Ideas

Donald Trump
Nicole Combeau / Bloomberg / Getty

Trump’s Audacious Success

The president’s operation targeting Nicolás Maduro can advance U.S. interests—but it’s unclear whether it actually will.

A photo collage showing a mans ear listening to another man speak, and a woman's mouth open to speak
Ilustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Graphica Artis / Getty; Bridgeman Images.

The Last Days of the Southern Drawl

By the end of my life, there may be no one left who speaks like my father outside the hollers and the one-horse towns.

Illustration of a stack of books with an image of Donald Trump on the spines
Illustration by Ben Kothe / The Atlantic. Source: Rebecca Noble / Getty.

Trump Books Aren’t Selling Anymore

A decade into the Trump era, readers who were once hungry to learn about the man seem to have had their fill.

Cartoon illustration of a young man with a mohawk sprawled on a bed in a messy room, smoking a cigarette and reading a book
Illustration by Jackson Gibbs

Reading Is a Vice

Being a reader means cultivating a relationship with the world that, by most standards, can seem pointless and counterproductive.

The Trump-Kennedy Center
Celal Gunes / Anadolu / Getty

The Show Won’t Go On

President Trump’s threats against artists who decline to perform at the renamed Kennedy Center are ultimately hollow.