The Monthly Mailbag With David M. Drucker – David M. Drucker

W.Eakin: David, do you surf, and if so, how well?

Let’s get this out of the way first: I never surfed, although our hillside home offered a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and I lived walking distance to a beach. As a kid in the 1980s, I considered myself a basketball player. I was a decent athlete. Of course, I was short, slow, and couldn’t jump, so … 

My family moved to Malibu from the San Fernando Valley—technically the city of Los Angeles—in the summer of 1979, when I was eight years old. Back then—and for at least the next decade, when I reached adulthood and moved out—Malibu was a chill beach town. There wasn’t much in the way of high-end restaurants or shopping. The famous and wealthy (often but not always one and the same) mixed with middle-class professionals and beach bums who practically lived out of their vans—usually a 1970s model VW Bus. My fourth-grade teacher and her husband, a Los Angeles Police Department officer, lived in a neighborhood where, today, the average home costs at least $2.5 million.

Yes, we often saw well-known actors around town. The unspoken rule was that you were supposed to treat them just like you’d treat anyone else, which basically meant ignoring them. That’s why they lived in Malibu in the first place.

The exception? If Martin Sheen was standing outside the grocery store telling us not to buy grapes as part of some protest or another, we could tell him to buzz off.

Hemingwayrk: What TV show set in Southern California do you think gets the area the most accurate to the area you knew growing up?

An interesting question that I had to rack my brain to answer. I’m sure there are plenty I’m missing, but some that come to mind that I actually watched and enjoyed include HBO’s Entourage, Prime Video’s Goliath, TNT’s The Closer, Paramount+’s The Offer, and HBO’s Perry Mason reboot. 

I know, I know—what about L.A. Law? I watched it, and I liked it. But what I remember about NBC’s iconic 1980s primetime drama is the fashion. The costume designer’s choice of suits and ties for the male lawyers was awe-inspiring. But I can’t remember how—or whether—the show depicted Los Angeles outside of courtrooms and boardrooms.

Blair M Gardner: So, when did you decide that a career in “political journalism” was a more stable career path than “the manufacturing and sales of home-furnishing products”?

The.Athletic.Boyes: In my early 30s, I pivoted from a career in environmental engineering to become a paramedic/firefighter. My choice was based on more time to raise a family and increased job satisfaction/enjoyment. What motivated your change?

When I was growing up, I wanted to be my father. And my father was a brilliant sales and marketing executive who worked for and then owned, in partnership with my mother, companies that manufactured and distributed window coverings, wholesale to retailers.

So it made sense to me to put my college education on hold and go work for my parents, helping to run one of their businesses that manufactured vertical blinds. But at the ripe old age of 27, I discovered I didn’t like my chosen profession as much as I liked the idea of my chosen profession. I was perhaps lucky that I hadn’t succeeded enough financially to acquire golden handcuffs, which might have discouraged me from trying something new.

Writing was that something new. After freelancing for a bit, churning out mostly dating pieces, I decided to write for a living. All I needed was a job and a place to go every day. And I needed to write about something interesting, so that even if I never reached the heights I imagined, I would at least enjoy the work over the course of what would hopefully be a long career. 

Well, I had always been a political junkie—I was the nerdy kid who listened to conservative talk radio. And that’s what I was gravitating toward when, as fate apparently had it, I found myself covering the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, for the Daily Bruin of UCLA, where I had since returned to school to complete my undergraduate degree. At one point, the cast of NBC’s The West Wing walked by me through the concourse of what was then called the Staples Center—hello again, Martin Sheen—and in that moment, I decided I would go to Washington, D.C., and cover national politics.

This has been a 25-year passion project of sorts. Even at the turn of the century, I knew better than to imagine it a rainmaker, much to my late father’s chagrin.

JohnM: Where did you first start reporting, and what were your stops along the way before The Dispatch?

John Lewis: You have a gift for engaging with people of a wide variety of opinions and beliefs. As a liberal, I enjoy your interviews because of this. How do you know when to give a guest space to air their views, and when to push back?

Adam.Zerda: How has your manufacturing background helped ground you when reporting on the trade and tariff situation over the last few months? Seems like you would have considerable empathy with those who are experiencing tariffs firsthand.

