The Atlantic

For years, President Donald Trump has bragged that he, and only he, could bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. “I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” he said repeatedly during his most recent presidential campaign. Once back in the White House, he told advisers to plan for … Trump Hands Putin Another VictoryRead more

“Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was shouting at Elon Musk in the halls of the West Wing last month, loud enough for Donald Trump to hear and in a language that he could certainly understand. Bessent and Musk were fighting over which of … Musk Is Becoming the Latest Government Employee to Lose His JobRead more

For a moment, Donald Trump finally seemed to be on the verge of real economic populism. The president announced last week that his administration would be instituting a “most favored nation” policy that would peg drug costs in the United States to the much lower prices paid in … Trump’s Plan to Cap Drug Prices Doesn’t ExistRead more

The Trump administration has acknowledged a new error in a case challenging its attempts to send deportees to any country that will take them. Another immigrant who had earned protected status was rushed out of the country and put in danger—and U.S. officials have offered little more than … The Rushed, Blundering Effort to Send Deportees to Third CountriesRead more

Several top members of the Trump administration have been evading constraints on their lawless actions by playing a clever game of feigned ignorance as to the plain requirements of the Constitution and a series of adverse court rulings. Then there’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose ignorance appears … Kristi Noem Is Dangerously IgnorantRead more

Washington is abuzz these days, The Atlantic has learned. I love it when Washington is abuzz. Let’s jump right in. Why the buzzing? Because apparently, Joe Biden is still really old. Older than he was last summer, when Washington was even more abuzz about the 46th president being … The Story About Biden Getting Old Is Getting OldRead more

Midway through President Joe Biden’s four-day trip to Ireland in April 2023, Representative Mike Quigley of Illinois realized whom the president reminded him of and why. The proudly Irish president was in great spirits, energized by the crowds. In Ballina, he delivered a speech to one of the … The Congressman Who Saw the Truth About BidenRead more

In February 1965, three months after Barry Goldwater had been trounced by Lyndon B. Johnson in the presidential election, one of the Republican candidate’s most forceful advocates, William F. Buckley Jr., had an important event on his calendar. Taking a break from his annual ski vacation in Switzerland … When William F. Buckley Jr. Met James BaldwinRead more

Pollsters seemed to finally get it right in 2024. After years of bad misses, they said the presidential election would be close, and it was. In fact, the industry did not solve its problems last year. In 2016, pollsters famously underestimated Donald Trump by about 3.2 points on … Polling Was Quietly Still Bad in 2024Read more

J. D. Vance poses a problem, and at its core is a question about character. In the years after the 2016 election, he transformed himself from a center-right memoirist and public speaker, offering a complex analysis of America’s social ills and a sharp critique of Donald Trump, into a right-wing … The Talented Mr. VanceRead more

Manvir Singh’s new Shamanism: The Timeless Religion ranges widely, introducing us to all sorts of shamans and neo-shamans and proto-shamans. We meet the cigarette-loving tribal healers among the Mentawai people of Indonesia, whom Singh, an anthropologist, has studied since 2014. We meet the psychiatry and medicine professor at … The Enduring Appeal of the ShamanRead more

The opening act of Donald Trump’s second term was defined by the theatrical dismantling of much of the federal government by Elon Musk and his group of tech-savvy demolitionists. Everywhere you looked in those first 100 days, it seemed, Musk’s prestidigitation was on display. Look there—it’s Elon in … The Visionary of Trump 2.0Read more

As Air Force One glided into Doha today, it was easy to imagine President Donald Trump having a case of jet envy. Hamad International Airport, in Qatar’s capital, is sometimes home to the $400 million “palace in the sky,” a luxury liner that Trump is eyeing. Qatar’s royal … The MAGA-World Rift Over Trump’s Qatari JetRead more

Steve Witkoff emptied his backpack on the conference table in his second-floor office, in the West Wing. He wanted to show me a pager given to him by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials of the Mossad. The pager commemorates the intricate operation in which Israel … The ‘Amateur Diplomat’Read more

A generation ago, the Republican Party’s preferred symbol of government-funded indolence was the “welfare queen,” a quasi-mythical figure who collected checks to sit at home watching television. Today’s GOP has fixated on an even stranger target: unemployed adults who take advantage of the taxpayer by collecting free … … A Medicaid Cut in DisguiseRead more

When the welcome ceremony was over, and the Trump officials drove off in their black SUVs, a dozen or so newly arrived South African refugees stepped out into the parking lot of a private terminal at Washington Dulles International Airport yesterday afternoon, still carrying little paper flags they’d … America Is the Land of Opportunity—For White South AfricansRead more

