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.
On this summer Sunday, spend time with stories about how the Ivy League broke America, parenting with friends, and more.
How the Ivy League Broke America
The meritocracy isn’t working. We need something new.
He’s right that there’s a problem. He’s wrong about what causes and fixes it.
Are the feds really sending in the troops because of “Big Balls”?
It started with a cheese pull.
If you’re seeking the profound, here’s the best way to travel nationally and internationally
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement is taking off in red — and blue — states, even as health experts condemn some of his actions.
A well-connected drug company and Laura Loomer wanted Kennedy ally Vinay Prasad gone. Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles got his job back.
Brian Blase has pushed the GOP to make deeper cuts to the safety-net health program.
The ruling overturned a district judge’s injunction that had directed the administration to restore the flow of the grants.
Agency Director Susan Monarez tried to soothe staff at a Tuesday meeting, but some employees said the all-hands call was lacking.
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.
Bill Beach said the president’s suggestions that the jobs report was rigged betrayed a misunderstanding in how those numbers are assembled.
The monthly jobs report showed just 73,000 jobs in July, with big reductions to May’s and June’s numbers
As U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska for a high-stakes summit to discuss a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, we host a debate between two foreign policy thinkers about the war, its causes and how it could be brought to a conclusion.
John Mearsheimer is an international relations theorist at the University of Chicago, known for his realist perspective. He has long argued that Western policies are the main cause of the Ukraine crisis.
President Trump says his takeover of policing in Washington, D.C., will serve as an example of policies he hopes to enact in other major U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. All the cities on his target list are led by Black mayors, and most have “sanctuary” policies limiting local cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was recently sentenced to 12 years of house arrest after he was found guilty of bribing imprisoned members of paramilitary groups to coax them into retracting damaging testimony exposing Uribe’s ties to U.S.-backed, right-wing paramilitary groups. Uribe was a staunch U.S.
As President Trump threatens to use U.S. special forces against drug cartels abroad, a new book, The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, reveals some of the most secretive and elite special forces in the Army are heavily involved in narcotrafficking themselves.
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.
In 2024, Russell Shaw made the case for the Lighthouse Parent. “A Lighthouse Parent stands as a steady, reliable guide,” Shaw writes, “providing safety and clarity without controlling every aspect of their child’s journey.
President Donald Trump berated President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. He allowed the Pentagon twice to halt prearranged military shipments to Ukraine. He promised that when the current tranche of armaments runs out, there will be no more. He has cut or threatened to cut the U.S. funds that previously supported independent Russian-language media and opposition.
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.
Donald Trump traveled to Alaska yesterday to meet with Vladimir Putin. In the brief remarks that followed the summit, Trump acknowledged that he and the Russian president had not reached a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
When news broke this week that Sherrod Brown would run next year to reclaim a Senate seat in Ohio, Democrats cheered the reports as a huge coup. Before losing a reelection bid last year, Brown had been the last Democrat to win statewide office in a state that has veered sharply to the right over the past decade. His entry instantly transforms the Ohio race from a distant dream to a plausible pickup opportunity for the party.
On the subway a few weeks back, I noticed an ad for a “buy now, pay later” service from Cash App. It read: “Little payments are so much cuter.” This ad wasn’t made for men, I thought.
“Buy now, pay later” is promoted as interest-free borrowing, which many people, frightened by the idea of going into debt, see as safer. But miss a payment, and the late fees kick in—$8 here, $6 there. Miss payments on a few different orders, and the fees add up fast.
Wealthy crypto holders are being targeted for their digital funds with IRL violence.
He’s right that there’s a problem. He’s wrong about what causes and fixes it.
Are the feds really sending in the troops because of “Big Balls”?
It started with a cheese pull.
