For more than 60 years, vaccination in the United States has been largely shaped by an obscure committee tasked with advising the federal government. In almost every case, the nation’s leaders have accepted in full the group’s advice on who should get vaccines and when. Experts I asked could recall only two exceptions.
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Ever since Donald Trump emerged as a credible threat to return to the White House, the guardrails that seemed to restrain him in his first term—political, legal, psychic—have collapsed with astonishing speed. His nominees are sailing through their confirmation hearings, including some who are underqualified and ideologically extreme.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is telling senators considering his nomination to lead the government’s health agencies he merely wants transparency about vaccines.
Well before Donald Trump took office, the country was pivoting to a more punitive approach to homelessness.
The Trump administration has begun its crackdown on immigrant communities in the United States, with the Department of Homeland Security announcing Tuesday it will allow federal agents to conduct raids at schools, houses of worship and hospitals, ending a yearslong policy that banned Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting people at these sensitive locations.
Many Silicon Valley companies and their billionaire owners have formed “a symbiotic relationship” with Donald Trump, showering the president and his administration with money and adulation in exchange for friendly policies, according to researcher Becca Lewis.
President Donald Trump’s return to the White House comes almost exactly 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Citizens United ruling, which opened the floodgates for corporations and billionaires to pour unlimited money into elections. At Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the front row included several of the world’s richest and most powerful men, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai.
The Trump administration is facing four lawsuits over the formation of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a new government advisory committee headed by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. One of these lawsuits is being brought by the watchdog organization Public Citizen, which says DOGE fails to comply with laws on the composition and reporting duties of such bodies.
On Tuesday, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde gave the sermon at the inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington. Directly addressing President Trump in the front row, she urged him to “have mercy” on immigrants and LGBTQ people targeted by his policies. We play an excerpt from her sermon.
Biden warned of a looming American oligarchy but has that ship already sailed?
Stock trades move fast. The government moves slower.
The flames may be dying out, but for many people in L.A. the burn is only just beginning.
Because “Let’s grab a drink” is about more than the alcohol.
The global health body stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in funding
The move has no immediate legal force but will likely spark lawsuits that advocates hope will restore abortion rights.
Foreign Affairs Relations Chair Jim Risch said money from the AIDS relief program paid for abortions.
The transition team hired trusted conservatives to key HHS positions.
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.
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.
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.
Five weeks after the election, the president took his sharpest swing at Trump’s policy plans.
A pair of POLITICO|Morning Consult polls, one conducted in the final days of the election and the other conducted after Trump won, show how public opinion has changed.
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For weeks, Donald Trump has been exerting influence on events in the Middle East. After winning the 2024 election, he dispatched his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region to help the Biden administration get the Israel-Hamas cease-fire and hostage-release deal over the finish line.
Long before Donald Trump rewarded Tulsi Gabbard’s loyalty with a nomination to be the next director of national intelligence, before her friendliness with Tucker Carlson, and before her association with the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, she was loyal to another charismatic leader. A man who remains mostly unknown outside Hawaii but is reputed to have a powerful hold over his followers.
In the hours after Donald Trump returned to power, Jacob Chansley, already in a celebrating mood, became exuberant. Chansley, who is also known as the QAnon Shaman, a nickname he earned for the horned costume he wore during the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, did what any red-blooded MAGA American might have done in his situation. “I GOT A PARDON BABY!” Chansley posted on X last night.
Editor’s Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you? Are you beset by existential worries? Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers’ questions. Tell him about your lifelong or in-the-moment problems at dearjames@theatlantic.com.
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