Craig B: It seems the news cycles with this administration come out of a firehose. What’s your process to determine what’s really newsworthy, what’s just the weirdness of the day, and what needs a deeper dive? I think it must be alternately enthralling and frustrating.

I never went to journalism school. My training was all “OJT”—on-the-job training. 

My first gig as a 30-year-old college graduate was covering a couple of city councils and a school board for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, California. After roughly a year, they sent me to Sacramento to report on the governor and the legislature, adding coverage for one of our sister papers, the San Bernardino Sun, to my responsibilities. After Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in the 2003 recall election, I was poached by our corporate parent’s flagship newspaper, the Los Angeles Daily News, and reported for a collection of local papers in Northern and Southern California. In 2005, Roll Call hired me to cover congressional campaigns, and in 2013, I moved over to the Washington Examiner. I landed here two years ago. 

Along the way, I developed a style that is more curious than confrontational, having discovered that pretending to be the late, great Mike Wallace of CBS News/60 Minutes fame just didn’t work for me. What I try to do is have conversations that give the subjects of my interviews a chance to express themselves freely. My role in the conversation is to ask them to discuss topics that might be less appealing, while also confronting them, firmly yet respectfully, on anything they say that smacks of excessive spin or registers on the bulls—t meter. It doesn’t always work as I hope, but I’ve generally found that treating interviewees as though I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt makes it more likely that they’ll open up to me and share information that news consumers find valuable.

I’ve always believed that the fact I did something else before becoming a journalist has given me an advantage.

And because that something else was running a business, I’ve had certain experiences other journalists have not, such as dealing with the consequences of government regulations, making payroll, and working on a manufacturing floor. Those experiences have helped me ask better questions and notice stories that my competitors often fail to recognize in the first place.

Media critics of all stripes complain about political bias in journalism. Based on my experience, I generally believe the biggest problem in our industry is one of a cosseted worldview. If you’ve never run a business, for example, it’s difficult to understand that some new government regulation that sounds compassionate for employees is going to make it harder for the employer to keep the doors open. The same goes for the impact of tariffs on foreign imports and American exports.

Meanwhile, as Trump’s second term in the White House has unfolded, I’ve settled on a new, unofficial rule to help me survive that “firehose” of news one of you asked about: I pay very little attention to what the president says. I literally go out of my way to avoid his social media posts and press conferences, focusing instead on the concrete actions Trump takes. That means I read quite a few White House press releases, as those typically outline what he’s actually doing.

JBfulton: In your experience in Washington, who are the most thoughtful/serious elected officials in Congress (I’m thinking Ben Sasse, Paul Ryan, Rob Portman types) on either side of the aisle?

Clydesdale: One of the recurring themes in the comments section of The Dispatch is the potential for a new third party, possibly comprised of traditional Reaganite conservatives and more moderate Republicans, as well as moderate Democrats who are concerned with their party’s leftward direction. Do you think this is worthy of more exploration in The Dispatch?

Bill Donnelly: What is the conservative justification for the empowerment of the executive branch relative to the legislative and judicial branches? Is there one, or is this typical MAGA thinking?

Many of you asked some version of: What’s the status of the Republican Party, and elected Republicans in Congress? Is Trump really the final word on all of that (and them)? Well, um, yes.

The best way to understand the Republican Party today is that Trump has succeeded in transforming how the party behaves and governs, from one in which traditional conservatives were the majority—supported in elections by a relatively powerless junior partner, the conservative populists—to one in which the populists now run the show and the conservatives bring up the rear with minimal influence. And because the 45^th and 47^th president is rather popular with GOP voters across the spectrum, the conservative expats (“normies”) hanging out in this newly populist party have no motivation to rock the boat—on tariffs, Ukraine, the rule or law, exercising the prerogatives of the legislative branch, you name it. But rest assured, if the party were to nominate a traditional conservative for president in 2028—in other words, not Vice President J.D. Vance—like-minded Republicans in Congress would once again flex their muscles.

