The Pandas Take Washington

In today’s newsletter, D.C.’s newest animal power players. And breaking down Trump’s Day One. Plus:

Robin WrightReporting from the other side of Washington, D.C.

Across town from the inaugural speeches and Presidential pardons, high-fashion billionaire balls and limousine motorcades, some traumatized inhabitants of Washington, D.C., were pinning their hopes on two panda cubs at the National Zoo. Their début, this week, is “perhaps the biggest highlight” of January in the world’s most powerful capital, Washingtonian magazine reported. On Sunday, I watched Qing Bao, who has the fluffier cheeks of the two and a birthmark on her hip, nosh bamboo, oblivious to the assembled crowd. Bao Li, a playful boy who bleats in excitement, climbed dangerously high up a tree. He is the grandson of pandas who were recalled by Beijing during a rupture in relations in 2023.

Pandas are more of a symbol of Washington than either political party is—and a welcome distraction. “We are expecting huge, huge crowds,” Yael Krigman, whose kosher bakery, which is across the street from the zoo and specializes in panda-themed pastries, told me. Business picks up “exponentially” during panda events. The Watergate Hotel has offered special packages featuring panda pajamas, a stuffed bear, and binoculars. (Washington’s first pandas arrived after President Richard Nixon’s historic trip to Beijing, in 1972. Four months later, the Watergate became forever linked to Nixon, after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and all that followed.)

Trump is on day two of his second, and final, term, and has said that he wants to meet soon with China’s Xi Jinping, who is President for life. The two men spoke on Friday, although reports about what they discussed have varied. Trump cited trade and TikTok; Xi cited trade and Taiwan. Washington has “rented” the pandas from China, at a million dollars annually, through 2034. They will be important players in Washington longer than Trump, though possibly shorter than Xi.

P.S. The esteemed cartoonist, illustrator, playwright, author, and teacher Jules Feiffer died last week, at the age of ninety-five. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a member of the Comic Book Hall of Fame, Feiffer also contributed to this magazine. In 2015, Feiffer sat for an interview with the New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly. “As I do the serious work, I’m having the best time of my life,” he said. “I can’t stop giggling.” 🎨

Hannah Jocelyn contributed to this edition.