Ideas
Arguments. Essays. Inquiries.
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Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press Why It’s Immigrants Who Pack Your Meat
What Trump has called an “invasion” was actually a corporate recruitment drive.
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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Trump Didn’t Make the Storm, but He’s Making It Worse
The president didn’t put any of the globe’s authoritarians in office, but he’s encouraged their worst instincts.
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J. Scott Applewhite / AP Trump’s Hate Makes the ‘Squad’ Stronger
The president gives his opponents media attention and enhances their influence on American life.
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Bobby Yip / Reuters Trump’s Foreign-Policy Crisis Arrives
Competition between the U.S. and China may be inevitable, but if Trump and Xi mishandle the Hong Kong crisis, they could lose the ability to calibrate.
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Jim Bourg / Reuters Israel’s Massive Self-Own
Trump’s racism and Netanyahu’s dependency have driven a bulldozer through the bipartisan consensus.
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Flying Down East
We were flying away from Washington D.C. again, leaving the Sturm und Drang of our hometown in early August for a point nearly as far east on the U.S. map as one can get. It is “Down East,” in the vernacular of Maine, and the town of Eastport, where residents say the sun first rises over the United States, as does the moon, which gets far too little attention.
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Larry Downing / Reuters The Worst Thing That Could Happen to Local News—And the Best
If GateHouse Media actually acquires Gannett, countless local outlets might be closed or homogenized. But there’s an alternative.
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Alex Brandon / AP Candidates Don’t Need Airtime, They Need Attention
Imagine a Netflix-type portal for short campaign videos.
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USA Today Sports / Reuters Jay-Z Helped the NFL Banish Colin Kaepernick
The former quarterback caused a problem for the league—which turned to the celebrated rapper for assistance.
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Obama Warned Trump—But He Didn’t Listen
The 44th president became a devotee of unilateral presidential actions—and then saw many moves quickly reversed once he left office.
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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Don’t Ban Assault Weapons—Tax Them
A solution from the founding era might work again today.
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Gregory Payan / AP The NCAA Doesn’t Speak for College Athletes
A new generation of African American agents wants basketball players to get a better deal. The college-sports organization moved to exclude new blood.
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Bryan Woolston / Reuters Thirty-Two Short Stories About Death in Prison
These stories don’t mention Jeffrey Epstein, but they are about him.
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Shannon Stapleton / Reuters Jeffrey Epstein’s Final Act of Impunity
Once more, a member of America’s elite has escaped accountability for his alleged crimes.
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Sarah Silbiger / Reuters Trump Is Too Thin-Skinned to Protect the United States
The president’s aides are reluctant even to broach the dangers of white racist violence in his presence.
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The Power of a Community College
Last week I reported on a conference of community-college leaders that Deb Fallows and I attended in Michigan, and about…
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Democrats Should Just Stick to What’s Popular
Voters are more open to progressive economic policy now than in the recent past. But they are not opposed to capitalism.
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Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd / Getty The New Servant Class
“Wealth work” is one of America’s fastest-growing industries. That’s not entirely a good thing.
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Carlos Jasso / Reuters There’s More Than One Way to Fight a Monopoly
Tougher regulation will help, but workers and small businesses also need the ability to join forces against corporate power.
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Jeenah Moon / Reuters Epstein’s Death Has a Simpler Explanation
Baseless speculation abounded after the accused sex trafficker died, but criminal-justice scholars point instead to a broader suicide problem.
