The Atlantic
A War Begun on Instinct
- Title
- A War Begun on Instinct
- Runtime
- 29:21
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- The president is trusting his gut, not Congress.
The Atlantic staff writer Missy Ryan covers national security and has spent years reporting on American wars in the Middle East. She helps sift through the changing explanations for why the administration says it took America to war with Iran.
And Senator Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, shares how she thinks Democrats can responsibly act as a check on Donald Trump now that the war has started.
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener (https://theatlantic.com/listener) .
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- Title
- The David Frum Show: How Rebuilding Iran Could Create Openings For America’s Adversaries
- Runtime
- 1:12
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- In the event of regime change in Iran, the U.S. could face the enormous costs of helping the country rebuild—which may create openings for America’s adversaries, Tom Nichols tells David Frum.
Listen here:
- Title
- The Big Story: The Iran War
- Runtime
- 47:01
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Atlantic staff writers Tom Nichols, Toluse Olorunnipa, and Nancy A. Youssef discuss the United States and Israel’s joint attack on Iran with staff writer Vivian Salama. They will cover the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Trump administration’s response, the complicated history of regime changes, and what comes next.
- Title
- Trump’s War With Iran and a New Danger at Home | The David Frum Show
- Runtime
- 51:52
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum discusses the recent shooting in Austin. David warns that the shooting is an example of how Trump could use the threat of terror from Iran to crack down on American freedoms.
Then David is joined by The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols to discuss the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran. David and Tom discuss Trump’s motives for launching another regime-change war and assess the competence of the administration to achieve its goals. They discuss the mistakes that were made in Iraq by the Bush administration and how, 23 years later, none of those lessons seems to have been learned. David and Tom wonder if the Trump administration has any plan for an end game in Iran, and discuss how not having one could lead to suffering among the Iranian people and turmoil in the region. Frum and Nichols observe that the United States has embarked on a costly state building project—but the questio...
- Title
- How the Iran Strikes Could Weaken Trump's Grip on His Base
- Runtime
- 1:30
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Donald Trump “promised to keep the American people out of wars in the Middle East”—now that the U.S. has attacked Iran, the president’s grip on his base is being questioned, Toluse Olorunnipa reports.
- Title
- Trump's Next Target for Regime Change
- Runtime
- 1:55
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- As U.S. and Israeli missiles fell on Iran this weekend, just weeks after Donald Trump ordered the capture of Venezuela’s president, Trump is already eyeing his next target, Vivian Salama reports:
📸: Getty
- Title
- Why the Iranian Opposition Might Fail to Seize on Khameini’s Fall
- Runtime
- 1:03
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- “I’m someone who is active in the Iranian opposition all my life. And I don’t see us having really got our act together” enough to face the Revolutionary Guard, contributing writer Arash Azizi tells Hanna Rosin.
Listen to the full conversation here:
- Title
- After Khamenei, What Now?
- Runtime
- 28:56
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- President Trump claimed victory after American strikes killed Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran who had terrorized his own citizens and people all over the world for decades. But what the fall of Khamenei means for the people of Iran going forward is not yet clear.
We talk to Arash Azizi, an Iranian writer and contributor to The Atlantic, about how Iranians view the strike and what the realistic options are for future leadership. And we talk to the staff writer Anne Applebaum about the broader implications of Trump’s style of foreign intervention.
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Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener (https://thea...
- Title
- Welcome to our live show!
- Runtime
- 0:00
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Thanks for joining our exclusive live broadcast. Feel free to share your questions and interact with other participants in the chat.
- Title
- Trump’s Enormous Gamble on Regime Change in Iran
- Runtime
- 1:25
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Donald Trump “has given several rationales for why he’s gone into Iran,” Tom Nichols argues, “but in the end he seems to have settled on regime change.”
“I’m sorry to say that the track record of regime change operations make the bad outcomes more probable than the good outcomes,” Nichols continues.
Read the story at the link.
