NEW YORK — When George Clooney walks out on stage as Edward R. Murrow, the distinguished American journalist, the chiseled Hollywood star gets the customary entrance applause. Another ovation follows at the end of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” the re-creation of a mid-century newsman’s battles with McCarthyism. But that doesn’t feel as much for Clooney as for Murrow and the values for which the newsman stood — and that’s a credit to Clooney, actually, and an indication surely of just how unmoored Americans feel right now
Much cliched blather is spoken in the biz about old shows that seem ripped from today’s headlines. Human actions and conflicts don’t change much, so it’s not that hard to seem prescient or pull off some resonance with the present day. But I’m telling you, on Wednesday night, even as Donald Trump was cutting the ship of global trade loose in perilous waters, “Good Night, and Good Luck” felt like a custom-designed experience from Captain Murrow, launched from beyond the grave that very day. “We will not walk in fear, one of another,” he says. “We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.”
In short, the brilliant Chicago-nurtured
director David Cromer
has taken a mostly prosaic, procedural media drama about the CBS news program “See it Now,” as adapted from the screenplay of a 20-year-old movie penned by Clooney and Grant Heslov and turned it into something that scorches with the heat of today’s political turmoil.
Cromer is a detail fiend. The massive stage of the Winter Garden Theatre is designed by Scott Pask with the veracity of a mid-century broadcast newsroom, all gruff, caucasian men in ties, cigarettes, sepia-toned cameras and the kind of communal energy that we current ink-stained wretches miss so much as we tap away on laptops.
Murrow’s reporting and commentary were broadcast live and that’s a byword here as everything clatters with real-time rhythms. Cromer’s constant collaborator, the lighting designer Heather Gilbert, uses her trademark practical lighting, a gorgeous evocation of the era of eyeshades, desk lamps and fizzing bulbs. The show also adds a little retro orchestra up in the rafters, with Georgia Heers singing as Ella. Maybe that’s extraneous but it’s Broadway and it sets the mood.
Clooney offers a close study of Murrow that compares well with the real thing: his performance is, on occasion, under-vocalized for a venue of this size, but it’s wrought with great care and a willingness to be subsumed by character, somethign not true of all stars of Clooney wattage. He joins readily with Glenn Fleschler, who plays the broadcasting legend and Murrow sidekick Fred Friendly; Clark Gregg, who plays the news writer Don Hollenbeck (who killed himself in 1954); Will Dagger (who plays famed producer Don Hewitt) and with Carter Hudson and Ilana Glazer, who play the married couple of Joe and Shirley Wershba and who offer some comic relief from all the mid-century testosterone.
The piece thankfully stops short of being a hagiography of Murrow: the point is made that by stepping so far out into partisan waters as distinct from just reporting the news, the great newsman opened the door to partisan attacks on a clearly partisan media. In other words, he unconsciously created a blueprint for those less fair and scrupulous than himself and for the ideological silos wherein Americans now get their confirmatory news.
It’s also worth stating that with ticket prices for this proudly left-leaning show flying up into the stratosphere, there’s a certain elitist disconnect at play, a symptom of our current problems.
The cast of “Good Night, and Good Luck” on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. (Emilio Madrid)
Paul Gross and George Clooney in “Good Night, and Good Luck” on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. (Emilio Madrid)
The cast of “Good Night, and Good Luck” on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. (Emilio Madrid)
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The cast of “Good Night, and Good Luck” on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. (Emilio Madrid)
Still, Cromer’s ace here was to operate on twin tracks: to recreate with precision how Murrow and his team turned Eugene McCarthy’s prosecutorial tactics back on the prosecutor himself and hung him on his own petard, but also to explicitly look forward to the media disintegration that followed.
In Act 2, there is a stunner of a video montage, credited to David Bengali, that looks like it was only created last week: its finale involves Elon Musk and it caused the audience to cry out with surprise, fear and recognition.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called her to discuss the possibility of allowing proxy voting only for new moms after President Trump appeared to back the Florida Republican in her efforts.
