David A. Graham

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When Charlie Kirk was assassinated last September, many of his allies on the right memorialized him as a hero of free speech and the founder of an enduring political movement. Critics on the left tended to emphasize his long history of offensive remarks and dismiss him as little more than a troll.

By the time he retired from the Marine Corps, in 1931, Major General Smedley Butler had served in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, the Philippines, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and China. It was the golden age of American imperialism, and Butler was one of its golden boys, among the most decorated fighters in U.S. history.
But over time, Butler began to have doubts about what he was doing. “I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service,” he wrote in 1935.

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As corporate names go, Flock is cleverly flexible. It evokes the many cameras that compose the company’s surveillance system and also a group of sheep, protected by a watchful shepherd.

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Desensitization is one of Donald Trump’s most powerful tools: Through repetition, he acclimates Americans to troubling and dangerous ideas. Occasionally, though, his statements and actions are so outrageous that they can still provide a shock.

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Dolly Parton transcended.
It almost didn’t matter what: class, gender, region, musical genre, partisanship. She transcended boundaries in all of them.

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One of the few issues that unites voters and politicians of both parties right now is data centers. Three-quarters of Americans would oppose a data center being built near where they live, according to a new poll released last week by Heatmap Pro and Embold Research.

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One of Donald Trump’s current favorite riffs is to contrast how (in his opinion) the United States was seen under his predecessor, Joe Biden, and how it’s seen now.
“They didn’t respect us two years ago. They laughed at us. NATO laughed at us.

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For many observers of American politics, the past few years have been disillusioning, knocking down hopeful beliefs about what the people of the United States will support or tolerate. Even some of Donald Trump’s backers have become disaffected.

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A memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, reached in June and intended to provide breathing room to end the conflict between the two countries, expired today.

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If at first you don’t succeed, appeal to a higher federal court. And if you even lose at the Supreme Court … just try again anyway.
This seems to be President Trump’s approach to limiting birthright citizenship.

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This morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson finally broke his silence on the scandal engulfing Representative Max Miller of Ohio. Well, sort of—Johnson didn’t have much to say.
“I haven’t spoken to Max about this in the last few days. Of course, I will,” he told Politico.

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Fundamental realignments in the way Americans vote are rare, but predictions that they have occurred are not. Nearly as soon as Donald Trump was declared the winner of the presidential race in November 2024, people started saying the election represented a new era.

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In a court filing earlier this month, a government lawyer did something radical: He laid out the truth in plain English.

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Last week, the Pentagon quietly lowered the death toll of the war with Iran from 18 to 14. This wasn’t happy news about an initial miscount but a sketchy accounting trick.

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Everyone should be as lucky in their adversaries as Jon Ossoff. On Wednesday, President Trump held a rally in Marietta, Georgia, where he attacked the Democratic senator—or rather, he tried.
“Jon Ossoff, he’s terrible,” Trump said. “He reminds me of Pinky Herman.

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When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in September 2024, it left behind it a trail of death and destruction—and a huge number of legal headaches.

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When J. D. Vance announced the title of his new book, some bookworms noticed a curious convergence. The vice president’s first book is Hillbilly Elegy, a title that closely parallels Appalachian Elegy, a poetry collection by the radical Black feminist author bell hooks.

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You could, if you were so inclined, tell a story of the Donald Trump era via memes. Pepe the Frog, “This Is Fine” Dog, “Covfefe,” Leopards Eating People’s Faces—things of that nature.

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On Wednesday, Todd Blanche will head to Capitol Hill for hearings on his nomination to be U.S. attorney general.

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In recent years, ABC’s daytime talk show The View has become an essential stop for top-level politicians. Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, J. D. Vance, and Hillary Clinton are among the many to have visited.

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This evening, the U.S. Men’s National Team will take on Belgium in a World Cup Round of 16 match in Seattle. Much to U.S.A. fans’ relief, and to Belgians’ chagrin, the team will have the services of the striker Folarin Balogun.
The star player was sent off during last week’s U.S.A.

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Two-hundred years ago, on July 4, 1826, the United States celebrated its 50th birthday. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died. And another enduring voice was born: the songwriter Stephen Foster.
The timing is fitting, for Foster is a quintessentially American figure.

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No sooner had the Supreme Court issued its opinion in a big campaign-finance case yesterday than my inbox began filling up with nongovernmental organizations and Democratic leaders decrying the ruling.
In the case, National Republican Senatorial Committee v.

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Back in 2016, before he converted to the MAGA cause, J. D. Vance was deeply wary of Donald Trump. He wrote to a law-school classmate that he went “back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.

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Last July, a group of activists staged what they called a “noise demonstration” at ICE’s Prairieland Detention Facility, near Dallas. They shot off fireworks, damaged a surveillance camera, and vandalized government vehicles.

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In an interview with The New York Times early this year, Donald Trump was asked, “Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?” “Yeah, there is one thing,” he said. “My own morality. My own mind.

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President Trump spent the weekend trying to calm the waters in Washington and roil them in the Persian Gulf.
Let’s begin with the less serious of these two self-inflicted crises.

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Photos of air travel in decades past can cause almost visceral pain for a modern flier. Faded or sepia images show sharply dressed people eating real food in spacious seats.

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No event at the Kennedy Center in recent months has drawn as much anticipation in Washington as the removal of President Trump’s name from the building’s facade.

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For some time, the Biden family standings were clear. Hunter, the ne’er-do-well son, resided in the basement. Joe, occasionally buffoonish but a successful and durable politician, sat in the middle.