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• Congress

  There’s a Way for Democrats to Sue Trump—Thanks to the Republicans

  A lawsuit to block the border wall could go the route the House GOP took in 2014 to challenge Obamacare.

  • Emma Green
  • 7:00 AM ET
• Most Popular on The Atlantic

  • Nancy Pelosi Is Winning

    • Peter Beinart

    She beat George W. Bush on Social Security privatization, and she’ll beat Trump on the wall.

    Democrats sometimes portray themselves as high-minded and naive—unwilling to play as rough as the GOP. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is, once again, proving that self-image wrong. She’s not only refusing Donald Trump’s demand for a border wall. She’s trying to cripple his presidency. And she may well succeed.

    Pelosi’s strategy resembles the one she employed to debilitate another Republican president: George W. Bush. Bush returned to Washington after his 2004 reelection victory determined to partially privatize Social Security. “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital,” he told the press, “and I intend to spend it.” Bush’s plan contained two main elements. The first was convincing the public that there was a crisis. Social Security, he declared in his 2005 State of the Union address, “is headed toward bankruptcy.” The second was persuading Democrats to offer their own proposals for changing it.

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  • The Real Significance of the FBI’s Probe Into Trump

    • Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes

    It’s a big deal.

    The arresting New York Times headline last Friday—“F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia”—sparked a strangely bifurcated reaction. A bombshell to some, a dud to others, the story has had lots of people scratching their heads: What does it even mean?

    The confusion is understandable, as is the debate over the significance of this deceptively complex and nuanced report—a story that, through no fault of reporters Adam Goldman, Michael Schmidt, and Nicholas Fandos, remains incomplete in key respects.

    “My concern with the story,” Goldman told The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, “was that it felt, to some extent, like a ‘duh’ story.” It was, after all, already well known that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was conducting a counterintelligence investigation of links between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government, and there was plenty of evidence already in the public record of the president’s alarming behavior with respect to Vladimir Putin. It was also nothing new that Mueller was investigating obstruction of justice in connection with the president’s interactions with law enforcement. We’ve known that ever since The Washington Post reported it back in June 14, 2017.

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  • What People Actually Say Before They Die

    • Michael Erard

    Insights into the little-studied realm of last words

    Mort Felix liked to say that his name, when read as two Latin words, meant “happy death.” When he was sick with the flu, he used to jokingly remind his wife, Susan, that he wanted Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” played at his deathbed. But when his life’s end arrived at the age of 77, he lay in his study in his Berkeley, California, home, his body besieged by cancer and his consciousness cradled in morphine, uninterested in music and refusing food as he dwindled away over three weeks in 2012. “Enough,” he told Susan. “Thank you, and I love you, and enough.” When she came downstairs the next morning, she found Felix dead.

    During those three weeks, Felix had talked. He was a clinical psychologist who had also spent a lifetime writing poetry, and though his end-of-life speech often didn’t make sense, it seemed to draw from his attention to language. “There’s so much so in sorrow,” he said at one point. “Let me down from here,” he said at another. “I’ve lost my modality.” To the surprise of his family members, the lifelong atheist also began hallucinating angels and complaining about the crowded room—even though no one was there.

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  • How a Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old Into a Rap Legend

    • Jeff Maysh

    The story of Dr. Rapp

    Dr. Sherman Hershfield woke up one morning and was surprised to find himself behind the wheel of his car. Somewhere between his Beverly Hills apartment and his practice in the San Fernando Valley, the silver-haired physician had blacked out. Somehow, he’d avoided a crash, but this wasn’t the first time. “I didn’t know what was going on,” he admitted.

    Apart from his frequent blackouts, Hershfield was in fine health for a man in his 50s. He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.” Hershfield specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and for decades had helped patients with brain injuries learn to walk again and rebuild their lives. Even with his experience, Hershfield didn’t know what was wrong inside his own head.

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  • The Attention Economy Is a Malthusian Trap

    • Derek Thompson

    Big tech companies now trade at one of the smallest premiums in history.

    On September 28, 2018, tech died.

    That’s according to a widely circulated eulogy prepared by Vincent Deluard, a strategist at INTL FCStone, a financial-services company. “If technology is everywhere, the tech sector no longer exists,” he wrote. “If the tech sector no longer exists, its premium is no longer justified.” When the Financial Times got its hands on the document, it leaned into the death thesis, declaring: “The tech sector is over.”

