Ron DeParted. Ending what two veteran Republican strategists call the “worst Republican presidential campaign ever,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has bowed out of the race and is backing Donald Trump.
■ The Bulwark’s Charlie Sykes: “Last week, the man from Florida declared ‘you could be the most worthless Republican in America,’ but ‘if you kiss the ring, Trump will say you are wonderful.’ Seven. Days. Later. He kissed the ring.”
■ No shortage of analyses spells out goof after goof by DeSantis, but one of the campaign’s earliest embarrassments came in Iowa, at the hands of your Chicago Public Square columnist’s “craftivist” sister Julie Meyerson Ross—who gifted DeSantis (March link) a hand-cut snowflake bearing a hidden message. (Photo: Julie Meyerson Ross.)
■ That leaves Nikki Haley in a one-on-one contest with Trump headed into tomorrow’s New Hampshire primary.
■ Public Notice columnist David Lurie: Haley “will go down in history as one of the nation’s most prolific purveyors of word salad.”
■ The state’s largest paper and its Republican governor are backing her.
■ Semafor: “It’s … hard to see how the race lasts much longer.”
■ The Onion: “GOP Voters Shrug And Say There Really Nothing You Can Do After Footage Of Trump Molesting Deer Emerges.”
‘Broadcast him live as he spews his political talking points? No way.’ Journalism watchdog Margaret Sullivan takes CNN to task for carrying “Trump’s lie-filled screeds.”
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch on ex-Chicagoan and longtime JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s warm words for Trump last week: “Dimon’s selective memory seems to begin and end with Trump cutting taxes for him, his corporation and his golfing buddies.”
■ The Guardian’s launching an email newsletter devoted just to “Trump on Trial.”
‘Outrage fatigue is dragging down the news media.’ Ex-Sun-Times and Tribune editor Mark Jacob: Journalists’ “good sense of what outrages people” has been “sorely tested in the Trump era.”
■ Contending that “The New York Times repeatedly abuses the English language in its political reporting,” Press Watch proprietor Dan Froomkin offers some style guide changes.
Chicago’s next migrant strategy. Politico’s Shia Kapos says the city’s giving up on construction of new shelter space, instead to focus on just finding beds with the help of churches and private citizens.
‘Why do we depend on private citizens to clear public rights of way?’ Disability rights advocates say it’s time for Chicago to give sidewalks the same government-funded love it gives roadways in the winter.
■ Beware a fresh and treacherous round of “wintry mix” crud from the skies over the next few days.
■ Chicago-area residents who suffered damage in September’s flooding have a little more time—until Feb. 9—to file for federal cash.
‘A monopoly horror story.’ Columnist and author Cory Doctorow traces the dots connecting the airline industry’s woes—“It’s a good thing Boeing’s executives are too big to fail, because they fail constantly”—to “a U.S. medical system that costs more than any other rich nation’s system to operate, delivers worse outcomes than those other systems, and treats medical workers worse than any other wealthy country.”
■ A Tribune editorial: “Spirit Airlines brings down airfares. But only if it stays in business.”
‘Rat Hole Park’? As the White Sox mull a new joint in the South Loop, Trib columnist Paul Sullivan serves up a list of 10 possibilities for new stadium names.
■ Neil Steinberg: “Sports Illustrated is dead and I’m not feeling so hot myself.”
■ Parker Molloy suggests that SI—like another classic magazine, Newsweek—has long been a zombie news brand.
■ What better way to kick off another edition of National News Literacy Week than with an investigation of the theft of almost all the copies of a Colorado newspaper on the day the paper reported a sexual assault in an underage party at the home of a police chief?
Get your Phil. Treatment of a Tribune editorial in Friday’s Chicago Public Square prompted a response from former Trib dining critic Phil Vettel:
■ “I strongly object to the ‘Restaurant rip-offs’ headline, linking to a (sloppy) Tribune editorial, as being unduly harsh. Because the editorial didn’t bother naming specific ‘bad’ deals, I’ll work off my many years of covering Restaurant Week. …
■ “Participants are required to follow the formula of $25 lunch menus and $42 or $59 dinner menus. At some inexpensive restaurants (a pizzeria, say) $42 is likely higher than the restaurant’s check average, so the restaurant adds extra courses—ones that the average customer might not order—to reach that $42 threshold. That’s compliance, not piracy.
■ “Many RW menus offer two to four options within each course; it’s rare, but sometimes possible, to order the cheapest options (grilled chicken plus soup plus brownie) and construct a $42 meal that would cost the same (or even $1 less) if it had been ordered a la carte.
■ “Finally, I don’t know of any restaurants that feature RW menus exclusively, meaning that a la carte is always an option.”
■ That headline now reads instead “Choose wisely.”
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A Square public service announcement …
Oak Park’s planning its 50th “Day in Our Village” celebration—introducing current and prospective residents to the community’s diverse civic, cultural, social service, business, educational and religious organizations and groups—June 2. Interested in volunteering or spotlighting your group? Learn more here.
… courtesy of Square supporter Suzanne Vestuto.