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: http://bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
- Title
- Trump Has No Plan for The Iranian People by Anne Applebaum
- Runtime
- 1:44
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- The U.S. bombardment of Iran was launched without a real plan for the Iranian people, Anne Applebaum argues: “We don’t have any tools to communicate with the Iranians, and we don’t have any tools to help build a legitimate state” determined by them.
Read the full article here: https://theatln.tc/VKPdtojM
- Title
- What Can the Texas Primary Tell Us About Democrats?
- Runtime
- 14:52
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- This week, the Atlantic staff writer Elaine Godfrey was covering a campaign rally in Texas when she was ushered out. Elaine has been covering national politics for years, and has been turned away before—but that usually happens only at Trump rallies.This time, she was turned away by the staff of a Democrat running in the Texas Senate primary. The Atlantic’s Adam Harris talks with Godfrey about her experience and what to know about the Texas primaries.
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener (https://theatlantic.com/listener) .
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices (https://...
- Title
- America's Unclear Objectives in Iran
- Runtime
- 1:26
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- "There hasn’t been a clear articulation of what the U.S. wants to achieve” in Iran, Nancy Youssef tells Hanna Rosin. “And without that clear objective, it is harder for the military to make plans.”
Listen to the full episode of "Radio Atlantic":
- Title
- What Do the People Building AI Believe?
- Runtime
- 33:38
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Silicon Valley runs on hype cycles, and the AI boom is generating a new one—part gold rush, part ideology, and part quasi-religious devotion to building an alien intelligence.
On this week’s “Galaxy Brain,” Charlie Warzel explores the culture of this boom with the writer Jasmine Sun, who’s been chronicling San Francisco’s AI scene. Sun describes what this moment feels like on the ground, including a subculture of massive salaries, and a weird pride in leaning into tech’s strangeness. Together, Warzel and Sun unpack two major factions shaping the industry: the AI “doomers,” and the accelerationists. The conversation also traces Silicon Valley’s rightward drift—the “founder mode” backlash against regulation and employee activism and the rise of “Trump style” provocation-first tech marketing. Finally, Sun and Warzel address the jagged reality of today’s models, which are brilliant at some tasks and weak at others.
Subscribe to the ...
- Title
- How Trump Could Be Losing His Countercultural Base
- Runtime
- 1:18
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Donald Trump has thrived off of cynicism toward “resist libs”—but his administration so far is beginning to rehabilitate them in “the comedian/podcast world,” Tim Miller tells David Frum.
- Title
- Why Pick a Fight With Iran Now?
- Runtime
- 30:17
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- President Trump has given plenty of signals recently that he is prepared to take military action against Iran. The exact reasoning, however, is less obvious. The Atlantic staff writers Nancy Youssef and Tom Nichols explain what’s next for the United States and Iran, and how Pentagon officials might be planning for another conflict in the Middle East.
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Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener (https://theatlantic.com/listener) .
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices (https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices)
- Title
- The State of the Union Revealed a Sad Reality, by David Frum
- Runtime
- 1:59
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech appeared to be at odds with the lived experiences of everyday Americans, David Frum argues: “Every American man and woman is the leading expert in the world on how that American man and woman is doing. And they know they’re not doing well.”
Photos: Kenny Holston, Jessica Koscielniak, Ken Cedeno, Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, Chip Somodevilla // via Getty
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: http://bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
- Title
- When Caring Becomes Counterculture | The David Frum Show
- Runtime
- 59:50
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” Atlantic staff writer David Frum opens with his take on President Trump’s reaction to a recent Supreme Court defeat on tariffs, arguing that the real issue is not just economics but the president’s drive for unchecked power.
Then David is joined by Tim Miller of “The Bulwark” to unpack Tim’s recent trip to Minneapolis and what he saw on the ground amid ongoing ICE enforcement operations in the Twin Cities. They explore why younger Americans find “Resist libs” cringe and how that cynicism has helped fuel Trump’s politics. David and Tim also debate whether Never Trump conservatives are losing the core values that once defined them and whether that evolution is necessary in order to actually take on Trump.
