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Introducing: Galaxy Brain Podcast
The Atlantic is launching a new weekly show hosted by our staff writer Charlie Warzel, who is paying attention to where we pay attention.
Strike First, Explain Never
What is Trump up to with Venezuela?
Would U.S. Generals Obey Illegal Trump Orders?
Tom Nichols on Trump, the military, and what happens when loyalty replaces law. Plus: the Trump administration’s “politicized stupidity” and a discussion of Eugène Ionesco’s play Rhinoceros.
This Movie Makes Nuclear War Feel Disturbingly Possible
An interview with the A House of Dynamite screenwriter Noah Oppenheim and Tom Nichols
The Triumphs and Tragedies of the American Revolution
Ken Burns joins David Frum to discuss how his new documentary captures both the triumphs and the tragedies of the nation’s founding. Plus: Donald Trump’s TikTok giveaway and Benjamin Nathans’s To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause.
If the Voting Rights Act Falls
The Supreme Court appears ready to hobble the landmark civil-rights law. What does that mean for Black voters, democracy, and control of Congress?
When Conservatism Meant Freedom
The biographer Charles Moore on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, the soul of conservatism, and what today’s right has forgotten. Plus: David Frum on the current government shutdown and Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday.
Saudi Arabia Gets the Last Laugh
The Riyadh Comedy Festival is just one part of a much bigger plan.
Bring Back High-Stakes School Testing
Former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings on testing, accountability, and how to reverse the decade-long decline in U.S. student achievement. Plus: David Frum on Donald Trump’s cult of sycophancy.
The Justice Department Won’t Break Easily
The president wants his enemies prosecuted. How far can he go?
The Rise of Technofascists
Sam Harris on Silicon Valley’s turn toward authoritarian politics and the collapse of the information commons. Plus: Donald Trump’s politicization of prosecutions and Robert Proctor’s The Nazi War on Cancer.
The Fraught Role of the Military in a Weakening Democracy
Bill McRaven on why we need military leaders who speak truth to power
Testing Teachers for ‘Wokeness’
A vision of public schools by conservatives, for conservatives. The second episode in a two-part series.
Why Assassinations Shaped the 1960s and Haunt Us Again
Geoffrey Kabaservice on political violence and assassinations in the 1960s. Plus: Is Trump making a massive political miscalculation?
A Warning for Those Ready to Capitulate to Trump
A former U.S. ambassador to Russia says powerful Russians were too eager to go along with Vladimir Putin.
‘2026 Is the Battlefield’
A conversation with Anne Applebaum and Garry Kasparov about authoritarian forces in America
American Politics Is Due for a Realignment
Bret Stephens tells us why we need to listen to the Trump voter.
David Letterman on the Threats to Late-Night Hosts
Is Oklahoma Breaking Public Schools?
“Woke”-teacher screenings. Trying to get Bibles in schools. A two-part series on how one state is remaking American education.
The Preventable Return of Deadly Diseases
The historian Kyle Harper on the history of plagues, the rise of anti-vaccination politics, and why measles is back in America