The long-running television show Cops became a propaganda boon to American law enforcement soon after its debut in 1989. The morality of the show is not complicated: The heroes are guys in uniforms braving danger to restore order. They face off against shirtless, drunken louts yelling in the … The Terrible Optics of ICE Enforcement Are Fueling a Trump Immigration BacklashRead more

When President Donald Trump launched his trade war on the world, he issued a stern warning: “Do not retaliate and you will be rewarded.” China ignored the warning. It was rewarded anyway. This morning, Trump largely suspended his trade war in return for nothing but promises of ongoing … China Called Trump’s BluffRead more

Earlier this year, Gary Peters made a decision that’s utterly ordinary for most 66-year-olds: He was going to retire. Except Peters happens to be a United States senator, so his announcement that he would not seek a third term next year came as a shock. “Oh, but you’re … The Democrats Waging War on Their GerontocracyRead more

Donald Trump has been widely ridiculed for staffing his administration with unqualified partisan hacks recruited from Fox News. This is not quite fair. Yesterday, Trump named Jeanine Pirro as Washington, D.C.’s new interim U.S. attorney. Pirro is a partisan hack recruited from Fox News, but she’s a qualified … Jeanine Pirro’s Qualifications Are Not the ProblemRead more

Surely, you remember The Orb. It’s been nearly a decade, but the image from Riyadh still prompts fascination, mystery, and a general feeling of Just what was that anyway? The glowing orb radiated from the center of a darkened room lined with computer screens. A trio of world … The Déjà Vu of Trump 2.0’s First Foreign TripRead more

Remember the days after President Joe Biden’s barely-coherent debate performance, when Democratic dead-enders insisted that nothing was the matter? That was embarrassing. But apparently it wasn’t so embarrassing that everybody took away the correct lesson, because something similar is now happening between Senator John Fetterman and a coterie … The Hypocrisy of Fetterman’s DefendersRead more

Nothing about Carl Hiaasen’s outward appearance suggests eccentricity. I’ve seen him described as having the air of “an amiable dentist” or “a pleasant jeweler” or “a patrician country lawyer.” He is soft-spoken, courteous, and plainly dressed. The mischief is mostly detectable in his eyes, which he’ll widen to … We’re All Living in a Carl Hiaasen NovelRead more

In November, when Donald Trump first announced his plan to place Elon Musk in charge of a new Department of Government Efficiency, the idea was widely written off as a joke. Then Trump took office, and DOGE began its very real stampede through the government. As an effort … DOGE Is Still a JokeRead more

On Sunday, Donald Trump went on TV and told Americans that their children should make do with less. “They don’t need to have 30 dolls; they can have three,” the president said on Meet the Press. “They don’t need to have 250 pencils; they can have five.” Critics … Trump’s Inevitable Betrayal of His SupportersRead more

When judges act as partisan hacks, it is important to condemn their conduct. Last month, four Republican Justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court blessed the anti-democratic attempt by fellow Republican judge Jefferson Griffin to subvert the outcome of the November 2024 election for a seat on that … America Needs More Judges Like Judge MyersRead more

Of the innumerable insults directed at Donald Trump and his supporters, the one that seems to get under their skin the most is “woke right.” The epithet describes the Trump movement’s tendency to counter left-wing illiberalism with a mirror-image replica. “The woke right,” my colleague Thomas Chatterton Williams … The Godfather of the Woke RightRead more

Photographs by Elliot Ross Just after 8 o’clock one spring morning, 2,000 feet below the rim of the Grand Canyon, Nate Chamberlain, wearing chaps and cowboy boots, emerged from the post office in Supai, Arizona, with the last of the morning mail. He tucked a Priority Mail envelope … How the Most Remote Community in America Gets Its MailRead more

The intensely hostile letter that Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent to the leadership of Harvard yesterday has a lot going on. But the most notable thing about it is what it leaves out. To hear McMahon tell it, Harvard is a university on the verge of ruin. (I … Trump Finally Drops the Anti-Semitism PretextRead more

President Donald Trump’s promised cultural renaissance will begin with misery—specifically, Les Misérables. Trump plans to attend a showing of the musical at the Kennedy Center next month and host a private fundraising reception beforehand, marking the first performance he will attend at the center as president and his … Trump’s Kennedy Center Debut: Les Mis and Six-Figure ChecksRead more