Finally, David revisits the history and meaning of the State of the Union address, questioning whether this long-standing ritual needs rethinking in the Trump era.
Sign up for D...
- Title
- Trump’s High-Stakes State of the Union
- Runtime
- 1:26
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- A year ago, Donald Trump delivered a triumphant State of the Union address. Tomorrow, he will be trying to turn around a stumbling presidency in his address to Congress, Jonathan Lemire reports.
📸: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images, Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images, Octavio Jones / AFP via Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images, Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images, Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
- Title
- The Uncertain Fate of Venezuela’s Political Prisoners
- Runtime
- 1:54
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- After Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured by the U.S., families of political prisoners in the country wondered what would happen to their loved ones—some are still waiting to find out, Gisela Salim-Peyer reports.
📸: Adriana Loureiro Fernández for The Atlantic, Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images
- Title
- Why AI is so polarizing in the workplace— Galaxy Brain
- Runtime
- 1:58
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- On “Galaxy Brain,” the technologist Anil Dash and the host Charlie Warzel try to parse why some people are panicking over new AI advancements—and how different professions are experiencing these tools in divergent ways.
“The experience of coders is: LLMs are freeing you from the drudgery to let you focus on the creative part. Whereas in all the other creative disciplines,” Dash says, “LLMs take away the creative part and only leave the drudgery.”
Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNdjLf4f0uU
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: http://bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
- Title
- The AI-Panic Cycle—And What’s Actually Different Now
- Runtime
- 44:00
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Silicon Valley relies on hype cycles. But for the last few weeks, AI insiders have been spooked by advances coming from their tools. On this week’s “Galaxy Brain,” Charlie Warzel helps listeners calibrate their anxiety about AI’s next phase. The episode examines what’s new: AI-agent coding tools that can work in the background like personal assistants. Warzel is joined by longtime technologist Anil Dash to unpack how hype and venture-capital incentives can distort the conversation around advances, and what the rise of tools like Claude Code and the more reckless “OpenClaw” experiments mean for labor, security, and everyday work. Dash outlines the very real risks of AI to explain why some people are panicking, why others are quietly building alternatives, and what to watch for as AI moves beyond chatbots to autonomous agents.
This episode of “Galaxy Brain” was produced by Renee Klahr. It was engineered by Dave Grein. Our theme is by Rob Smierciak. Claudine...
- Title
- Former Washington Post Editor on the “critical” role of the press— Atlantic Across America
- Runtime
- 2:44
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- Following job cuts at The Washington Post, there’s been a discussion about who is responsible for its current state, Evan Smith tells the former Post executive editor Marty Baron.
“The Post did its job. It held the [Trump] administration accountable.” Baron says. “It’s the reason why—by the way— people decided to subscribe to the Post.”
This conversation was part of The Atlantic Across America event series. Watch the full conversation:
https://youtu.be/Uplo4EcK110?si=jXQVOoPTL0lYHchT
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: http://bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
- Title
- You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor
- Runtime
- 3:57
- Date posted
- 5 months ago
- Description
- The Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 was the first of many bloody conflicts in the American Revolution. Now 250 years later, The Atlantic’s staff writer Caity Weaver witnessed it unfold during a sweltering, two-day reenactment.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” Weaver says. “But it’s also true that thousands of modern Americans who remember the 18th century probably even better than people who were alive for it have a blast repeating it.”
Read the full story: https://theatln.tc/HJdOKFgf
Photo and Videos: Clarissa Fragoso Pinheiro, Scott Rossi, Shan Wang for the Atlantic; Universal Images Group Editorial, Corbis Historical, Interim Archives, Hulton Archive, Moment RF, Boston Globe, Bettmann// via Getty Images
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: http://bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
- Title
- Black History Month Is Different This Year
- Runtime
- 25:46
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- The Trump administration is trying to sanitize U.S. history by removing mentions of slavery on historic monuments, scrubbing words such as “oppression” from government websites, and obscuring the legacy of Black American heroes. Last summer, the president personally criticized the Smithsonian for focusing too much on “how bad slavery was.”
