C M Y K Yxxx,2021-01-17,A,001,Bs-4C,E1

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,941 © 2021 The New York Times Company SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2021

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A popular cave complex at a temple inThailand is drawing scientists research-ing the coronavirus’s origins. PAGE 8

INTERNATIONAL 8-12

Seeking Clues in the Bat Cave

As a tech era draws to an end, moreworkers and companies in San Fran-cisco are packing up for more afford-able cities. What comes next? PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

Leaving the Bay Area BehindResearchers routinely recorded thevirus’s genetic sequences, giving them atool for tracking mutations. PAGE 4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK 4-7

Variant’s Discovery in U.K.The first female, Black and Indian-American vice president brings along aspouse, stepchildren and “aunties” whomay change what voters see as politi-cally palatable in the future. PAGE 14

NATIONAL 14-22

A Barrier-Breaking Family, Too

Q signs, dinosaurs, orange hats, Pun-isher skulls and Hawaiian shirts: un-derstanding the far-right symbols dis-played by those who stormed the Capi-tol. Visual Investigation. PAGE 19

Decoding the Mob

Michelle Goldberg PAGE 3

SUNDAY REVIEW Democracy advocates see the BauhiniaParty as a “Trojan horse” for the Chi-nese government. PAGE 11

Hong Kong’s Bold, New Party

Not sure what to do with yet anothernight at home? You could soak up theculture of one of eight places around theworld with a virtual visit. PAGE 6

AT HOME

Armchair Travel, No Passport

One month off from drinking can be anopportunity for the sober curious toexamine their alcohol use. PAGE 4

Trying Out Dry January

N.F.L. titles can be won and lost whenplayers’ competitive fire kicks in andthey exhibit faster-than-normal speedto make a catch or a tackle. PAGE 28

SPORTS

Trying to Measure Heart

The day after New Year’s Day,John Reichert of Boulder, Colo.,had a heated argument with his14-year-old son, James. “I’vefailed you as a father,” he told theboy despairingly.

During the long months of lock-downs and shuttered schools, Mr.Reichert, like many parents, over-looked the vastly increasing timethat his son was spending on vid-eo games and social media. Now,James, who used to focus his free

time on mountain biking and play-ing basketball, devotes nearly allof his leisure hours — about 40 aweek — to Xbox and his phone.During their argument, hepleaded with his father not to re-strict access, calling his phone“his whole life.”

“That was the tipping point. Hiswhole life?” said Mr. Reichert, atechnical administrator in the lo-cal sheriff’s office. “I’m not losingmy son to this.”

Nearly a year into the coronavi-rus pandemic, parents across thecountry — and the world — are

watching their children slidedown an increasingly slipperypath into an all-consuming digitallife. When the outbreak hit, manyparents relaxed restrictions onscreens as a stopgap way to keepfrustrated, restless children en-tertained and engaged. But, often,remaining limits have vaporizedas computers, tablets and phonesbecame the centerpiece of schooland social life, and weeks of stay-at-home rules bled into nearly ayear.

The situation is alarming par-

Parents Fret as Screen Time Stretches to MonthsBy MATT RICHTEL

James Reichert, 14, with his parents, John and Cathleen, spends most of his leisure time on his Xbox.STEPHEN SPERANZA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

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As President Trump preparesto leave office with his party in dis-array, Republican leaders includ-ing Senator Mitch McConnell aremaneuvering to thwart his grip onthe G.O.P. in future elections,while forces aligned with Mr.Trump are looking to punish Re-publican lawmakers and gover-nors who have broken with him.

The bitter infighting under-scores the deep divisions Mr.Trump has created in the G.O.P.and all but ensures that the nextcampaign will represent a pivotaltest of the party’s direction, with aseries of clashes looming in themonths ahead.

The friction is already escalat-ing in several key swing states inthe aftermath of Mr. Trump’s in-citement of the mob that attackedthe Capitol on Jan. 6. They includeArizona, where Trump-aligned ac-tivists are seeking to censure theRepublican governor they deeminsufficiently loyal to the presi-dent, and Georgia, where a hard-right faction wants to defeat thecurrent governor in a primaryelection.

In Washington, Republicans areparticularly concerned about ahandful of extreme-right Housemembers who could run for Sen-ate in swing states, potentiallytarnishing the party in some of themost politically important areasof the country. Mr. McConnell’s po-litical lieutenants envision a large-scale campaign to block such can-didates from winning primaries incrucial states.

But Mr. Trump’s political cohortappears no less determined, andhis allies in the states have beenlaying the groundwork to take onRepublican officials who voted to

AS TRUMP FALLS,A PARTY BRACES

FOR PITCHFORKS

BITTER G.O.P. INFIGHTING

President’s Allies Look toPunish Those Who

Broke Ranks

By ALEXANDER BURNSand JONATHAN MARTIN

Continued on Page 17

Keith Lee, an Air Force veteranand former police detective, spentthe morning of Jan. 6 casing theentrances to the Capitol.

In online videos, the 41-year-oldTexan pointed out the flimsinessof the fencing. He cheered the ar-rival, long before PresidentTrump’s rally at the other end ofthe mall, of far-right militiamenencircling the building. Then,armed with a bullhorn, Mr. Leecalled out for the mob to rush in,

until his voice echoed from thedome of the Rotunda.

Yet even in the heat of the event,Mr. Lee paused for some im-promptu fund-raising. “If youcouldn’t make the trip, give five to10 bucks,” he told his viewers,seeking donations for the legalcosts of two jailed “patriots,” aleader of the far-right Proud Boysand an ally who had clashed withthe police during an armed incur-sion at Oregon’s statehouse.

