NY Times hires WSJ’s Bender

New York Times political editor David Halbfinger sent out the following on Tuesday:

Folks,

I’m thrilled to announce that Michael C. Bender, a terrific journalist who chronicled the Trump administration and the 2016 and 2020 campaigns for The Wall Street Journal, will be bringing his talents to The Times as a political correspondent covering the former president and the right-wing movement he spawned.

The Trump and Trumpism beat, as we are calling Mike’s new role, exists at the intersection of classic political reporting — on candidates, issues and elections — and coverage of the special challenges presently confronting American democracy. I can think of no one better prepared to tackle this assignment in both of its dimensions.

Our own Maggie Haberman calls Mike a “fierce competitor,” which is high praise indeed. She added: “I’m excited to watch him continue on that path at The Times with our team.”

In more than 1,100 articles about Trump and his supporters over the years, and in his buzzy best seller, “‘Frankly, We Did Win This Election’: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost,” Mike has broken news as big as Greenland and as small as Sean Spicer’s mini-fridge. He showed how the push for a border wall was doomed by mismanagement; how Trump’s rallies weren’t just a key campaign tactic, they more or less were his campaign; and how Trumpism is transforming Republican politics at every level. His work has been honored with the 2019 Gerald R. Ford Foundation prize for reporting on the presidency and the National Press Club’s 2020 Lee Walczak Award for Political Analysis.

Mike worked at newspapers in Ohio, Colorado and Florida before going national, first with Bloomberg in 2012 and then with The Journal in 2016.

Please welcome him aboard.

–Dave