“Those are pretexts…”

On this January 6, 2026, a look back at our essay on the eve of the pardons of those who attacked the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. substack.com/profile/5411...

In the Act of Normalization: johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/in-the-act...

Right now, the administration is simultaneously claiming this is a law-enforcement arrest (minimal scope) and announcing we’ll “run the country” (open-ended commitment). No one with political skin in the game (cliche!) is required to explain that contradiction. open.substack.com/pub/johnfdic...

Where is John Dickerson going after CBS? open.substack.com/pub/johnfdic...

U.S. Action in Venezuela: The authorization question in three points. johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/us-action-...

Much of the problems with the Social Security Administration reported in this deeply reported piece www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... were the kinds of things being warned about here months ago: www.instagram.com/reel/DHpKt8x...

Maybe a little too much timenon my hands: substack.com/@johnfdicker...

At some point in the last 20 years of recording the Gabfest, we decided to end the year addressing conundrums. This year we were joined at our live show by @colbertlateshow.bsky.social and many things happened after that. podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/2...

John Dickerson: A Gentleman Whom We Greatly Admire search.app/YeYSe

Our goodbye from CBS News:

“We all know what this desire to execute looks like in our own lives. The president is the jumpy man who presses the elevator button a second time, then a third time—with his umbrella. It feels good. It looks like action. But the elevator does not move faster.” substack.com/@johnfdicker...

Donald Trump’s response to Rob Reiner’s death wasn’t just another example of norm-breaking rhetoric from the president—“it actively widened the breach,” John Dickerson argues: theatln.tc/v3ftkZJS

The country mourned a beloved filmmaker. Trump’s first instinct was to desecrate. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

The country mourned a beloved filmmaker. Trump’s first instinct was to desecrate. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

Donald Trump can’t seem to stay focused on the issue that voters care about most, John Dickerson argues.

🎁Gift Article Trump’s Affordability Weave The president can’t seem to stay focused on the issue that voters care about most. By John Dickerson contributing writer and correspondent for CBS News. The author of The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Trump’s Affordability Weave. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Insisting the president did not say something almost ensures that eventually he'll boast about having said the very thing: johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/a-return-t...

What did the president call those countries again? johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/a-return-t...

Claim: Representations made about things happening in real-time...are worth covering for their own sake but also because they provide a test of the basic business of public service: assessing information, making decisions and presenting them accurately to the public. substack.com/@johnfdicker...

What does "total exoneration" look like in the manual: substack.com/@johnfdicker...

More than $1.7 million raised for 88-year-old Army veteran working at grocery store

Exonerated or not? johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/a-real-tim...

A real time measure of reliability: An experimentation in thinking about things: open.substack.com/pub/johnfdic...

A real time measure of reliability: An experimentation in thinking about things: open.substack.com/pub/johnfdic...

President Trump won by telling voters to feel rather than remember. "Affordability is a hoax" requires the opposite. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Pete Hegseth on Sept 3 talking about the strike on boats where 2 survivors were later killed in a second strike: “I watched it live.”

So why wouldn’t the president have wanted a second strike that was well within the law? substack.com/profile/5411...

So why wouldn’t the president have wanted a second strike that was well within the law? substack.com/profile/5411...

Presidential Surrender. johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/presidenti...

A War Crim or Fake News: Beyond the normal word games. johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/a-war-crim...

A War Crim or Fake News: Beyond the normal word games. johnfdickerson.substack.com/p/a-war-crim...

Instagram’s former head of safety and well-being Vaishnavi Jayakumar testified the company had a “17x” strike policy for accounts that engaged in the trafficking of humans for sex. “You could incur 16 violations and upon the 17th violation, your account would be suspended" time.com/7336204/meta...

The last time, a president flirted with a language about hanging, his advisors, thought it would make him look insane and saved him from himself. substack.com/@johnfdicker...

This question of lawful orders came up in 2016 race: substack.com/@johnfdicker...

Don’t sleep on health care story. open.substack.com/pub/johnfdic...

This is tomorrow night, so I’m posting again. Thank you to all who have donated, and to those who may in the future!

Presidents and a Moral Framework open.substack.com/pub/johnfdic...

New photos show demolition of White House's East Wing to make way for Trump-backed ballroom

I'm joining @covenant_house for their Sleep Out again this year. I have been so moved by people's generosity over the last years. A donation of any size will immediately be put to work providing young people shelter, food, education & workforce development programs. www.sleepout.org/participants...

Our ender on the end of the shutdown: substack.com/@johnfdicker...

Our ender on the end of the shutdown: substack.com/@johnfdicker...

Data on Gen Z and blue collar jobs: substack.com/@johnfdicker...

On tariffs and the Supreme Court: Your lack of planning is not my emergency. substack.com/@johnfdicker...