McKay Coppins


McKay Coppins is an American journalist and author who is a staff writer for The Atlantic. In 2012, Coppins was one of the Forbes magazine's "30 under 30" media pundits and listed along with three other young BuzzFeed News journalists as one of Politicos "ten breakout reporters of 2012." He is a regular contributor to CNN and MSNBC.
Coppins grew up in Holliston, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brigham Young University where he was editor of BYU's student newspaper, The Daily Universe.

Career

Coppins began his career at Newsweek and broke the story that Jon Huntsman Jr. would resign his ambassadorship and run for President.
Coppins joined BuzzFeed to cover the 2012 presidential race, becoming an important source on Governor Mitt Romney's Latter-day Saint faith. In the run-up to the 2016 presidential primaries, Coppins became embroiled in a public Twitter feud with Republican candidate Donald Trump after writing articles suggesting that Trump was running a "fake" campaign. In November 2016, he announced he was leaving BuzzFeed to join The Atlantic as a staff writer.
In 2015, Coppins published The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party's Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House. Walter Russell Mead favorably reviewed the book in Foreign Affairs, writing that it was "idely sourced and compellingly written." He has an acrimonious relationship with President Donald Trump after he called his presidential aspirations a "sham"; Trump in response called him a "dishonest slob".

Personal life

Coppins is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has written about his faith. Coppins served a full-time mission for the LDS Church and is married with three children.