Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education
It’s not just about cuts to research. It’s about power.
The Federal Government That Was
In his first full year back in office, Donald Trump presided over the destruction of America’s civil service, purging roughly 300,000 workers.
Why Trump Sides With Putin
Fiona Hill on Putin’s long game, Trump’s transactional foreign policy, and the danger of mistaking size and bluster for real power. Plus: Trump’s grocery-price fiction and V. S. Naipaul’s Among the Believers.
The Problem Is So Much Bigger Than Grok
The internet was built to objectify women.
How Crypto Is Used for Political Corruption
This new source of money is giving the administration unprecedented new powers.
Do ICE Officers Have ‘Immunity’?
States don’t often prosecute federal officers, but they can.
Trump Has Redefined Presidential Scandal
The historian Timothy Naftali on Donald Trump’s presidential library, comparing the many scandals of the Trump presidency to those of Richard Nixon’s, and Trump’s foreign policy of American weakness. Plus: a head-spinning week of terrifying crises, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
Can We Save the Internet?
Grok’s “digital undressing” crisis and a manifesto to build a better internet
Federal Agents Are Violating the Rights of Americans
ICE and the National Guard are acting with impunity.
‘Aren’t We Supposed to Be the Good Guys Here?’
Senator Mark Kelly says that taking Greenland “would probably be the biggest mistake any president has made in the history of this country.”
Trump Has No Plan for Venezuela
David Rothkopf on how the Trump administration’s contempt toward planning all but ensures a mess in Venezuela. Plus: Donald Trump’s predatory worldview and Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional.”
Is the U.S. Running Venezuela or Not?
Trump’s post-Maduro plans are murky.
How Is Trump Planning to ‘Run’ Venezuela?
What did the United States just do?
Six Months Off the Street
An update on Evan from our three-part series No Easy Fix
Facts vs. Clicks: How Algorithms Reward Extremism
Galaxy Brain’s Charlie Warzel joins David Frum to discuss how our online information became so untrustworthy and how we can fight back. Plus: Why America’s Founding Fathers would be appalled by Trump 250 years later, and Edward Berenson’s The Trial of Madame Caillaux.
How About a Little Less Screen Time for the Grown-Ups
It’s not just kids who can’t stop scrolling.
Netflix vs. Paramount
Whoever wins … we lose?
Why Has Comedy Become So Right-Wing?
The Atlantic’s Helen Lewis on the Riyadh Comedy Festival, why comedians are attracted to conspiracy theories, and the rise of the right-wing comedy-podcast industrial complex. Plus: the importance of NATO and David’s reflections on Edith Wharton’s Autres Temps.
What Is Actually in the Epstein Files?
The heavily redacted trove of documents is shocking, disorienting, and—most important—incomplete.
Prediction Markets and the ‘Suckerification’ Crisis, With Max Read
Everyone’s betting; nobody’s winning.