The Atlantic

Sign up for Trump’s Return, a newsletter featuring coverage of the second Trump presidency. Imagine you were an elected official who discovered that an old friend had been running a sex-trafficking operation without your knowledge. You’d probably try very hard to make your innocence in the matter clear. … Trump’s Epstein Denials Are Ever So Slightly UnconvincingRead more

For months, no Republican in either the House or the Senate spoke out more forcefully, or more consistently, against cutting Medicaid than Josh Hawley. As President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” was weaving its way through Congress, Hawley argued repeatedly that stripping health insurance from the poorest Americans … Why Josh Hawley Is Trying to Reverse Medicaid Cuts He Voted ForRead more

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. In the upper ranks of the Border Patrol, 20 officials have the title of sector chief. Gregory Bovino is the only one holding a gun in his social-media profile photo. Most … The Hype Man of Trump’s Mass DeportationsRead more

Donald Trump has been bullying Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell—calling him “too late,” insulting his intelligence, and trying to gin up a case that Powell spent too much on renovations of the agency’s headquarters as a pretext for firing him. The New York Times recently observed that the … What Trump’s Feud With Jerome Powell Is Really AboutRead more

Three weeks ago, Donald Trump attended the opening of an immigrant-detention center in the Florida Everglades, about 50 miles west of Miami. “Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet,” the president said. Officially named Alligator Alcatraz, … ‘We Voted for Retribution’Read more

Can the city of New York sell groceries more cheaply than the private sector? The mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani thinks so. He wants to start five city-owned stores that will be “focused on keeping prices low” rather than making a profit—what he calls a “public option” for groceries. … The Choice Between Cheap Groceries and Everything ElseRead more

As the questions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s life and death—questions that Donald Trump once helped whip up—tornadoed into their bajillionth news cycle, the president’s team began to privately debate ways to calm the furor: appoint a special counsel to investigate. Call on the courts to unseal documents related to … Inside Trump’s Unsuccessful Attempt to End the Epstein NewsRead more

In January 2020, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock—the world’s largest asset-management firm—released his annual letter to corporate executives. The letters had become something of a tradition: part investor missive, part State of the Union, dispatched each year from the top of the financial world. This one struck … How the Right Is Waging War on Climate-Conscious InvestingRead more

The email landed at 10 minutes to midnight on a Friday in early April—a more menacing email than Alan Garber had imagined. The Harvard president had been warned that something was coming. His university had drawn the unwanted and sustained attention of the White House, and he’d spent … Can This Man Save Harvard?Read more

President Donald Trump’s “golden age of America” has no need for migrant labor. Picking crops? There are 34 million able-bodied American adults on Medicaid who can do that grueling work. Building homes? Native-born Americans will handle those jobs. Meat processing? The country has no use for foreign laborers … Trump to Foreign Air Traffic Controllers: You’re HiredRead more

The Supreme Court is allowing Donald Trump to dismantle the Department of Education. But it won’t say why. Yesterday—almost exactly a week after the Court lifted a lower court’s block on Trump’s plans to fire thousands of federal employees—a majority of the justices decided to give the president … Dismantling the Department of Education, Without Saying WhyRead more

President Donald Trump is finally taking the fight to Vladimir Putin. Sort of. For now. Trump’s deference to Russia’s authoritarian leader has been one of the most enduring geopolitical subplots of the past decade. But his frustration with Putin has grown. Last week, the president said the United … Why Trump Suddenly Sounds Tougher on RussiaRead more

Donald Trump’s ham-fisted reversal on his promise to release a secret list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, and the revolt it has sparked among the MAGA faithful, has pulled off something long considered impossible by virtually everybody, including Trump himself: He has finally underestimated his followers’ intelligence. The president … Trump’s Brainwashing Powers Are FiniteRead more

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s April visit to the White House was, by all accounts, a success. She soothed President Donald Trump with dulcet talk of “Western nationalism,” eased through a potentially awkward moment regarding Ukraine, and invited Trump to visit Rome—extracting a promise that he would come … Flattery, Firmness, and FlourishesRead more

