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.
Critics have used many phrases to describe Donald Trump’s presidency, some of them unprintable. Scholars and journalists have debated whether Trump’s approach is “authoritarian,” “white supremacist,” or “fascist.
The global economy has become dependent on the AI industry. Trillions of dollars are being invested into the technology and the infrastructure it relies on; in the final months of 2025, functionally all economic growth in the United States came from AI investments. This would be risky even in ideal conditions. And we are very far from ideal conditions.
This story was updated at 4:45 p.m. on March 26.
President Trump has been sounding desperate lately for an off-ramp from the war he started, emphasizing progress in negotiations that may or may not reflect reality and declaring that “this war has been won” despite ample evidence to the contrary. An Iranian missile attack on a major natural-gas facility in Qatar last week might help explain his turn-the-page posture.
Over 2,000 people packed into the historic Riverside Church in New York on Monday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Democracy Now! The acclaimed singer, songwriter and artist Michael Stipe performed his song “No Time for Love Like Now,” accompanied by musician and producer Aaron Dessner, a founding member of The National. Dessner has also closely collaborated with Taylor Swift, co-producing several of her albums.
United Nations expert Francesca Albanese’s latest report warns that Israel is systematically torturing Palestinians on a scale that “suggests collective vengeance and destructive intent” and that “torture has effectively become state policy” since October 2023.
Democracy Now! is joined by Ryan Schwank, an ICE whistleblower who has been speaking out about how the agency drastically slashed its training standards for new officers. Schwank worked as an ICE lawyer and legal instructor in Georgia until he resigned last month.
Schwank says he received secretive orders to teach ICE trainees to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant.
The U.S. is threatening to intensify its bombardment of Iran as the country’s leadership rejects a 15-point U.S. proposal to end the war. Iran has issued a number of demands, including recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Since the war began, Iran has largely blocked ships from passing through the critical strait, causing a global crisis as the prices of oil, natural gas and fertilizer soar.
The Alaska Republican senator is up for reelection and facing a barrage of critical ads.
TSA shortages, ICE agents in terminals, and security lines stretching for hours: You might want to consider booking a train instead.
HBO’s prestige TV luster seems to be taking a hit with the various mergers and rebrands.
It’s quietly reshaping Main Street medicine. Your wallet—and health—might suffer as a result.
Mitu Gulati explains how the pervasive use of boilerplate is creating a legal crisis.
He indicated that the FDA will soon take action on peptides, the mini-proteins biohackers tout as therapies for a range of ills.
The ruling in a lawsuit brought by a group of states deals another setback to the Trump administration in its efforts to restrict the treatments.
As a result of the ruling, HHS has postponed a planned meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices this week.
More states are giving tax breaks to businesses that help employees sign up for Obamacare using an authority Trump created.
Current grants run out on April 1.
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.
President Donald Trump has taken one risk after another that could have destabilized the American economy. Iran is the latest crisis to test U.S. economic resilience.
The president stopped in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old district to defend his economic record.
A brief swing through the farm state underscored administration fears about the midterms.
When I opened Sora this morning, I was met with a flood of strange and disturbing AI-generated videos. On OpenAI’s video app, I scrolled through fabricated scenes of the Iran war and a barrage of fake Donald Trumps blabbering about Jeffrey Epstein. In my least favorite clip, I watched a man deep-fry an infant. The app lets users create fairly realistic-looking AI-generated clips—including of their own likeness—and then post them on a TikTok-like feed.
Updated at 7:40 p.m. ET on March 25, 2026
Today, Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya said something that no other prominent health leader in the Trump administration has. “I think it is vital that every kid in this country get the measles vaccine. Absolutely vital,” he told CDC staff at a meeting this morning.
That declaration went further than Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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.
A popular joke in the 1850s concerned a man who, upon being convicted for the murder of his parents, throws himself at the judge’s feet and begs for mercy on a poor orphan.
Let today’s trivia be the best of times, and more “age of wisdom” than “age of foolishness.” Good luck!
And by the way, did you know that Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers—a novel released over the course of 1836 in serialized form—was so popular in England that it spawned theatrical performances, joke books, bootlegs, and Pickwick-branded canes, hats, soaps, and cigars?
As was written in The Atlantic in 2015, “‘Literature’ is not a big enough category for Pickwick.
