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.
President Trump has begun traveling to red states in a bid to generate voter enthusiasm ahead of the midterms.
One of humanity’s most remarkable cultural achievements is the division of explanatory labor. When my daughter came down with a fever, I solved the problem by consulting a pediatrician, who shared a likely diagnosis of the flu. Unlike the doctor, I wasn’t able to tell my daughter much about the mechanism by which the flu leads to fever, or exactly why it was so important for her to keep drinking fluids. But the explanation I acquired—roughly “fever because flu”—was what was needed to treat her.
Earlier this year, one of my fishing partners sent a 1 a.m. message to our group chat. It was a link to an Instagram post of an angler holding a sizable striped bass. Dappled gold and silver with a dozen distinct black lines that stretched from gills to tail, it would have been a gorgeous fish if not for two problems: Striped bass usually have seven stripes, not 12, and men usually have five fingers, not six. The photo, it seemed, was AI-generated.
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.
Some coincidences feel a little too perfect to be random. You think about someone you haven’t spoken with in years, and they text you that afternoon. You run into an old friend while traveling in a city neither of you lives in.
New York Times investigative reporter Ellen Gabler on what can go wrong when investors stand to profit from a personal-injury lawsuit.
The cryptocurrency has become a sort of emotional tether for a specific type of lost boy. I went to Las Vegas to learn why.
Many voters fear artificial intelligence threatens their lives, but the health secretary stressed its potential benefits during a Make America Healthy Again Summit.
Deposed from his House seat by the tea party in 2014, the Virginia Republican has landed one of Washington’s most lucrative lobbying jobs.
The event Tuesday will bring together Trump Cabinet members, corporate executives and the former heavyweight champ.
He was speaking at a French shrine known for miraculous cures.
If they win in November, Democrats want to roll back Trump’s megabill, expand access to care, and win over the Make America Healthy Again movement.
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.
The Louisiana Republican’s comments come as both Democrats and Republicans have been forced to find ways to address the backlash against data centers.
The new Fed chair will have the spotlight at the central bank’s high-profile conference in Jackson Hole. He should use it.
Vice President JD Vance’s visit marked his second to Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in four months.
As we continue our coverage on the rise of right-wing political parties across Europe, we speak to Wiebke Judith from the German organization for asylum seekers’ rights, PRO ASYL, about Germany’s far-right party Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, and its recent wins in September’s state elections.
Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman is in Berlin, Germany, this week, where the crackdown on pro-Palestine speech is shaped by the German policy of Staatsräson, or “reason of state.” The concept refers to Germany’s commitment to the existence of the Israeli state in light of the Holocaust. Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023, Staatsräson has manifested itself as German military aid to Israel and heavy policing of Palestine activism inside Germany.
Personal finance expert Adam Auriemma on budgeting, renting versus buying, investments, financial advisors, and more!
Personal finance expert Adam Auriemma on budgeting, renting versus buying, investments, financial advisors, and more!
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.
If you want a snapshot of how the right has changed over the past decade, here’s one data point: MAGA activists think Sarah Huckabee Sanders is too woke now.
The Kennedy Center Honors was once one of the biggest nights in Washington, which may not be saying much in a city that’s more blue blazer than red carpet. Still, it was where D.C.’s buttoned-up power class got to mingle with Hollywood stars at an awards show that was broadcast to millions. Today the main building is closed and the organization has largely stopped presenting the arts. But once again this December, the Kennedy Center will put on a show.
For a few minutes on Wednesday night, the New York Film Festival crowd watched Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced ex-CEO and founder of the medical start-up Theranos, and her partner, Billy Evans, as they seemingly went about their lives at a San Diego beach house. Evans was on the phone, insisting that nobody really understood Holmes; she sat next to him, her expression vacant, and patted her baby on the back.
Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
The flood of reports about AI agents escaping and hacking websites can feel scary. But is this actually just a matter of needing better security to match the evolving technology? Zack Korman, the CEO of Embroidery, thinks so. He works in cybersecurity and argues that “rogue” AI agents are less frightening and complicated than they may seem.
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.
Some publishing trends so clearly reflect cultural changes that they are easy to explain: Few readers in 2026 are surprised by, say, a sudden crop of books about artificial intelligence, or a best-selling series of novels catering to young gamers. Other literary patterns are more mysterious. This week in The Atlantic, Julia M.