Ideally, this interview would have been over breakfast at a diner in Omaha, and the local congressman, Don Bacon, would have ordered his namesake. He says he eats bacon two or three times a week when he’s in Nebraska; he likes it extra crispy and, if possible, prepared … Another Moderate Republican Opts OutRead more

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. ICE occupies an exalted place in President Donald Trump’s hierarchy of law enforcement. He praises the bravery and fortitude of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers—“the toughest people you’ll ever meet,” he … Trump Loves ICE. Its Workforce Has Never Been So Miserable.Read more

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts Dean Spears does not want to alarm you. The co-author of After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People argues that alarmist words such as crisis or urgent will just detract from the … Should You Be Having More Babies?Read more

The White House has seen its share of shady deals. Ulysses S. Grant’s brother-in-law used his family ties to engineer an insider-trading scheme that tanked the gold market. Warren Harding’s secretary of the interior secretly leased land to oil barons, who paid a fortune for his troubles. To … America Has Never Seen Corruption Like ThisRead more

The One Big Beautiful Bill is law. Now what? Not quite six months into his new term, President Donald Trump has fulfilled many of his campaign promises. He has cut taxes, launched trade wars, frustrated longtime international allies, cracked down on border crossings, and slashed the federal government. … What the Next Phase of Trump’s Presidency Will Look LikeRead more

Joseph Kurihara watched the furniture pile higher and higher on the streets of Terminal Island. Tables and chairs, mattresses and bed frames, refrigerators and radio consoles had been dragged into alleyways and arranged in haphazard stacks. It was February 25, 1942, two and a half months after the … He Spent His Life Trying to Prove That He Was a Loyal U.S. Citizen. It Wasn’t Enough.Read more

Updated at 6:01 p.m. ET on July 8, 2025 The moment was quickly overshadowed by other events—first an airline disaster in India, then the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran—but it was nevertheless noteworthy. On June 11, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of … Trump’s New Favorite GeneralRead more

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. In the summer of 2014, I was leading a company of Green Berets—from the 5th Special Forces Group—in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province. President Barack Obama had recently promised an end of combat … What Pete Hegseth Doesn’t Understand About SoldiersRead more

An emphatic advocate of Palestinian rights has won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor by 12 points—a shocking margin that he owes, in part, to the support of an outspoken Zionist. The partnership between Zohran Mamdani and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander doesn’t just showcase … Zohran Mamdani’s Lesson for the LeftRead more

The Trump administration’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” will reduce Medicaid spending by about $800 billion over the next decade by kicking some 8 million Americans off the program’s rolls. That is, if you listen to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the hospital industry, or the basic intuition that any … The Man Who Thinks Medicaid Cuts Won’t Cut MedicaidRead more

You would be forgiven for not knowing which lesson, exactly, Americans ought to take from the bloody morning of September 13, 1859. On that day, in the mouth of a clearing by Lake Merced, in the hills of San Francisco, two men decided to settle an argument the … American BloodshedRead more

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts Read Jeffrey Goldberg’s related article about Ken Casey. There are more and less reckless ways for a musician to meddle in politics. The safer ways are to drop an endorsement in an interview (Taylor Swift … The Patriotic PunkRead more

To hear Tucker Carlson tell it, an American attack on Iran wasn’t just likely to precipitate World War III. It would do something worse: destroy Donald Trump’s presidency. “A strike on the Iranian nuclear sites will almost certainly result in thousands of American deaths at bases throughout the … Trump World’s Wizard of Oz ProblemRead more

Of all the elements of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, perhaps none is as obviously self-defeating as getting rid of tax credits for clean energy. That decision will not simply set back the fight against climate change. Congressional Republicans could also be setting America up for the … The Most Perverse Part of the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’Read more

The so-called moderate Republicans promised they would not slash Medicaid. Conservatives vowed not to explode the national debt. Party leaders insisted that they would not lump a jumble of unrelated policies into a single enormous piece of legislation and rush that bill through Congress before any reasonable person … No One Loves the Bill (Almost) Every Republican Voted ForRead more

Of all the titans of social media, Google CEO Sundar Pichai tried to keep the groveling to a minimum after Donald Trump won last year. He did not, like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, go on podcasts to praise the benefits of “masculine energy” or hire the new president’s … Trump Targets Google After Meta and X PayoutsRead more