CERTAIN WONDERS YOU can appreciate only once you've seen them with your own eyes. In a Manhattan courtroom on January 11, I spent three hours observing the back of Donald Trump's head. I've seen him many times but never so close, with him so still, for so long. His lawyers were giving their closing arguments in a civil-fraud lawsuit, making their fine legal points and plumping their client's savvy and net worth. ("President Trump is worth billions ...") But I couldn't stop staring at Trump's pinkish scalp. His famous sallow blond comb-over, thinner than it once was, started as a part on the left and flowed like a river eastbound and down until it merged with another cataract of hair cascading behind his opposite ear. Little tufts sprayed off the sides and stuck out over his bunched-up jacket collar. The former president was hunched forward, elbows on the table. You didn't need to see his face to know he was glowering.
The civil case, brought by the office of New York State attorney general Letitia James, should have been a humiliation for Trump. It strikes at his business, his family, and the heart of his original identity as a real-estate tycoon. Yet at a crucial juncture in the race for the Republican nomination, he decided to pull himself away from the campaign. Trump was complaining that his many trials were keeping him off the trail, but in fact his attendance at this closing argument was not required. He was perfectly willing to sit through the undignified process.
Esta historia es de la edición January 15-28, 2024 de New York magazine.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 15-28, 2024 de New York magazine.
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THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
