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.
The Supreme Court’s recent Louisiana v. Callais decision, effectively demolishing a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is a “five-alarm fire,” former Representative G. K. Butterfield Jr. told me this week.
You hear wild stuff all the time now. Like this story that Nat Friedman, a former CEO of GitHub, told recently at a conference. Friedman uses OpenClaw, an autonomous AI agent that runs on his computer, acting like a personal assistant. One day, his OpenClaw decided that he wasn’t drinking enough water, so Friedman instructed the agent to “do whatever it takes” to make sure he stays hydrated. According to Friedman, eventually the bot directed him to go to the kitchen and drink a bottle of water.
Donald Trump, probably by mistake, said something honest the other day.
Appearing on the White House lawn Tuesday afternoon, Trump was asked by a reporter to what extent Americans’ financial situation was motivating him to make a deal with Iran. “Not even a little bit,” Trump replied, before elaborating: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.
Editor’s Note: On Thursday, May 14, 2026, Jonathan Haidt—a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a social psychologist at New York University—delivered this commencement address at NYU. His selection prompted objections from a small group of student leaders. We are reproducing his speech in full, so that readers may judge it for themselves.
NYU began holding commencement ceremonies here in Yankee Stadium in 2009.
Clay Parikh, a cybersecurity expert from Alabama, spent years as a bit player in the world of election denial. He wasn’t a star with his own media platform, like the MyPillow guy. But he still gained a modest following by circulating conspiracy theories about President Trump’s 2020 defeat, including that poll workers gave Trump supporters—but not other voters—felt-tip markers to fill out their ballots, rendering them invalid and unreadable by voting machines.
We speak with the acclaimed artist and author Molly Crabapple about her new book, Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. Although largely forgotten today, the Jewish Labor Bund was once a powerful secular, socialist revolutionary party that fought for freedom and dignity for Jews in Europe.
U.S. President Donald Trump is in Beijing for a highly anticipated summit with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping. It is the first U.S. state visit to China since 2017, during Trump’s first administration. Trade, the Iran war, artificial intelligence and the fate of Taiwan are some of the issues being discussed, although it’s not clear if any new agreements are likely.
The Iran war and fuel prices are driving up airfare—but travelers are about to find out which costs may never come back down.
The abrupt collapse of the ultra-low-cost carrier ignited a big, misleading blame game in Washington.
Google’s parent company’s first-quarter earnings blew everyone out of the water. But it’s unclear if the huge increase in revenue will stay consistent.
The gastrointestinal surgeon’s tenure was marked by mass layoffs, persistent churn among senior leaders and policy fights.
The embattled FDA chief is still scheduled to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
The temporary punt gives the justices more time to figure out how to handle competing arguments from Louisiana, the Trump administration, and drugmakers.
Outward’s hosts sit down with the host and co-creator of When We All Get to Heaven.
The neighborhood changes, the church moves, people forget and remember “the AIDS years,” but AIDS isn’t over.
The AIDS cocktail opens new possibilities. And MCC San Francisco tries to use the experience of AIDS to make bigger social change.
The church’s minister gets sick and everyone knows it.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
“We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner,” Mark Carney said in a video address. “We can’t control the disruption coming from our neighbors.
“We were hearing, every day, the screams of other Palestinians who were being tortured inside this investigation center.”
Spanish citizen Saif Abukeshek, an activist of Palestinian origin, speaks with Democracy Now! about spending 10 days in Israeli detention after he was abducted in international waters.
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.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy owes his celebrity—and his marriage—to a stint on the 1990s reality show The Real World.
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz has repeatedly targeted the state over hospice care.
AFP / Getty
People watch as smoke billows from an oil-storage site in the Kani Qirzhala area on the outskirts of Erbil, in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, following a suspected drone strike, on April 1, 2026. Iraq has been drawn into the broader Middle East war that started with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Erbil is home to a major US consulate complex, and its airport houses military advisers attached to a U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition.
In 2014, Kristine and Matt, the parents of five young children, posted a 15-minute video on YouTube. “24 Hours With 5 Kids on a Rainy Day” was the first vlog to appear on their channel, Family Fun Pack. It splices together snippets of the utterly ordinary and frankly boring activities that make up a kid’s life: eating, getting dressed, playing, practicing piano, more playing, story time before bed.
The planet’s biggest sporting event, the World Cup final, will take place this summer in MetLife Stadium, which is presently known as New York New Jersey Stadium because FIFA has strict rules on corporate branding. The stadium—whatever you want to call it—is located in the marshlands of New Jersey, about nine miles from Midtown Manhattan. On the day of the final, as on the dates of seven other matches throughout the World Cup tournament, an estimated 80,000 fans will converge at its gates.
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In this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his reaction to recent reporting surrounding the Trump family’s “patriotic,” Trump-branded cellphones. David explains how this is yet another instance of the most powerful sowing doubt about the fairness of American business and destroying confidence in the ideals of American enterprise.
Trump says vaccines are off the agenda. Kennedy’s next moves may say otherwise.
Salah Sarsour, a prominent Palestinian immigrant, green card holder and president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, has been locked up in an ICE jail since late March. Despite his lawful permanent resident status, the government says he could be subject to deportation for failing to disclose a conviction by Israeli military authorities when he was a teenager in the occupied West Bank.
As the “supercharged” construction of new data centers to power artificial intelligence blankets the country, a growing resistance movement to these massive corporate projects amid a lack of public oversight is not far behind.