But presuming it’s Vance in 2028—many people disagree with me on that—it’s possible conversations about a new, more traditionally conservative party accelerate. The challenge for anyone having or paying attention to such conversations is moving from talk to action. Any effort to build a new political party would require an immense amount of resources, and more importantly, a compelling standard-bearer. That’s extremely hard to come by, which is one reason why the Democratic and Republican parties have been entrenched for so long. No matter what happens, or doesn’t, we’ll be here to cover it for you. 

Politicians are in the “service business,” as a now-former congressman once told me. They want to keep their jobs and respond to voters and other forms of political pressure. Democracy doesn’t always deliver the results we want. But it does deliver some of the time, and there’s no “some of the time” if you’re not participating.

As for Bill Donnelly’s question about the empowerment of the executive branch, I’m going to punt. But I can’t recommend enough our Advisory Opinions podcast, hosted by Sarah Isgur and regular guest David French, as well as SCOTUSblog, the go-to media outlet for legal news and analysis that was recently acquired by The Dispatch.

MCohen: Would journalism be in a better place today if Twitter had never been created?

I don’t know if journalism would be in a better place, but journalists might be.

hi.toots: Who are the liberals, Democratic pundits, and others of that ilk whose ideas and opinions you respect and you find worthy of consideration?

I’m not going to tell you because the best of them never let me use their names in stories, but they always make me look smart.

Richard Kennedy: “Off the record” means essentially keeping secrets, it seems to me. How do you stay disciplined, remembering which to write about and which to stay hidden? 

Richard Kennedy: Have you had much contact with Trump himself? The inner circle? Is the “failing Dispatch” something of a handicap artfully to be overcome?

I’ve interviewed Trump three times, but not since I joined the team here. That said, I still talk to various members of Trump’s inner circle. No matter where I’ve worked, there have been advantages and disadvantages when it comes to sourcing. On net, The Dispatch is all upside.

Chad Ingels: What do you do to unwind on a weekend?

Hang out with my family; enjoy great food and drink, preferably out at a bar or restaurant; spend Sunday evenings watching meaningless, mindless television. I miss reading for pleasure, but I read too much for work.

DJElmore: That is a great picture accompanying this article. I assume that lovely woman is your bride. Can you share a little about how you met and other aspects of your home life?

Yes, that’s my wife of 15-plus years, Jenny, and yes, she is beautiful (thank you). We met one week before the 2006 elections, at a Halloween party hosted by my then-boss. Neither of us were in costume. Our oldest son, Jake, came along in 2012; our youngest son, Ronnie, in 2015. In 2023, my wife ignored my protests and brought home a puppy for our boys—a miniature cavapoo. I’m blessed with an amazing family—and the dog turned out okay, too.

John Boland: Do you have a favorite haberdashery or clothing brand and/or any style tips?

My favorite spot for ties and pocket squares is Bergdorf Goodman in New York, or any Neiman Marcus. Lately, my preferred suitmaker—for quality, style, and value—is Richard James.

• When wearing a dress shirt, remember to use collar stays;
• Socks must match your shoes, NOT your pants; and
• Mediocre or scuffed-up shoes ruin a great outfit, and great shoes with a military shine elevate a mediocre outfit.

Gzexpat: On Dispatch Live, you have a picture behind you depicting Texas and California. Can you provide more details as to its meaning?

This picture was purchased for the nursery right around the time our first son was born. My wife is from Houston and I’m from Southern California. There’s a little banner under each map that reads: “My Roots Lie Here.”

Andreas Wolf: If you had to write your own Wikipedia article, what would you list as the top (historical) moments you reported on, and why?

Hmm … My coverage of the 2003 gubernatorial recall, which resulted in Arnold Schwarzenegger being elected California’s governor, still stands out as perhaps the most I’ve ever enjoyed reporting on a campaign. The first time I met Schwarzenegger for an interview, we shook hands and then he turned to the photographer I was working with and asked: “How’s the lighting?”

Howmanydiscs: My sister-in-law gave me a signed copy of your book, In Trump’s Shadow, a couple of Christmases ago, and I devoured it. Any chance you’ll be writing a book about Trump 2.0 or any other topic?

Please thank your sister-in-law for me. And stay tuned …