Luna, who had led the fight
against GOP leaders in the House to push for proxy voting for new parents, was embraced by Trump earlier Thursday when he was asked about her effort and the recently failed procedural vote.
Trump told reporters abord Air Force One that he spoke to Luna about her effort and didn’t understand why it was controversial.
“I’m gonna let the speaker make the decision, but I like the idea. Having a baby? I think you should be able to call in and vote. I’m in favor of that,” Trump said.
Luna celebrated
the news in posts on X, thanking
Trump for supporting the “pro-family resolution.”
“Despite misinformation, this is *not* a return to universal proxy voting,” she said, noting that it would help the GOP maintain its majority in the House.
Luna said
she heard from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) after Trump’s statement of support and they discussed “limiting the vote to just new moms who cannot travel because of health concerns.”
The original push included new fathers, in addition to new mothers in the House. The inclusion of fathers confused Republican members
, who said they weren’t aware they were signing on to anything more than new mothers being able to vote via a proxy.
“This is smart,” Luna said of the revised proposed plan. “Only 13 members of Congress have given birth while serving in US history.”
Luna also said she told Johnson that the vote on the resolution “should NOT, in any way” interfere with legislation that would help Trump’s agenda.
Earlier Thursday Luna was still pushing for fathers to be included.
“I’m confident that with President Trump’s support, my proxy voting resolution will pass and new moms and dads in Congress will be able to vote for the America First agenda we promised,” she wrote on X before speaking with Johnson.
The Florida Republican-led nine other Republican lawmakers against Johnson earlier this week, delivering a blow to the Speaker when they tanked a procedural rule
that would have blocked Luna from forcing action on the measure.
The fight halted work in the House until early next week and put a spotlight on the bill for new parents who are in Congress.
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) was confirmed Thursday as the presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2025 gubernatorial race in Virginia.
She is the lone Democrat running to be governor, according to the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA), which released a full list of candidates running in the 2025 primary races Thursday evening, once the 5 p.m. EDT filing deadline had passed.
Virginia’s primary elections will take place June 17, 2025, and the general election will be held Nov. 4, 2025.
The DPVA confirmed Spanberger’s name “will appear on the general election ballot.”
“Thank you to every Virginian who has shared with me their vision for our Commonwealth’s future since I launched my campaign,” said Spanberger, a moderate Democrat who served three terms in the House after serving as a CIA case officer.
“As the Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia, I look forward to having many more meaningful conversations with all Virginians — across our communities and regardless of who they’ve cast their votes for in the past — about the issues that matter most to them,” she continued in the statement.
The other Democratic primary races in Virginia will be more competitive.
The DPVA listed six names that will appear on the primary election ballot in June running for lieutenant governor: Alex Bastani, Senator Ghazala Hashmi, Prince William County School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef, Senator Aaron Rouse, Victor Salgado and former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.
The DPVA confirmed two Democrats running for attorney general: former Delegate Jay Jones and Commonwealth’s Attorney of Henrico County Shannon Taylor.
On the Republican side, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) is running for governor.
It remained unclear by Thursday evening whether former state Sen. Amanda Chase (R) met the qualifications to appear on the GOP primary ballot or whether the lieutenant governor would also be the presumptive nominee for her party.
Chase said she filed the paperwork to run for governor on Thursday but did not have time before the 5 p.m. deadline to count and verify that she had the necessary number of signatures to make the primary ballot.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is ineligible to run in November, as Virginia prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms.
NUEVA YORK (AP) — Anthony Edwards se sobrepuso a un susto por lesión y terminó con 28 puntos para liderar la victoria 105-90 el jueves de los Timberwolves de Minnesota sobre los Nets de Brooklyn para conseguir su cuarta victoria consecutiva.
Edwards, quien también sumó cinco rebotes, al parecer evitó lesión grave cuando abandonó brevemente el juego después de retroceder sobre el pie del entrenador de los Nets, Jordi Fernández, al tirar un triple al final del segundo cuarto. Edwards fue ayudado a salir de la cancha, pero regresó para el inicio de la segunda mitad.