The Atlantic’s Clint Smith and Adam Harris argue that if the federal government won’t reckon with the nation’s past, it might be time for a different approach to understanding Black history.
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Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener (https://the...
- Title
- The David Frum Show: Mona Charen on how conservatism has changed
- Runtime
- 1:36
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- “The conservatism that I signed up for is completely gone,” Mona Charen tells Davd Frum: “There’s no coherent set of ideas that is held by a movement, or far less a party, now that is recognizable.” Listen to the full episode here:
- Title
- Can Jollibee Beat American Fast Food at Its Own Game?
- Runtime
- 2:47
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- ollibee, the Filipino fast-food chain known for its fried chicken, burgers, and sweet spaghetti, was born out of a demand for American fast food in a postcolonial Philippines. To differentiate itself, the chain adjusted flavors to suit the local palate, influenced by a long history of Indigenous, Chinese, and Spanish settlement that “demands maximum levels of sour, sweet, salty, and umami.”
Now, the chain has more than 1,700 stores across the globe and is set on reshaping the American palate in a uniquely Filipino way. Yasmin Tayag talks with her colleague Ellen Cushing over a shared meal.
- Title
- Why We Changed Our Minds About Politics | The David Frum Show
- Runtime
- 55:49
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” David opens with a warning about President Trump’s escalating efforts to bend American institutions to his will. David explains how episodes including the Justice Department’s attempted prosecution of members of Congress, the political pressure on the Federal Reserve, and the campaign-style appeals delivered at Fort Bragg represent a systematic attempt to erode the guardrails of American democracy.
Then, David is joined by Mona Charen, a contributor at “The Bulwark” and longtime conservative commentator. Together, they reflect on their shared political evolution—from their early days as Reagan-era conservatives to their break with today’s Republican Party. They discuss what they believe they got right and what they got wrong, how Trump transformed the conservative movement, and why the version of conservatism they once believed in may be gone.
Finally, David discusses “My Early Beliefs,” th...
- Title
- A Conversation with Martin Baron, Former Executive Editor of The Washington Post
- Runtime
- 32:05
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- Recorded in Miami, Florida, on February 12, 2026, this fireside chat features The Atlantic’s managing director for events, Evan Smith, in conversation with the former Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron, who talked about the fallout from recent sweeping newsroom cuts at the Post and what they signal for journalism’s future.
This conversation was part of The Atlantic Across America event series. In 1857, The Atlantic’s founders wrote that their magazine would make a sincere and honest effort to represent and champion what they called “the American idea.” The Atlantic will visit all 50 states in a series of events where we will surface and engage with the most urgent, complex, and distinctly American questions of the moment in the places where they are unfolding.
Find out more about The Atlantic Across America: https://www.theatlantic.com/atlantic-across-america
#martinbaron #journalism #TheAtlantic #AtlanticAcrossAmerica #evans...
- Title
- A Conversation With Tom Nichols, Missy Ryan, and Nancy A. Youssef
- Runtime
- 40:14
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- Recorded in Miami, Florida, on February 12, 2026, this fireside chat features The Atlantic’s managing director for events, Evan Smith, in conversation with members of The Atlantic’s national-security team—Tom Nichols, Missy Ryan, and Nancy A. Youssef—as they discussed reporting on national security amid the newest press restrictions. They explained the state of play inside the Pentagon and highlighted the real-world implications of the latest foreign-policy news from the Trump administration.
This conversation was part of The Atlantic Across America event series. In 1857, The Atlantic’s founders wrote that their magazine would make a sincere and honest effort to represent and champion what they called “the American idea.” The Atlantic will visit all 50 states in a series of events where we will surface and engage with the most urgent, complex, and distinctly American questions of the moment in the places where they are unfolding.
Find out more a...
- Title
- A Conversation with Journalist Georgia Fort
- Runtime
- 29:48
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- Recorded in Miami, Florida, on February 12, 2026, this fireside chat features The Atlantic’s managing director for events, Evan Smith, in conversation with journalist Georgia Fort, who discussed the importance of a free press and her recent arrest following her coverage of a protest inside a Minnesota church.
