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Despite or because of President Trump’s daily whipping of the press, the reporting on the office of the U.S. Presidency has been as healthy and vigorous and sharp as ever.
And few are doing it better than the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman.
That’s because she’s D.C.’s ultimate decoder ring — she can explain Trump’s moves and malapropisms better than most anyone else. Because she’s probably one of a handful of reporters who Trump keeps on speed dial, even though she’s specifically said, “it wasn’t as if we were on speed dial,” in reference to when Trump called her in March to tell her he’d pulled out on one of his first attempts to undo Obamacare (he still called her is the point).
Because Trump clearly cares what she knows (and what Times readers think). Because she’s keenly aware of when Trump is pulling a sleight of hand and when he’s proffering a genuine sentiment. Because she’s not driven by access but by actual scoops (arguably a rarity in D.C.). Because her Twitter feed is one of the best reporters’ notebooks out there and is something you won’t necessarily see in the Times itself. Because she’s a skeptical New Yorker at heart (and still lives there). And because without Haberman we would all know less about Trump and what’s going on in this country than we do now.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
