz, but not enough. She bested Trump in debate, but memory of that triumph faded swiftly. Harris would not and could not put distance between herself and Biden. The president, his family and his handlers wanted it that way. Biden and Harris's shortcomings had been clear for years. In June 2019, on the debate stage, Harris trashed Biden over his record on race. Less than six months later, having burned through millions of dollars, she dropped out of the Democratic primary. Her place on Biden's ticket resulted from the threat posed by Trump, the protest-filled aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd, and the leftward drift and outsized role of identity politics within Democratic ranks. His opponents brought to a historic low, Trump openly weighs running for a third term, in defiance of the constitution. Whether the Democrats can respond is in grave doubt indeed. Fight is published in the US by HarperCollins
