First Draft on Politics: A Stern Message

Vice President Mike Pence had strong words for North Korea. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, April 18, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Vice President Mike Pence at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea on Monday.]( Vice President Mike Pence at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea on Monday. Lee Jin-Man/Associated Press Good Tuesday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - Vice President Mike Pence [delivered a stern message]( to North Korea while on a visit to South Korea, but also raised the possibility of pursuing talks. - Democrats have pledged not to cooperate on rewriting the tax code unless they know [how it would benefit the billionaire president and his family](. Republicans, many of whom are also calling for President Trump to release his taxes, remain sharply divided on the path forward. - In a swing county of a swing region of a swing state that powered Mr. Trump’s victory, some residents [are starting to regret having supported him]( and are wondering when the “winning” will start. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT [The Interpreter. In Your Inbox.]( Understand the world with sharp insight and commentary on the major news stories of the week. [• Sign up »]( Sidebar [Why Gorsuch May Not Be So Genteel on the Bench]( By ADAM LIPTAK [Justice Neil M. Gorsuch at the White House last week with President Trump, Justice Anthony Kennedy, and his wife, Marie Louise Gorsuch. He will hear his first arguments from the Supreme Court bench this week.]( Justice Neil M. Gorsuch at the White House last week with President Trump, Justice Anthony Kennedy, and his wife, Marie Louise Gorsuch. He will hear his first arguments from the Supreme Court bench this week. Al Drago/The New York Times Justice Neil M. Gorsuch is by all accounts the soul of courtesy, and he may have a hard time elbowing his way into the judicial crossfire that is the modern Supreme Court argument. Justices interrupt one another all the time, and it may not be easy for the new justice to find his place and to raise his voice this week, when he hears his first arguments. But [a new study]( suggests that Justice Gorsuch has two things going for him: He is conservative, and he is male. “Conservatives interrupt liberals at significantly higher rates than liberals interrupt conservatives,” the study, to be published in The [Virginia Law Review]( found. And male justices, perhaps not surprisingly, interrupt female justices far more often than the other way around. “Even though female justices speak less often and use fewer words than male justices,” the study found, “they are nonetheless interrupted during oral argument at a significantly higher rate.” [Read more »]( [Trump Congratulates Erdogan on Vote Amplifying His Power]( By MARK LANDLER A phone call between the two leaders did not mention concerns that the referendum in Turkey would erode the country’s democratic institutions. [Spicer Says More Public Disclosure Is Unnecessary, Even Harmful]( By GLENN THRUSH The White House defended its less-is-more practices, saying that releasing information on wide topics would impede President Trump’s ability to govern. [Bitter Fight Behind Him, Justice Gorsuch Starts Day With Relish]( By ADAM LIPTAK On his first day on the Supreme Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch was an active questioner, displaying an easy familiarity with the issues in the cases before the court. [Trump Presides Over His First White House Easter Egg Roll]( By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS Despite the occasional downpour, the mood was cheery at the scaled-back festival, one of the most daunting social events a presidential staff has to plan. [Chris Christie Heads for the Door, Minus the Earlier Throngs]( By NICK CORASANITI With a 20 percent approval rating, the final months of the Christie administration reflect the dimming twilight of New Jersey’s governor. Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss Read about how the other side thinks. We have collected political writing from around the web and across ideologies.  From the Right • [Ann Coulter]( in [Breitbart]( “The Washington establishment is determined to manipulate the president into launching counterproductive military strikes.” Ms. Coulter criticizes President Trump’s actions in Syria as “immoral” and a betrayal of his campaign promises. She suggests that flattery from the mainstream news media and the Washington establishment is responsible for the president’s reversal on foreign policy, and argues that “uncontaminated by Washington group-think, Trump gets it right.” [Read more »]( _____  From the Left • [Masha Gessen]( in [The New York Review of Books]( “Trump has become the real version of the man Putin plays on television — an unpredictable, temperamental, impetuous man who will push reality past the limits of the imagination.” President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Mr. Trump have much in common, Ms. Gessen writes, including an affinity for the “politics of spectacle” and insatiable ambition. But their differences are instructive. With Mr. Trump becoming the “madman” that Ms. Gessen argues Mr. Putin only puts on, the results for geopolitical comity are truly terrifying. [Read more »]( _____  [More selections »]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. 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