Israel’s Impossible Dilemma
The IDF can hand Hamas either a pyrrhic victory or a real one
In Special Issue, The Atlantic Warns of the Consequences If Trump Wins a Second Term
Featuring two dozen Atlantic writers on how a second term could shatter norms with the courts,...
Ron DeSantis Does Not Seem to Be Enjoying Himself
On Saturday, the Republican primary challenger checked off the last of all 99 counties in Iowa....
The Supreme Court Takes On Yet Another Made-Up Controversy
The issue teed up in Moore v. United States may be so intellectually stimulating that nobody...
A Warning
America survived the first Trump term, though not without sustaining serious damage. A second term, if...
The Danger Ahead
If Donald Trump returns to the White House, he’d bring a better understanding of the system’s...
Is Journalism Ready?
The press has repeatedly fallen into Donald Trump’s traps. A second term could render it irrelevant.
Four More Years of Unchecked Misogyny
In a second Trump term, women would once again be targets.
The Specter of Family Separation
Donald Trump and his allies have promised to restore their draconian zero-tolerance immigration policy.
Loyalists, Lapdogs, and Cronies
In a second Trump term, there would be no adults in the room.
How Trump Gets Away With It
If reelected, he could use the powers of the presidency to evade justice and punish his...
Trump Will Abandon NATO
If reelected, he would end our commitment to the European alliance, reshaping the international order and...
Wasting time could be the best way to use it.
In a culture obsessed with productivity, what would it mean to commit to letting it go?
What Happens When a Poor State Guts Its Public University
Do West Virginia kids of modest means deserve the humanities?
The Most Dangerous Conflict No One Is Talking About
Of all the world’s hot spots, the South China Sea is one of the least remarked...
We’ve Never Seen Beyoncé Like This Before
The Renaissance concert movie is joyful but jumbled—and less about the star than about her audience.
Let’s Never Do This to Edith Wharton Again
The writer’s deeply emotional architecture is made dully explicit in a new adaptation of The Buccaneers.
What the Act of Crying Can Offer
“I think about tears as a doorway: an invitation to be fully human and to connect...
Giving Birth in Gaza
“Are they feeling scared inside me?” an expectant mother asks herself.
The Fall of Sports Illustrated
A recent AI controversy is just the latest example of its decline.
What Happens When the U.S. Overestimates Its Power
American leaders keep overestimating their control over events in the Middle East, Ukraine, and around the...
Sandra Day O’Connor, the Mom Next Door—And So Much More
We were neighbors when I was growing up in Phoenix, Arizona. She was always the adult...
The Curtain Falls on George Santos
I spoke with my colleague Russell Berman about the expulsion of the New York representative, and...
2023 Space-Telescope Advent Calendar
Every day until Monday, December 25, this page will present a new, incredible image of our...
Expelling George Santos Was a Mistake
Forcing the New York representative out of the House after a conviction would have been justified;...
George Santos Was Finally Too Much for Republicans
The New York representative’s brief congressional career was finished by a decisive vote to expel him....
Ron DeSantis Debates His Grievances
For Gavin Newsom, the TV exposure had a clear logic. But for the Florida governor, all...
She Made the Pop Album of the Year. But Is She a Pop Star?
The 29-year-old singer-songwriter Amaarae is trying to bring wide-screen ambition back in the TikTok age.
“May December” Exposes the Art of Self-Deception
Todd Haynes’s film is a beautiful, terrible nesting doll of a story with a uniquely twisted...
Inflation Is Your Fault
If people are so mad about high prices, why do they keep buying so many expensive...
What Kissinger Didn’t Understand
His blindness to human suffering was, in the end, both a moral failure and a strategic...
Ammon Bundy Has Disappeared
An anti-government extremist seemed on the verge of another standoff with the law. Then he vanished.
The Dual Threat of Donald Trump
Bad things happen when political candidates fear personal consequences of an electoral loss.
Hypnosis Could Work Wonders on IBS
As far-fetched as it may seem, research suggests that hypnotherapy can help patients find relief from...
Putin’s Deal With Wife Killers
The most violent criminals get a Kremlin pardon if they agree to fight in Ukraine.
Beware Populist Politicians Who Threaten to Kill
A country that once peacefully ousted a dictator chose a murderous autocrat as its leader.
A Breakthrough in Gene Editing
A new CRISPR therapy is transforming the lives of sickle-cell patients. What could this mean for...
Why Won’t OpenAI Say What the Q* Algorithm Is?
Supposed AI breakthroughs are frequently veiled in secrecy, hindering scientific consensus.
Hydrogen Is Just Another Hole for Natural Gas to Fill
One of Joe Biden’s big climate bets follows an old familiar logic.
C. J. Rice’s Conviction Is Overturned
After a cover story in The Atlantic, a man convicted of a crime he insists he...
The Latest Victims of the Free-Speech Crisis
The recent censoring of speech on campus is part of a trend that began long before...
Your Friends Don’t All Have to Be the Same Age
When the young and the old befriend one another, everyone can benefit. So why doesn’t it...
Substack Has a Nazi Problem
The newsletter platform’s lax content moderation creates an opening for white nationalists eager to get their...
Why the Fifth Circuit Keeps Making Such Outlandish Decisions
The court is leaning into its reputation as a welcoming home for right-wing litigation.
Trump Wants to Create a National University?
Earlier this month, the former president released a plan for the “American Academy,” and nobody knows...
Quiet Competence Could Cost Joe Biden the Election
Americans may claim to want less drama, but they’re addicted to it.
Photos: The Growth of Solar Power Stations
Images of new utility-scale solar-power installations around the world