Rudy Gobert añadió 21 unidades para Minnesota, atinando nueve de diez tiros de campo y sumando 18 rebotes. Nic Claxton anotó 18 puntos para Brooklyn y Dariq Whitehead consiguió 17.
Los Timberwolves tomaron la delantera con 8:26 restantes en el segundo cuarto y no miraron atrás. Edwards lideró a su equipo en anotación con 15 puntos en la primera mitad para ayudar a ponerlos arriba 49-37 al descanso. Minnesota atinó el 31% de sus triples —13 de 42—incluyendo cinco de Edwards.
NUEVA YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge inició otra ráfaga de jonrones con un batazo de tres carreras en la primera entrada, que lo convirtió en el tercer jugador de los Yankees en alcanzar 500 extrabases más rápidamente, y Nueva York se impuso el jueves 9-7 sobre los Diamondbacks de Arizona.
Judge terminó con tres hits y cuatro carreras impulsadas. Trent Grisham y Jazz Chisholm Jr. añadieron jonrones de dos carreras contra Merrill Kelly (1-1), quien permitió un récord personal de nueve anotaciones, nueve hits y tres bases por bolas en tres innings y dos tercios.
Los Yankees totalizaron 22 jonrones en una serie de apertura de la campaña, que ganaron 4-2 en casa. Batearon cinco vuelacercas más que cualquier otro equipo en sus primeros seis juegos.
Judge se quedó a un triple del ciclo y está bateando para .417 con cinco jonrones y 15 carreras producidas. Acumula 320 jonrones, 175 dobles y cinco triples en 999 juegos.
Sólo Joe DiMaggio (853) y Lou Gehrig (869) alcanzaron 500 extrabases en menos juegos con los Yankees.
Carlos Carrasco (1-0) consiguió su primera victoria con los Yankees. El venezolano recibió tres carreras y cinco hits en cinco capítulos y un tercio.
Por los Diamondbacks, los dominicanos Geraldo Perdomo de 5-1 con una anotada y cuatro producidas, Ketel Marte de 1-1. El cubano Lourdes Gurriel Jr. de 4-1 con una empujada. Los venezolanos Eugenio Suárez de 3-1, José Herrera de 3-1 con una anotada, Gabriel Moreno de 1-0.
Por los Yankees, el dominicano Jasson Domínguez de 5-2 con una anotada. El venezolano Oswaldo Cabrera de 3-0.
If the fear and censorship coming out of the White House reminds you of the 1950s “red scare
,” there’s a probable reason: “political hitman
” Roy Cohn.
Cohn is best known now for the lessons he taught Trump, but even before that he was an outsized figure running through US politics and culture… Throughout his life, he bullied people and tried to bully facts…
He was barely into his 20s when, as an assistant prosecutor in 1951, he helped engineer the conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as Soviet spies, and acknowledged using illicit, back-channel conversations with the judge to get the death penalty. Soon after, he became notorious as chief counsel for Senator Joseph McCarthy’s committee rooting out Communists and supposed Communists from the government…
In October 1973, the US Department of Justice had sued Donald Trump, 27, and his father for discriminating against black renters. In a happenstance meeting, Trump asked Cohn what to do.
According to the Washington Post, Cohn told Trump this
: “My view is tell them to go to hell and fight the thing in court.”
Like many (most?) of Trump’s lawsuits, this one ended in a draw.
A federal judge dismissed the countersuit. And two years later, after a string of theatrics and unfounded allegations by Cohn — including the claim that a Jewish prosecutor had used Nazi Gestapo tactics — Donald and Fred Trump settled the case without admitting guilt.
Thus began one of the most influential relationships in Trump’s life and the start of his notoriously litigious behavior
. That behavior exudes power and seeds fear that you might be his next target.
Trump prized Cohn’s reputation for aggression. According to a New York Times profile a quarter-century ago, when frustrated by an adversary, Trump would pull out a photograph of Cohn and ask, “Would you rather deal with him?” Trump remained friends with him even after the lawyer was disbarred in New York for ethical lapses…
Cohn himself once said he was “not only Donald’s lawyer but also one of his close friends.” Roger Stone, a political operative who met Trump through Cohn, said their association was grounded in business, but he also described the lawyer as “like a cultural guide to Manhattan” for Trump into the worlds of celebrity and power. “Roy was more than his personal lawyer,” Stone told The Post. “And, of course, Trump was a trophy client for Roy.”