This conversation was part of The Atlantic Across America event series. In 1857, The Atlantic’s founders wrote that their magazine would make a sincere and honest effort to represent and champion what they called “the American idea.” The Atlantic will visit all 50 states in a series of events where we will surface and engage with the most urgent, complex, and distinctly American questions of the moment in the places where they are unfolding.
Find out more about The Atlantic Across America: https://www.theatlantic.com/atlantic-across-america
#georgiafort #journalism #TheAtlantic #AtlanticAcrossAmerica #evansmith
Subscrib...
- Title
- A Band Left Spotify—and Its Frontman Says AI Impersonators Rushed In
- Runtime
- 1:17
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- “It’s not just us. It’s happening to tons of artists.” Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard talks with Charlie Warzel about what happened when his band tried to take their catalog off the streaming platform:
- Title
- I Went to the March for Billionaires in San Francisco
- Runtime
- 1:40
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- A couple of weeks ago, word spread around San Francisco that somebody was organizing a “March for Billionaires.” A mystery promoter had posted on social media that “billionaires get a bad rap,” and soon flyers appeared around the city. Matteo Wong went to the march—and although it was dizzyingly absurd, he writes, tensions around the march were very real.
Read his story: https://theatln.tc/lQntDXOx
📸: Video by The Atlantic; Jason Henry
- Title
- The People Who Marry Chatbots
- Runtime
- 2:29
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- The prospect of AI replacing humans in relationships sounds like a nightmare to many. Still, a growing community is building a life with large language models. Amogh Dimri, an Atlantic assistant editor, spoke with members of the AI-romance community—and, for four months, he dated Joi, a chatbot girlfriend he customized by following a 160-page guide from the Subreddit r/MyBoyfriendIsAI.
“The users I spoke with knew that they had married machines. Their gratitude lay in feeling moved to marry anything at all,” Dimri reports. “In an age of swiping, ghosting, and situationships, they found an always available, always encouraging, always sexually game partner appealing.”
Read more of his research, and learn about his relationship with Joi, at the link.
https://theatln.tc/nRNpLQsk
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: http://bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
- Title
- Is AI Ruining Music?
- Runtime
- 41:14
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- On this week’s “Galaxy Brain,” host Charlie Warzel dives into the state of the music industry, where streaming economics, algorithmic discovery, and generative AI are reshaping how music is distributed, as well as what it means to make music in this environment. The episode traces how playlists and opaque recommendation systems have left many artists feeling like they’re battling an algorithm. With AI-generated songs now flooding platforms, and even in one case landing on a “Billboard” chart, the episode examines how automation, impersonation, and synthetic “diet music” are crowding into a system already strained by low payouts and creative burnout.
Charlie is joined by Stu Mackenzie, the front man of the prolific Australian band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, to talk about making music in the algorithmic age. From embracing bootleggers to pulling its catalog from Spotify, Mackenzie explains how the band has tried to protect its creative core while the i...
- Title
- The Laws of Physics Don’t Apply to Ilia Malinin
- Runtime
- 1:47
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- When Ilia Malinin reaches the apex of a vertical leap, he is spinning at 350 revolutions per minute—about the same as a kitchen stand mixer or the marine engine of an oil tanker, Sally Jenkins reports.
Jenkins spoke with Malinin ahead of the Winter Olympics to learn more about how the 21-year-old figure skater is transforming his sport—and what he’s planning next.
Read more from The Atlantic’s March issue: https://theatln.tc/ldMaIQI4
🎨: OK McCausland
- Title
- Iran Wants Him Arrested. He's Going Back Anyway.
- Runtime
- 28:55
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- The writer-director Jafar Panahi’s new film, It Was Just an Accident, is the second Iranian film ever nominated for multiple Oscars. Panahi is in the United States for the awards season, but soon after, he plans to return to Iran, where he may well be arrested.
