Today's Liberal News

Israel’s War & Demands “Could Throw Lebanon Back into a Civil War”: Ex-Israeli Negotiator Daniel Levy

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades on Tuesday in Washington. Hezbollah, which was not a party to the talks, made clear it will not abide by any agreement that results from their negotiations.
Israel’s demand that Hezbollah be disarmed is “anything but reasonable,” says Daniel Levy, former Israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin.

Automatic Draft Registration Would Expand U.S. Surveillance State: Antiwar Activist

The federal government is preparing to begin automatically registering eligible U.S. men ages 18 to 26 for the military draft pool. The U.S. hasn’t had a military draft since 1973, but it still maintains a registry of eligible men in case the draft is restored. New rules around automatic military draft registration were tucked into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

Trump Fires Judges Who Blocked Deportations of Student Activists Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi

The Trump administration has fired six more immigration judges in its effort to reshape immigration policy and the immigration courts. Two of the fired judges, Roopal Patel and Nina Froes, had each dismissed high-profile cases brought by the government against international students who had advocated for Palestinian rights, Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi. Around 100 immigration judges have been fired by the Trump administration. Firings in previous administrations were rare.

Trump’s Logic for Blockading the Blockaders

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.
Over the past seven days, Donald Trump has adopted two contradictory positions on the Strait of Hormuz. A week ago, he wrote that a “whole civilization” would “die” if Iran didn’t make certain concessions—among them, allowing ships to resume their normal courses in and out of the Persian Gulf.

A Blasphemous President

Donald Trump’s recent outbursts at the pope—“WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he said in one of his Truth Social posts—have renewed questions from observers about the president’s cognitive fitness and his apparently limitless capacity for blasphemy. His attacks also echoed old-fashioned fears about the Vatican as an insidious rival to American power.

The Guitar Sounds New Again

Every now and then, music gets a guitar hero—a player who makes the instrument sound like something other than itself. Jeff Beck transformed it into something like the human voice singing; Jimi Hendrix, a psychedelic swirl. Fans are always looking for the next player who will make the same six-string instrument sound new again. And now Mk.gee has hit the scene.
A 29-year-old from New Jersey whose real name is Michael Gordon, Mk.gee released his debut album, Two Star & the Dream Police, in 2024.

SpaceX Is Basically a Huge Meme Stock

Elon Musk likes to do everything on a grand scale. When he takes SpaceX public in the coming months, it will likely be the biggest initial public offering in history. Although SpaceX’s recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing for the IPO was confidential, indications are that the conglomerate is looking for a valuation of $2 trillion. That would instantly make it the sixth-most-valuable U.S. company. By conventional standards, SpaceX isn’t worth anything close to $2 trillion.

Trump’s Latest Meltdown

Sign up for Inside the Trump Presidency, a newsletter featuring coverage of the second Trump term.
On many recent nights, Donald Trump has been posting obsessively on his Truth Social site into the wee hours. The president, of course, has never been one for a solid night’s sleep—or restrained and temperate commentary on social media—but his emotional state seems to be fraying: This weekend, he attacked Pope Leo XIV, presented himself as Jesus Christ, and then jabbed at his phone until dawn.

President vs. Pope: Trump Posts Pic of Self as Jesus, Pope Says Warmakers Have “Hands Full of Blood”

The first-ever pope from the United States is clashing with the White House. Pope Leo XIV, head of the Catholic Church, which counts more than a billion people in the world as its members, has spoken out forcefully against war. He said in his Palm Sunday address that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war … [whose] hands are full of blood.” In response, President Donald Trump said Pope Leo is “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy.

Exclusive: Former American & Iranian Negotiators on Ceasefire Talks & How War Could End

After the first round of ceasefire negotiations in Pakistan collapsed over the weekend, we speak to two former nuclear negotiators about prospects for ending the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, including what another nuclear deal might look like. Robert Malley, a U.S. negotiator for the 2015 nuclear deal (which President Trump withdrew from in his first term), says Trump’s “mercurial” behavior makes it difficult to predict his objectives and the course of any future talks.