President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday instructing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to start dismantling her agency, although it cannot be formally shut down without congressional approval. Since returning to office in January, Trump has already slashed the Education Department’s workforce in half and cut $600 million in grants.
In 1962, the CIA had a driver’s license made for one of its officers, James P. O’Connell. It gave him an alias: James Paul Olds. We know this because the document containing the information was released to the public in 2017—part of an effort to declassify information related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. But now, thanks to an executive order from President Donald Trump calling for the release of all the classified information pertaining to the incident, we know a bit more.
Editor’s Note: Washington Week With The Atlantic is a partnership between NewsHour Productions, WETA, and The Atlantic airing every Friday on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings, watch full episodes here, or listen to the weekly podcast here.
Fears of a possible constitutional crisis are on the rise following an apparent standoff between Donald Trump and a federal judge after the president was ordered to stop deportation flights traveling to El Salvador.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of Careless People, the new tell-all memoir by the former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams, is that a book chronicling the social network’s missteps and moral bankruptcy can still make news in 2025.
The tech giant—now named Meta—seems determined to make this happen itself.
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning
E-bikes can add a layer of richness to your life—especially if you name them. “On a chilly morning last October, my 8-year-old daughter and I took our new e-bike, which she had named Toby, on its maiden voyage to school,” Elizabeth Endicott writes.
Updated at 3:05 pm E.T. on March 22, 2025
Even as Donald Trump advertises his hard-line approach to border crossers, he is actively soliciting one particular group of immigrants: rich ones. In February, Trump proposed that America start offering a U.S. “gold card” for $5 million. “Green-card privileges, plus” is how the president described it: “It’s going to be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country,” he said.
Trump, Musk and the founder of Pirate’s Booty are testing what having authority really means.
As the fast fashion giant declares bankruptcy, we remember what it gave us.
Edward Fishman and Saleha Mohsin join to discuss how the US dollar became a global currency and what that means under Trump.
They look different, but they underscore the same anxieties.
The most successful Youtuber ever is selling his fame in the form of chocolatey treats.
Don’t wear leggings. Do keep your shoes on.
The Missouri Republican alone isn’t enough to block Oz’s nomination to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, even if Democrats join him.
Democratic state lawmakers are trying to bolster protections, but those efforts are imperiled by legal fights.
The cuts would seem to run counter to a first-term Trump priority.
At his confirmation hearing to run Medicaid, Oz brushed off Democrats’ concerns about cuts Republicans are planning.
The Waves also discusses the Riverside Church controversy and the case of Sarah Milov.
What we say matters, especially depending on whom we say it to.
The Waves also discusses the case against Jeffrey Epstein and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
He also said he isn’t worried about stock market turbulence, following the worst week in the market in two years.
The normally bullish Trump over the weekend declined to rule out the possibility of a full-blown recession as his tariff policies threaten to spark a massive global trade war.
“I hate to predict things like that,” Trump said when pressed about the possibility of a recession during a recorded interview that aired on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
Trump imposing new tariffs on top of broader policy uncertainty will mean a hit to growth. The question is how large of a hit it will ultimately be.
Lina Khan and her allies tried to remake antitrust law. Trump’s team is likely putting an end to that.
HHS tells CDC leaders it is “recommending termination” of the discretionary advisory committees.
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
Who will defend the federal government against itself? Donald Trump’s administration is waging an aggressive campaign against the executive branch as it has long existed.
For most of the past century, the United States’ track record on infectious disease has been quite good. Thanks to major investments in public health, diseases such as smallpox, polio, yellow fever, malaria, measles, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tuberculosis have either been obliterated or become vanishingly rare. America “led the charge,” Aniruddha Hazra, an infectious-disease physician at UChicago Medicine, told me.
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.
At a moment when just asking questions can feel synonymous with bad-faith arguments or conspiratorial thinking, one of the hardest things to hold on to might be an open mind.