His co-writer on the film was recently jailed after signing a letter objecting to the deadly crackdown on protests in Iran. Panahi, who also signed the letter, has been sentenced to one year in prison in absentia. His lawyer has said they plan to appeal the sentence.
But Panahi doesn’t seem afraid. (He made It Was Just an Accident in secret, as he has in the past with other films.) Even with the crackdown in Iran and violence against protesters here in the U.S., he says he still has reason to hope: “I see a greater future. I see from above.”
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Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You...
- Title
- How Trump Could Break the 2026 Elections | The David Frum Show
- Runtime
- 57:54
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” David opens with his reaction to the racist AI video of Barack and Michelle Obama that was posted and quickly deleted by President Trump’s Truth Social account. He argues that when the president engages in this behavior, it undermines his administration’s other actions that resemble those of a normal presidency.
David is then joined by Stephen Richer, a former Republican county recorder of Maricopa County. They discuss Stephen’s experience navigating Trump’s 2020 election denial, standing up to pressure from the president, and confronting election denialism within his own party. They also examine the Trump administration’s current activities in Georgia and how they could set the stage for more election denialism in 2026.
Finally, David reflects on Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” as the series marks its 250th anniversary. Though the monumental work r...
- Title
- How state and federal courts can protect the integrity of this year’s elections
- Runtime
- 1:05
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- The courts are “one of the bulwarks against anything that might happen in the 2026 election” process, Stephen Richer, former Arizona election official, tells David Frum.
- Title
- ‘Together, We Are America’
- Runtime
- 0:15
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- For most of his Super Bowl performance, Bad Bunny “had been mugging merrily to the camera, flaring his eyes and making hammy gestures to illustrate his words,” Spencer Kornhaber writes. But as exploding power lines evoked the electrical outages that have plagued Puerto Rico in recent years, anger seemed to twitch in his face as he rapped his song “El Apagón” (“The Power Outage”).
“Through affect alone, he got across a sense of betrayal that many Puerto Ricans of his age—commonly called the ‘crisis generation’—have spoken of feeling after a string of political scandals and natural disasters amid ongoing gentrification by mainlanders,” Kornhaber continues.
“That message was, indeed, political,” Kornhaber writes. “So was his culminating statement of ‘God bless America,’ which he followed by listing countries in North and South America, thereby asserting the transnational nature of the culture that he represents. Pushing toward t...
- Title
- How "Looks-maxxing" Reflects the Political Moment
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- “The first thing they destroyed was the institutions, and now they’re trying to destroy the rest of us and themselves,” Aidan Walker tells Charlie Warzel about the cultural and political forces behind the “looks-maxxing” trend. Watch the full episode:
- Title
- The Logical End Point of ‘America First’ Foreign Aid
- Runtime
- 1:28
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- For the past half century, the U.S. has tried to deploy foreign aid wherever it is needed most—but under the Trump administration, humanitarian projects are being evaluated by a different measure, Hana Kiros reports.
The administration’s approach to foreign aid emphasizes dealmaking and transactions over charity. The strategy may gain more resources for the U.S. in the short term, but it also risks sacrificing other goals: “The American intelligence community has long known that insurgent groups … rely on desperation, food insecurity, and hopelessness to gain recruits,” Kiros writes.
The State Department has said that the department will continue to work with partner governments for security purposes. But after U.S.-funded health and counterterrorism programs in Mozambique were cut last year, ISIS surged into the vacuum, Kiros writes.
Read more: https://theatln.tc/tRNZRTnm
- Title
- The Meaning of 'Melania'
- Runtime
- 24:33
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- The Melania movie is pitched as a documentary following the first lady of the United States in the lead-up to her husband’s second inauguration. But it’s missing all the hallmarks of a journalistic, biographical film. What you get instead is a series of aphorisms that clang loudly against the reality being shaped by Donald Trump. And of course, shot after shot of $1,000 shoes, gold decorations, and private planes.
The Atlantic staff writer Sophie Gilbert describes the film as a “two-hour perfume commercial." Gilbert joins the show to talk about the movie, about the real Melania, and about President Trump’s efforts to shape culture.
