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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · 8d

On the death of a prophet, a church shooting in Michigan, and what I learned from President Russell M. Nelson. This was a difficult piece to write. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The Shooter and the Prophet

Russell M. Nelson, the Latter-day Saint prophet who preached the need for peacemakers in an angry world, died over the weekend. Then a gunman opened fire on a church in Michigan.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · 22d

I don’t even know which side you’re insisting with such certainty doesn’t participate in political violence. But whatever you’re arguing, just the last few years would strongly suggest you’re wrong.

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · 26d

I spoke with Utah's grieving governor about his state, America's dangerous spiral, and what social media is doing to us. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Trump Has a Warning for Spencer Cox

Utah’s grieving governor opens up about his state, the country’s dangerous spiral, and a haunting conversation with the president.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · 26d

Shortly after Utah Governor Spencer Cox's news conference yesterday, he got a call from the president. "You know, the type of person who would do something like that to Charlie Kirk would love to do it to us," Cox says Trump told him. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Trump Has a Warning for Spencer Cox

Utah’s grieving governor opens up about his state, the country’s dangerous spiral, and a haunting conversation with the president.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by McKay Coppins

Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · Sep 8

Today is a good day to read @mckaycoppins.bsky.social on the mind games, sibling rivalry, and war for power that culminated in Lachlan Murdoch winning his family’s succession fight:

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Growing Up Murdoch

James Murdoch on mind games, sibling rivalry, and the war for the family media empire

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Sep 4

Life is complicated, human experience is varied, some people shouldn't be parents, etc.—I understand the aversion to having kids. But it's kind of amazing that "parenthood is good and makes people happy" is considered such a counterintuitive take in 2025.

McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Sep 4

From a new survey of 3,000 American women ages 25 to 55, controlled for age, family income, and education:

"Married mothers are actually happier than unmarried women and married women without children."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The Marriage Effect

A common narrative has it that commitment and motherhood make women unhappy. New data suggest the opposite is true.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Sep 4

From a new survey of 3,000 American women ages 25 to 55, controlled for age, family income, and education:

"Married mothers are actually happier than unmarried women and married women without children."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The Marriage Effect

A common narrative has it that commitment and motherhood make women unhappy. New data suggest the opposite is true.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Aug 28

Number of times I’ve heard a KPop Demon Hunters song in Mexico City this week: 3 (and counting)

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 30

Photos: Starvation and Chaos in Gaza
www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Photos: Starvation and Chaos in Gaza

Israel’s blockade of most food and aid, along with distribution difficulties inside the Gaza Strip, have driven many of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians to the brink of starvation.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 29

(Chaffetz, notably, resigned from Congress a month later, joined Fox News, and has enjoyed an apparently successful media career as a pro-Trump pundit/talking head/author.) Anyway, here's the link to that interview:
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Jason Chaffetz: The Prince of Oversight

The Utah Republican chairs the House’s watchdog committee. But critics charge he’d rather overlook the Trump administration’s infractions than look into them.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 29

Something I think about often is when I asked Jason Chaffetz, then Oversight chairman, in March 2017 if he was worried about Trump profiting from his presidency.

“He’s already rich,” Chaffetz shrugged. “I don’t think that he ran for this office to line his pockets even more."

Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · Jul 29

Why is it acceptable for the president to use taxpayer money to fly overseas and cut a ribbon at his own golf course?

Don’t normalize this abuse of office. It’s blatant corruption.

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 25

“They call Alden a vulture hedge fund, and I think that’s honestly a misnomer,” a former Chicago Tribune reporter told me in 2021. “A vulture doesn’t hold a wounded animal’s head underwater. This is predatory.” www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 24

Some Pioneer Day reading

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 18

"The network that once made Cronkite the most trusted man in America no longer gets the benefit of the doubt. CBS’s owners have made a series of decisions capitulating to President Donald Trump..." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Is Colbert’s Ouster Really Just a ‘Financial Decision’?

CBS no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 16

Solid picks. (Nominating El Scorcho!)

McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 11

In this context, Lee's recent tweets about the murder of two Minnesota lawmakers inevitably became a subject of discussion at his church's headquarters, as @sambbenson.bsky.social reports. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 11

Mike Lee has moved in the opposite direction in recent years, as many (including my colleague Tim Alberta) have documented. So the church is in an awkward position where its message is being actively undermined by the faith's most prominent elected official.

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 11

Some context: Leaders of the traditionally conservative LDS church have spent the past decade preaching depolarization. While other churches embrace Christian nationalism, the message from Salt Lake has been "moderate and unify," build "bridges of understanding," "be peacemakers"

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 11

Mike Lee’s “based” online persona and Trump-era theatrics are a source of growing alarm among LDS church leaders, @sambbenson reports. “Mike Lee is far-right,” said one emeritus general authority. “The church is not far-right.” www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Mike Lee Can’t Stop Throwing Social Media Grenades. His Church Isn’t Happy.

The Utah senator’s online persona has further damaged his already frayed relationship with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

www.politico.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 10

"Officers and agents described a workforce on edge, vilified by broad swaths of the public and bullied by Trump officials demanding more and more."
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Trump Loves ICE. Its Workforce Has Never Been So Miserable.

A “mission impossible” deportation campaign has left many employees burned out and morally conflicted.

www.theatlantic.com

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 8

Thank you! Glad you like it!

McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 8

More and more people are saying this

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 2

Incredible. "Paramount said its payment includes Mr. Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library."

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Jul 2

Paramount agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that Trump claimed “60 Minutes” deceptively edited to interfere with the election. Read more: https://trib.al/xDMS1Fl

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jul 2

Idaho Attorney General: ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ sign cannot be displayed in Idaho schools because they are “part of an ideological/social movement.”
www.idahoednews.org/top-news/att...

Attorney general: ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ sign cannot be displayed in Idaho schools

The sign violates a new law that prohibits the display of flags or banners have a political viewpoint, according to an Idaho attorney general’s office opinion obtained by EdNews through a pub…

www.idahoednews.org

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McKay Coppins @mckaycoppins.bsky.social · Jun 22

Wrote this in April 2017

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