Evan Osnos

Yes indeed!

Fun, imminent event news: I'll be speaking in Nantucket tomorrow (Thu July 24), in conversation with Michael Schulder at the nantucketdreamland.bsky.social www.nantucketdreamland.org

Bryan Appleyard - Stash the Cash Bryan Appleyard: Stash the Cash - The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich by Evan Osnos

Grateful to @bryanappleyard.bsky.social & The Literary Review for the deep read of my book on economic inequality. "Superb, dogged journalism. Osnos writes well and fact-checks his material obsessively. Furthermore, the issues he raises are profound." literaryreview.co.uk/stash-the-cash

One of the first things Vladimir Putin did on becoming president was take over NTV, the TV channel that hosted a satirical puppet show because he didn't like the Putin doll and how he was portrayed. He arrested NTV's owner and only released him when he signed the channel over. #Colbert

The First World War, in Sharp Focus An English chronicler of the trenches, and his wartime romance, captured in long-lost photographs.

I'm not sure if people share stories here (or read the ones that are shared) but fwiw, I've got a new story out in @newyorker.com today that means a great deal to me. It's about a writer I love, and an amazing cache of long-lost photographs from WW1: www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

Thank you!

What separates the ultrarich from the just-plain-rich? The gigayacht. A new collection of essays by New Yorker writer Evan Osnos, The Haves and Have-Yachts, provides rich research and material for the conversation about extreme wealth in America today.

A new collection of essays by New Yorker writer Evan Osnos, The Haves and Have-Yachts, provides rich research and material for the conversation about extreme wealth in America today.

Trump Doesn’t Even Believe White Collar Crime Is a Thing The president is “rejecting the premise of oligarchy,” journalist and author Evan Osnos said on The Daily Beast podcast.

The president is “rejecting the premise of oligarchy,” journalist and author Evan Osnos said on The Daily Beast podcast.

Where Is the Iran-Israel Conflict Headed? Podcast Episode · The Political Scene | The New Yorker · 06/20/2025 · 40m

As the US bombs Iran, grateful for the wisdom of @ksadjadpour.bsky.social on this week’s New Yorker podcast with great colleagues @eosnos.bsky.social @janemayer.bsky.social

Listen:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Meta Is Building a Superintelligence Lab. What Is That?

If you wonder how the A.I. era will affect economic inequality, consider this detail, out this week: "Meta has been making stunning offers to [A.I.] researchers, in some cases promising compensation packages as high as $100 million." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

Thanks @nytimes.com for naming my book to its recommended reads ("Toggling between extravagances like simulated World War II battles and dueling luxury disaster refuges, Osnos takes the reader deep into our new Gilded Age.") As it happens, front-page photo is a sign of the times:

Trump Makes a Big Show of Military Force What are the consequences of calling in troops to quell what the President has deemed “the enemy within”?

Trump’s use of force was this week’s podcast. Join Susan Glasser @sbg1, Evan Osnos @eosnos and me as we confront the new reality of troops in our streets: www.newyorker.com/podcast/poli...

Authors know that speaking at @politicsprose.bsky.social is like the bar mitzvah for your book. 7p tonight! politics-prose.com/evan-osnos

Good point -- but I would note that even Kim Jong Un doesn't go this far. A 2024 AP headline says it all: "North Korea’s Kim turns 40. But there are no public celebrations of his birthday." apnews.com/article/nort...

The US and China have a new framework to de-escalate. Whether that'll be durable is unclear. What is clear is that China can and will weaponize its export dominance. We discuss what the trade war teaches us about China's economy in our new RAND Commentary. www.rand.org/pubs/comment...

The DOGE 100: Musk Is Out, but More Than 100 of His Followers Remain to Implement Trump’s Blueprint At least 38 DOGE members work, or have worked, for one of Elon Musk’s companies. Meanwhile, nearly two dozen DOGE officials are making cuts to the same federal agencies that regulate the industries…

Out of the 109 DOGE staffers we've identified:

• At least 38 currently work/have worked for businesses run by Musk
• At least 23 are making cuts at agencies that regulate the industries that employed them
• At least 12 remain, on paper, employees/advisors of the companies they worked at before DOGE

Real world:
- Trump team trying to create a Reichstag moment.
- Trump telling military audience that LA is hellhole full of "animals"
- Officials in Calif trying both to calm things down, and stand up

PUNDIT world:
- Is it smart politics?
- Is Gavin running?
- Doesn't Trump look strong!

That really is a wonderful neighborhood of books!

A risk in Washington reporting, too.

+1 to this: “For insightful and elegant writing on the Cultural Revolution, however, the work of Simon Leys (pen name for Pierre Ryckmans), the Australian-based Belgian sinologist, has yet to be surpassed”

Thanks for this, GB! Reading the review now

Great choice. (MacFarquhar turned me on to China.) One relevant echo: As Mao became more frustrated, he pruned his court down to the most die-hard aides who would screen out any news that defied his delusions. The cult of Mao spun out of control. Deification merged with destruction of enemies.

China-related event news: In DC on June 13th, I'll be asking the questions in a conversation with @jwassers.bsky.social, talking about China, access for research, and his fascinating new book "The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing" Details and location below

Evan Osnos: Billionaire influence in politics ‘doesn’t look a whole lot like democracy’ Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is a billionaire. He got elected with the help of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. Trump then appointed thirteen of his fellow billionaires to his cabinet. The rich are richer than ever, and their influence over politics and society is greater than ever. Evan Osnos, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of the new book “The Haves and the Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich” says that when billionaires have so much sway, “that doesn’t look a whole lot like democracy.” While Trump and Musk may be at odds now, Osnos notes that Musk’s complaints about the president sound “like he was complaining about buying a defective product.” Musk’s recent comments, Osnos says, may read to future historians as “the Rosetta Stone of how our democracy got so damaged.”

The president, a billionaire, just had a falling out with the world’s richest man. To @eosnos.bsky.social, Musk’s complaints about Trump sounded “like he was complaining about buying a defective product.” Billionaires having such sway, Osnos says, “doesn’t look a whole lot like democracy.” #Velshi

Wonderful to see that. Thanks, and wishing you all good things in journalism

The rich, the ultra-rich and America’s shifting political landscape Two wonderfully detailed books explore the widening gap between the super-elites and everyone else

Re-posting bc the previous link was broken: Terrific to see this
@financialtimes.com review of "the haves and have-yachts" ("a beautifully written and often amusing climb to the very top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.") www.ft.com/content/b577...

Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle. If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out.

Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle.

If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out. (2018)
www.politico.com/magazine/sto...

Looking forward to joining @velshi.com in the hour ahead

The Oligarchs Are Fighting Does the Trump-Musk breakup resemble an ancient Greek myth or a Godzilla movie? Either way, mere mortals will likely get trampled.

It felt like @janemayer.bsky.social and @sbg1.bsky.social and I have been training for years to talk about a Musk-Trump inferno--the vanity, the campaign finance, the history back to the Borgias, the Putinism of it all.
www.newyorker.com/podcast/poli...

We could see this iceberg in the distance from a long way away.

This may be a good time to re-read Jeffrey Winters’ landmark study of oligarchy in which he explains why “ruling” oligarchies (e.g. the Mafia Commission) tend to devolve into “warring” oligarchies of the kind that defined medieval Europe.