- - -
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access ...
- Title
- Is ICE Allowed Around Polling Places?
- Runtime
- 1:03
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- “The U.S. Supreme Court said that you could detain people based on their race, their accent, or the language they spoke … There is nothing to preclude ICE from doing that while you’re standing in line getting ready to cast a ballot,” Stacey Abrams tells Anne Applebaum.
Listen to the episode:
- Title
- Who Is Clavicular (And Why Should You Care)?
- Runtime
- 45:45
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- On this week’s Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel takes listeners deep into the internet’s fever swamps to examine how figures who once would’ve stayed on the fringes now dominate mainstream feeds. The episode charts the rise of Clavicular, a young livestreamer who’s gone from an absurdist curiosity to a fixture in the manosphere and its adjacent right-wing influencer culture. Using Clavicular as a lens—his extreme body modification, relentless self-documentation, and a willingness to do anything for attention—Charlie discusses the rise of nihilistic Zoomer influencers. Then Charlie is joined by the internet-culture researcher Aidan Walker, who helps situate Clavicular alongside figures such as Nick Fuentes and Andrew Tate, revealing how the “looksmaxxing” movement collides with grievance politics and an anti-political, “algorithm-first” ideology. Together they explore what happens when the gatekeepers are gone, and when nihilism becomes a default way for budding attentio...
- Title
- A Memorial in Kyiv Honors Those Killed in Russia’s War Against Ukraine
- Runtime
- 1:56
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- In Kyiv’s Independence Square, a makeshift memorial dedicated to those killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine has grown as the casualty numbers have climbed, Simon Shuster reports.
“This is made by the people who stood side by side from day one,” one veteran tells Shuster at the memorial.
Read more of Shuster’s reporting from Kyiv: https://theatln.tc/y3S0rECi
Subscribe to The Atlantic on YouTube: http://bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
- Title
- The Trump Administration Has its Eyes on the Midterms and Beyond
- Runtime
- 30:32
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- The Trump White House is changing the rules of our political system through intimidation, the distortion of information, financial corruption, and the dismantling of government offices. In the final episode of this season, we examine whether the administration is also trying to change the rules of our elections. Dawn Baldwin Gibson, a North Carolina pastor, tells us about how, in 2024, her vote was challenged for reasons that still aren’t clear to her. Host Anne Applebaum interviews Stacey Abrams, who has spent years fighting voter-suppression tactics. Abrams argues that Gibson’s story is one of many attempts to change how people vote and how their votes are counted.
Subscribe to the “Autocracy in America” podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autocracy-in-america/id1763234285
Subscribe to the “Autocracy in America” podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0ujIGO5bvCO6NkevvgsWTL?si=9e3d13f0e65c4e50
...
- Title
- American Democracy Under Occupation
- Runtime
- 25:32
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- When heavily armed agents of the federal government arrived in Minneapolis, the people of the Twin Cities responded with surprising strength.
In this episode, residents describe what drove them to act, and host Anne Applebaum speaks with Atlantic contributing writer Robert Worth about what he learned when he observed the tactics of the federal agents and the response of Minnesotans.
Subscribe to the “Autocracy in America” podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autocracy-in-america/id1763234285
Subscribe to the “Autocracy in America” podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0ujIGO5bvCO6NkevvgsWTL?si=9e3d13f0e65c4e50
Follow The Atlantic on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theatlantic/?hl=en
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fasc...
- Title
- What Jeff Bezos May Have Misunderstood About The Washington Post
- Runtime
- 1:23
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- “One thing that Jeff Bezos knows probably better than anyone else is that digital industries tend to focus around one big winner”—but The Washington Post isn't the digital-newspaper version of Amazon, Joshua Benton tells Hanna Rosin.
Listen to the episode:
- Title
- It Was So Cold in Florida, Iguanas Fell Out of Trees
- Runtime
- 0:22
- Date posted
- 6 months ago
- Description
- As near-freezing temperatures reached southern Florida, cold-stunned iguanas dropped from the trees, unable to handle the chill.
