It took office naps, rousing renditions of Motownphilly, and a whole lot of coffee. If you have trouble reading this message, view it in a browser.       'An Endless Hell Loop of Being On Air': The Oral History of CNN's Election Week   As Election Night 2020 bled into Election Week, the talking heads on CNN became something like members of our families. We memorized the shades of John King's magic map; Wolf Blitzer's calming voice put us to sleep. And, somehow, when we woke up the next morning, as Tuesday turned to Wednesday which morphed into Thursday and then Friday, those same anchors remained on television. We wondered, when were these people sleeping? The answer, it turns out, was: barely at all. I spoke to more than a dozen CNN anchors, reporters and producers about how they pulled off the longest and most dramatic Election Week in recent memory, which wound up being the cable news network's most watched week of all time. Esquire's Kate Storey got the inside scoop on how it all went down. Read More           Barack Obama Broke Down Every Way Donald Trump Failed to Handle COVID-19   Eight interminable months into the coronavirus pandemic, over 11 million people have been infected in the United States alone, while we're rapidly approaching a quarter of a million deaths. As the Trump administration would have it, there's nothing much to see here, despite the dizzying and debilitating rise in cases. If you're looking for a dose of presidential reason on the subject, consider looking instead to President Barack Obama, who has shared a blistering litany of criticisms on where the Trump administration went wrong with regard to COVID-19. In a sprawling interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, timed to the publication of the first volume of his post-presidential memoir, A Promised Land, Obama reflects on the dismal trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, ruminating on the myriad ways that President Donald Trump failed to contain the deadly virus—and what he'd have done differently. Obama was quick to condemn the White House's anti-science mentality, arguing that a rigorous, apolitical adherence to medical guidelines would have resulted in a dramatically different outcome. Read More           Corduroy Pants Are the Soft, Durable Workhorses You Should Be Wearing All the Damn Time   The best corduroy pants today are soft and durable and sit beautifully on top of a studier winter shoe when cut with a thicker cuff, but look downright elegant gracefully skimming the tip of a loafer when left slightly cropped. Traditionally, I'd tell you to stick to a thinner wale—the term used to refer to the number of ridges per inch on each pant—but there's something about the heftiness of a wider wale style, especially when paired with an outfit that offsets the silhouette's preppy origins, that looks so charmingly retro right now. In other words, you really can't go wrong. Here are 18 pairs we love right now. Read More           35 Gifts the Book Lover on Your List Will Love   Let's face it: The bookworm in your life likely doesn't need any more books. Chances are, their shelves are already groaning beneath the weight of their collection—not to mention that they're rather particular about their literary diet. Rather than adding another book of questionable appeal to their exhaustive collection, why not think outside the box? There are plenty of reading-adjacent gifts that will support their favorite pastime without burdening their shelves. Read More           50+ Gifts That'll Make You Mom's Favorite   Making sure your mom knows every second of every day how much you appreciate her—how much you've relied on her over the years, from the time she was hauling you around in the backseat of the family Subaru to the day before yesterday, when she texted you a video of the family pup because she knew it'd brighten your afternoon—is your number-one priority as a son or daughter. That's where a good gift comes in, whether the occasion is a birthday, an anniversary, or early prep for Christmas. Maybe it's a sentimental tribute to the family she's built. Maybe it's a cool gadget to keep up with her busy life. Maybe all that matters is that it comes from her favorite kid (you, obviously). Whatever the case, it'll be here on our list of 50 great gift ideas for all moms. Read More           I'm Not Going to Be Comfortable Until Joe Biden's Hand Comes Off the Bible   Because I do not believe that everything that's bad crazy in American conservatism, writes Charles P. Pierce, and in the Republican Party into which it injected its prion disease decades ago, began on Election Night, 2016, I can remind people that the Republicans floated this notion in 2000, if things in Florida had turned sour on George W. Bush. There even was talk that Florida would send two slates of electors to Washington and let the House of Representatives sort it out, which would have left us with C-Plus Augustus anyway, but at least would have been marginally inbounds as regards the Constitution. That this ratfcking subtropical gorgon has revived the notion is merely Florida's Ron DiSantis' picking up a notion that has become common strategy among defeated Republican candidates, which he detailed on Laura Ingraham's Fox News program. Here, Pierce breaks down how Not Conceding is now in vogue among those Republican candidates who lost the other day. Read More         Read More on Esquire.com       Follow Us     Unsubscribe  Privacy Notice   esquire.com ©2020 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019