One hallmark of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Cohn’s “red scare” was also fomenting fear.
McCarthy launched a series of sensational hearings about the communist threat in the United States, calling on scores of professors, Hollywood writers, government employees and others to answer questions about their alleged ties to the party. Blacklists were created and careers ruined.
Law firms. Documented and undocumented immigrants. Universities. Greenland and Canada. Foreign visitors. Federal employees. Independent agencies. Former allies like Ukraine. Judges.
The list was similar to one sent to Columbia University last month after the government canceled $400 million to the school. Harvard may have $9 billion on the line.
MIAMI (AP) — Ja Morant encestó un tiro de media distancia mientras expiraba el reloj y que llevó a la victoria 110-108 el jueves de los Grizzlies de Memphis ante el Heat de Miami para darle la primera victoria al entrenador interino Toumas Lisalo.
Morant terminó con 30 puntos para Memphis, que rompió una racha de cuatro derrotas consecutivas. Desmond Bane tuvo 17 unidades y diez rebotes, Scotty Pippen Jr. añadió 17 mientras que Jaylen Wells y Jaren Jackson Jr. anotaron 13 cada uno para los Grizzlies.
Tyler Herro anotó 35 puntos para Miami, que vio interrumpida su racha de seis victorias consecutivas. Bam Adebayo tuvo 26 tantos y Kel’el Ware terminó con 13 unidades y 15 tablas para el Heat, que se convirtió en el tercer equipo en la historia de la NBA en perder al menos diez seguidos, y luego seguir inmediatamente con seis victorias consecutivas.
El Heat confirmó su lugar en el mini-torneo cuando Milwaukee venció a Filadelfia poco antes. Es la tercera participación consecutiva en el play-in para el Heat, que llegó a las Finales de la NBA en el 2023 y el año pasado llegó a la postemporada antes de perder con Boston.
Morant tuvo 11 de sus 30 puntos en el cuarto periodo para Memphis, que necesitaba desesperadamente una victoria para revivir sus esperanzas de un puesto entre los seis primeros.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Néstor Cortés se recuperó de su terrible debut con los Cerveceros de Milwaukee, al tolerar apenas un hit durante seis entradas el jueves, en una victoria por 1-0 sobre unos Rojos de Cincinnati que están en declive.
Los Rojos perdieron 1-0 por tercer juego consecutivo después de caer por esa pizarra ante los Rangers de Texas en los dos días anteriores. Según Sportradar, los Rojos son el primer equipo en perder tres duelos consecutivos 1-0 desde los Filis de Filadelfia en mayo de 1960.
La racha se ha presentado seis veces en las Grandes Ligas, cuatro de ellas entre 1908 y 1917.
Cortés (1-1) estaba lanzando cinco noches después de permitir vuelacercas en cada uno de sus primeros tres lanzamientos durante una derrota por 20-9 ante los Yankees de Nueva York, su equipo anterior.
El cubano permitió ocho carreras, cinco bases por bolas y seis hits en dos innings de un juego que ayudó a llamar la atención sobre el uso de “bates torpedo” por parte de los Yankees.
Estuvo mucho más preciso el jueves, al ponchar a seis y otorgar dos bases por bolas. El único hit de los Rojos contra Cortés fue un doble de José Treviño, cuando había un out en la tercera entrada.
El dominicano Joel Payamps retiró a los bateadores en orden en la novena entrada para su primer salvamento.
Nick Lodolo (1-1) permitió una carrera sucia y cuatro hits en seis episodios y dos tercios por Cincinnati.
Por los Rojos, los dominicanos Elly de la Cruz de 4-0, Jeimer Candelario de 4-1, Santiago Espinal de 3-0.
Por los Cerveceros, los venezolanos Jackson Chourio de 4-1 con una anotada, William Contreras de 4-0.
