America’s Cities Are Finally Growing Again—but There’s a Big Catch
Doomers thought cities would collapse post-pandemic. The numbers tell a much different story.
Today's Liberal News
The New MAGA World Order
Updated at 2:50 p.m. ET on May 16, 2025
Earlier this week in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump delivered what the White House billed as a “major address,” which is a long-standing way to signal that a particular speech is meant to lay down a historical marker communicating the president’s values. Or, in this case, the lack thereof. Trump’s message was that, unlike interventionist Americans of the past, he did not take account of democracy or human rights when dealing with foreign states.
The Birthright-Citizenship Case Isn’t Really About Birthright Citizenship
Yesterday, during an oral argument spanning nearly two and a half hours, the Supreme Court justices grilled the newly installed Solicitor General D. John Sauer over the Trump administration’s request that it be allowed to enforce a flagrantly unconstitutional executive order ending birthright citizenship. Sauer repeatedly refused to say how the case could be swiftly resolved.
Photos of the Week: Harness Race, Obelisk Vista, Cheerleading Businessmen
Vadim Ghirda / AP
Bismarck the sphynx closes its eyes while being examined by a judge during an international feline beauty competition in Bucharest, Romania, on May 10, 2025.Robert Nickelsberg / Getty
A subway passenger reads messages on his phone in front of a mural of the artist William Wegman’s famous Weimaraner at the 23rd Street MTA station on May 9, 2025, in New York City.
The GOP War on Medicaid: 14 Million Could Lose Healthcare to Fund Tax Breaks for Rich
House Republicans have successfully pushed forward President Trump’s budget proposals to slash Medicaid and food stamps, putting millions of low-income Americans at risk. Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, a healthcare consumer advocacy organization, says the $715 billion reduction is “literally the biggest cut to the Medicaid program in history.
“They Want to Silence Me”: Columbia Student Mohsen Mahdawi on ICE Jail, Palestine, Activism, Buddhism
In his first live interview since his release from ICE detention, Columbia University student and Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi recounts the traumatic experience of his arrest and incarceration. Mahdawi, a green card holder who was born and raised in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, was arrested in Vermont on April 14 when he appeared for what he was told would be a citizenship interview, and spent more than two weeks in U.S.
Universal Tariffs Go from Bonkers to Blanket
The UK has struck a deal with the US to avoid bigger tariffs but keeps the 10% blanket tariff in place.
One New York Times Opinion Column Soared Above the Rest in Getting the Trump Era Wrong. It Just Died.
It had been around since Trump’s first term. Maybe the paper finally had enough.
You Can Still Get on a Plane Without a Real ID
There’s a simple reason why this deadline never sticks.
American Cities Are Experiencing Something We Haven’t Seen Since the 1960s
“If you’re under 55, this is probably the safest moment you’ve ever lived in.
Why the 1 senator who can rein in RFK Jr. isn’t calling him out
Bill Cassidy, the senator who secured Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promise to protect vaccines, will question the health secretary at a hearing Wednesday.
Trump admin cancels layoffs for some health workers ahead of Kennedy hearing
The move reinstates some employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — which lost more than 90 percent of its workforce.
This Republican has long wanted to overhaul Medicaid. Now he has to sell members on a compromise
The Energy and Commerce Committee chair is about to be put to the test.
Wellness CEO files ethics complaint against top RFK Jr. adviser
An internal MAHA battle is breaking out between an HHS employee who co-founded a health care payments company and a CEO of a rival company.
Is Aziz Ansari Sorry?
The Waves also discusses the Riverside Church controversy and the case of Sarah Milov.
Your Opinions on Her Wardrobe Are Probably Unwelcome
What we say matters, especially depending on whom we say it to.
What Role Does HR Play in the #MeToo Era?
The Waves also discusses the case against Jeffrey Epstein and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
Trump’s chaotic economy is causing headaches for Democrats in New Jersey’s governor race
The crowded contest in the Garden State shows how hard it is to address pocketbook issues.
Warren Buffett shocks shareholders by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the year
Earlier, Buffett warned Saturday about the dire global consequences of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
‘Anything can happen’: Trump doesn’t seem fazed by recession worries
Trump has blamed shaky economic numbers on his predecessor.
Democrats look to Trump’s poor economic numbers with anxious optimism
Following its latest round of focus groups, Navigator Research is urging Democrats to proactively push their own economic policies.
Warning signs for Trump as pessimistic outlook on the economy grows among Americans
Trump’s winning issue is becoming one of his biggest liabilities as multiple polls this week reveal growing disapproval numbers on the economy.
Salvadoran Journalists Exposed Pres. Bukele’s Ties to Gangs. Then They Had to Flee to Avoid Arrest
We speak with a Salvadoran journalist who fled El Salvador along with others from the acclaimed news outlet El Faro after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele threatened to arrest them for exposing how Bukele had made secret deals with Salvadoran gangs. Bukele has run the country under a so-called state of exception since 2022, detaining nearly 80,000 people accused of being in gangs, largely without access to due process.
The Mad Dual-Hatter
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.
Unemployment rates are near historical lows, and finding good help is hard. Perhaps that’s why Donald Trump keeps turning to the same group of officials to fill multiple positions.
Todd Blanche is the deputy attorney general, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department—a big and important job.
‘We’re Definitely Going to Build a Bunker Before We Release AGI’
In the summer of 2023, Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder and the chief scientist of OpenAI, was meeting with a group of new researchers at the company. By all traditional metrics, Sutskever should have felt invincible: He was the brain behind the large language models that helped build ChatGPT, then the fastest-growing app in history; his company’s valuation had skyrocketed; and OpenAI was the unrivaled leader of the industry believed to power the future of Silicon Valley.
What Should You Let Your Kids Read?
This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here.
The Darker Design Behind Trump’s $400 Million Plane
Donald Trump wants everyone to know that under no circumstances will he give up his special new plane. “Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country,” the president wrote on Truth Social just before 3 a.m. local time yesterday in Saudi Arabia, insisting that the luxury jet given to him by Qatar would serve as a “temporary” Air Force One.