Today's Liberal News
Trump’s spending freeze spreads chaos across US
Supporters of climate, infrastructure, mortgage, tech, health, veterans’ and other projects expressed alarm as tens of thousands of programs appeared possibly at risk.
Lael Brainard’s ‘Crisis Management Agency’ — and Her Warning For Trump
Joe Biden’s top economic adviser opens up on harrowing moments from her time in the White House, and what makes her nervous about the Trump agenda.
Stephen Miran is Trump’s pick to lead Council of Economic Advisers
Miran has called for a sweeping overhaul of the Fed to ensure greater political control over the central bank, including giving the president the power to fire board members at will.
The Key to a Stronger Economy? It’s Housing, Stupid.
American families can’t afford a street fight when it comes to housing reform.
Seven Great Reads
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.
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.
Saturday Night Live Played the Wrong Greatest-Hits Reel
Fifty years is a long time. But you wouldn’t necessarily know that from large portions of SNL50: The Anniversary Special, the much-hyped celebration of the long-running sketch show that aired in prime time last night. SNL50 was meant to commemorate the program, created and executive-produced by Lorne Michaels, for achieving five decades of cultural relevance.
Congo, Jazz & the CIA: Oscar-Nominated “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” Revisits Lumumba Assassination
The Oscar-nominated documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat recounts the events leading up to Black American jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach’s 1961 protest at the United Nations of the CIA-backed killing of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. The first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lumumba was an icon of the Pan-African and anti-colonial movements.
Rebels Take 2nd Major City in Eastern DRC Amid Fight to Control Congo’s Vast Mineral Wealth
Rebels from the Rwandan-backed M23 group have taken a second major city in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which borders Rwanda. Congolese analyst Kambale Musavuli reports on the violence, emphasizing its connection to the DRC’s mineral resources, which are key to the development of high-tech goods. “This battle is coming out of a context: the control of Congo’s vast mineral wealth,” says Musavuli.
Patients “Abandoned”: Trump Order to Halt Global Medical Trials “Profoundly Unethical,” Says Dr. Faden
We speak to bioethicist Ruth Faden about the Trump administration’s abrupt shutdown of USAID-funded clinical trials, ending access to critical healthcare and putting patients at serious risk. “We’re in a situation in which we’re going to leave people abandoned. And that’s utterly ethically unacceptable,” says Faden.
Trump vs. Public Health: Funding Cuts Gut CDC’s Disease Detectors, Medical Research & More
Staff layoffs. Slashed budgets. Canceled conferences. We take a look at the effects of the Trump administration’s defunding of health and science research with science reporter Angus Chen. Chen, who reports on cancer research, says cuts to the National Institutes of Health are creating a “really serious chilling effect on the scientific community,” and warns that “the loss of research in the U.S. would not just be a loss to American patients, but to people all around the world.
How the Woke Right Replaced the Woke Left
One of the defining features of the social-justice orthodoxy that swept through American culture between roughly the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 to Hamas’s assault on Israel in 2023 was the policing of language. Many advocates became obsessed with enforcing syntactical etiquette and banishing certain words.
“Wokeness,” as it’s known, introduced the asymmetrical capitalization of the letter b in Black but not the w in white.
The Coming Democratic Baby Bust
Donald Trump’s first term saw a great deal of political polarization. Right- and left-leaning Americans disagreed about environmental regulation and immigration. They disagreed about vaccines and reproductive rights. And they disagreed about whether or not to have children: As Republicans started having more babies under Trump, the birth rate among Democrats fell dramatically.
Influencers Taught Us How to Overconsume. Can They Also Help Us Break the Habit?
No matter how good their intentions, creators are still able to make money off of telling people to spend less.
Americans Are Actually in a Position to Make Elon Musk Feel Our Rage
His car company is in a precarious spot.
Trump Has Promised to Lower Prices. It Will be Impossible Without Private Equity Reform.
You can’t promise lower prices while backing away from regulations.
The Most Controversial Super Bowl Ad Was Also One of the Worst. The Best One Nobody Saw Coming.
Even Patrick Mahomes couldn’t outflop these ads.
Abortion access to restart in Missouri, clinics say, following state court ruling
The court blocked a restriction that had prevented clinics from operating. But the fight over abortion is far from over.
Trump officials defend HHS cuts as more methodical than the slashing at other agencies
The administration’s Friday night message comes as a sharp departure from the approach that Trump and DOGE have taken to cuts in other federal departments and agencies.
Democratic AGs win second court ruling against Trump’s order on gender-affirming care
“If the Order stands, transgender children will die,” the AGs warned in their lawsuit.
Louisiana to end mass vaccine promotion, state’s top health official says
The department will still “stock and provide vaccines,” according to a department memo.
Do It for Gilda
Before John Belushi, before Bill Murray or Chevy Chase or Dan Aykroyd—before any of them, there was Gilda.
Gilda Radner was the first performer Lorne Michaels hired for the cast of Saturday Night Live when it launched, in 1975. She was, at the time, one of the stars of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, the only woman in a cast of men destined to be famous. “I knew that she could do almost anything, and that she was enormously likeable,” Michaels once said of the decision. “So I started with her.
Trump’s Loyalties
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.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk continued their efforts to slash and overhaul the federal government this week.
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.