Much is still unknown about theplanning and financing of thestorming of the Capitol, aiming tochallenge Mr. Trump’s electoraldefeat. What is clear is that it was

driven, in part, by a largely ad hocnetwork of low-budget agitators,including far-right militants,Christian conservatives and ar-dent adherents of the QAnon con-spiracy theory. Mr. Lee is all three.And the sheer breadth of themovement he joined suggests itmay be far more difficult to con-front than a single organization.

In the months leading up to the

riot, Mr. Lee had helped organize aseries of pro-Trump car caravansaround the country, including onethat temporarily blockaded a Bi-den campaign bus in Texas andanother that briefly shut down aHudson River bridge in the NewYork City suburbs. To help pay fordozens of caravans to meet at theJan. 6 rally, he had teamed up withan online fund-raiser in Tampa,Fla., who secured money fromsmall donors and claimed to passout tens of thousands of dollars.

Theirs was one of many grass-roots efforts to bring Trump sup-porters to the Capitol, often amid

Before Capitol Riot, Thousands Made Small Donations OnlineThis article is by David D. Kirk-

patrick, Mike McIntire and Christi-aan Triebert.

Costs of Travel, Foodand ‘Equipment’

Secret Service officers on Friday checked the steps of the Capitol, where Trump backers rioted and where Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be sworn in as president Wednesday.CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

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Four years of hard-core branding anddesigner trolling are ending. PAGE 1

SUNDAY STYLES

The Trumps’ Image Legacy

A historian of fascism on Trump, themob and what comes next. PAGE 30

THE MAGAZINE

The American Abyss

SAN FRANCISCO — JackDorsey, Twitter’s chief executive,was working remotely on a pri-vate island in French Polynesiafrequented by celebrities escap-ing the paparazzi when a phonecall interrupted him on Jan. 6.

On the line was Vijaya Gadde,Twitter’s top lawyer and safety ex-pert, with an update from the realworld. She said she and othercompany executives had decidedto lock President Trump’s ac-count, temporarily, to prevent himfrom posting statements thatmight provoke more violence af-ter a mob stormed the U.S. Capitolthat day.

Mr. Dorsey was concernedabout the move, said two peoplewith knowledge of the call. Forfour years, he had resisted de-mands by liberals and others thatTwitter terminate Mr. Trump’s ac-count, arguing that the platformwas a place where world leaderscould speak, even if their viewswere heinous. But he had delegat-ed moderation decisions to Ms.Gadde, 46, and usually deferred toher — and he did so again.

Mr. Dorsey, 44, did not make hismisgivings public. The next day,he liked and shared several tweetsurging caution against a perma-

How TwitterCoaxed Its Boss

On Trump BanBy KATE CONGERand MIKE ISAAC

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WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., inher-iting a collection of crises unlikeany in generations, plans to openhis administration with dozens ofexecutive directives on top of ex-pansive legislative proposals in a10-day blitz meant to signal a turn-ing point for a nation reeling fromdisease, economic turmoil, racialstrife and now the aftermath of theassault on the Capitol.

Mr. Biden’s team has developeda raft of decrees that he can issueon his own authority after the in-auguration on Wednesday to be-gin reversing some of PresidentTrump’s most hotly disputed poli-cies. Advisers hope the flurry ofaction, without waiting for Con-gress, will establish a sense of mo-mentum for the new presidenteven as the Senate puts his prede-cessor on trial.

On his first day in office alone,Mr. Biden intends a flurry of exec-utive orders that will be partlysubstantive and partly symbolic.They include rescinding the travelban on several predominantlyMuslim countries, rejoining theParis climate change accord, ex-tending pandemic-related limitson evictions and student loan pay-ments, issuing a mask mandatefor federal property and interstatetravel and ordering agencies tofigure out how to reunite childrenseparated from families aftercrossing the border, according to amemo circulated on Saturday byRon Klain, his incoming WhiteHouse chief of staff, and obtainedby The New York Times.

The blueprint of executive ac-tion comes after Mr. Biden an-nounced that he will push Con-gress to pass a $1.9 trillion pack-age of economic stimulus and pan-demic relief, signaling awillingness to be aggressive onpolicy issues and confronting Re-publicans from the start to taketheir lead from him.

He also plans to send sweepingimmigration legislation on hisfirst day in office providing a path-way to citizenship for 11 millionpeople in the country illegally.

Biden Sets Up10-Day SprintOn Big Issues

By MICHAEL D. SHEARand PETER BAKER

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Overthrowing the government.Igniting a second Civil War. Ban-ishing racial minorities, immi-grants and Jews. Or simply sow-ing chaos in the streets.

The ragged camps of far-rightgroups and white nationalists em-boldened under President Trumphave long nursed an overlappinglist of hatreds and goals. But nowthey have been galvanized by theoutgoing president’s false claimsthat the election was stolen fromhim — and by the violent attack onthe nation’s Capitol that hundredsof them led in his name.

“The politicians who have lied,betrayed and sold out the Ameri-can people for decades wereforced to cower in fear and scatterlike rats,” one group, known forpushing the worst anti-Semitictropes, commented on Twitter theday after the attack.

The Capitol riot served as apropaganda coup for the far right,and those who track hate groupssay the attack is likely to join anextremist lexicon with Waco,Ruby Ridge and the Bundy occu-pation of an Oregon wildlife pre-serve in fueling recruitment andviolence for years to come.

Even as dozens of rioters have

Assault SpawnsNew Rally CryFor Extremists

This article is by Neil MacFar-quhar, Jack Healy, Mike Baker andSerge F. Kovaleski.

Continued on Page 18

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Considerable cloudiness. Snowshowers for most. Seasonably cool.Highs in the upper 20s to the middle30s. A few lingering flurries thisevening. Weather map, Page 20.

National Edition