    In news reports, death has several definitions. When it applies to a person, it means the end of life. When it applies to a company or industry, it means the end of growth. Print is dead, live TV is dead, and Millennials killed American cheese; but you can still read a print newspaper with the TV on while eating a cheeseburger.

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  • The President’s McFeast

    • Megan Garber

    The fast-food dinner Trump hosted was also an argument: about government, about political messaging, about himself.

    How does that line go? All fast food served warm is alike, but every fast-foodstuff consumed after it gets cold is unhappy in its own way?

    Regardless: Taste was not, by all appearances, a top concern when it came to the culinary offerings that the White House presented to visiting members of the Clemson Tigers football team on Monday evening. It was the visuals, instead—items from McDonald’s and Wendy’s and Burger King and Domino’s, many of them piled, in their branded packagings, atop silver platters—that were the point: the gleaming tongs next to the wilting boxes of Filets-O-Fish. The plastic containers of dipping sauces, sorted by flavor, stacked cheekily inside gravy boats. The many faces of Wendy, wrapped recursively around a series of Singles. The French fries arranged, haphazardly, in cardboard cups bearing the seal of the White House. The gilt candelabras lending soft light to the guilty pleasures. A little bit P. T. Barnum, a little bit Hieronymus Bosch, a little bit Beauty and the Beast, had “Be Our Guest” been staged by Willy Wonka and also set in the apocalypse: The scene was grinning and a bit grotesque, and that was the point. A portrait of Lincoln gazed down upon the spread and at the man who would claim credit for it, perhaps wondering anew what God hath wrought.

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  • The Real Roots of American Rage

    • Charles Duhigg

    The untold story of how anger became the dominant emotion in our politics and personal lives—and what we can do about it.

    I. An Angry Little Town

    Soon after the snows of 1977 began to thaw, the residents of Greenfield, Massachusetts, received a strange questionnaire in the mail. “Try to recall the number of times you became annoyed and/or angry during the past week,” the survey instructed. “Describe the most angry of these experiences.” One woman knew her answer: Recently, her husband had bought a new car. Then he had driven it to his mistress’s house so she could admire the purchase. When the wife found out, she was livid. Furious. Her rage felt like an eruption she couldn’t control.

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    The survey was interested in the particulars of respondents’ anger. In its 14 pages, it sought an almost voyeuristic level of detail. It asked the woman to describe the stages of her fury, which words she had shouted, whether punches had been thrown. “In becoming angry, did you wish to get back at, or gain revenge?” the survey inquired. Afterward, did you feel “triumphant, confident and dominant” or “ashamed, embarrassed and guilty”? There were also questions for people like her husband, who had been on the receiving end: “Did the other person’s anger come as a surprise to you, or did you expect that it would occur?”

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  • It Used to Be Okay for Parents to Play Favorites

    • Jennifer Traig

    The idea that you’re supposed to treat your children equally is recent, and it’s still not the norm in much of the world.

    The fight might be over the last fruit strip or the TV or the best chair in front of the TV; it doesn’t really matter. My children’s conflict has many causes but only one true one: They are siblings, and that’s what siblings do. The war between brothers and sisters is eternal, each generation renewing the hostilities that have defined sibling relations since humanity began.

    Although it seems as if my children never give it a rest, in fact they fight far less than the average. Statistically, they should be arguing more than three times an hour, a number researchers landed on not by interviewing children or parents but by installing microphones in the subjects’ homes. Younger children fight even more—six times each hour. This means they have a fight—a real fight, not just cross words—every 10 minutes.

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  • There’s a Way for Democrats to Sue Trump—Thanks to the Republicans

    • Emma Green

    A lawsuit to block the border wall could go the route the House GOP took in 2014 to challenge Obamacare.

    As the partial shutdown of the federal government has stretched to 25 days, Democrats are mulling a possible lawsuit: If Donald Trump declares a national emergency and reappropriates funding for his proposed border wall from other departments, as he has suggested he might do, they would almost certainly challenge that action in court. “Look, an emergency cannot be whatever a president says an emergency is,” Jamie Raskin, a former law professor and representative from Maryland, told The Washington Post. If there’s a legal question about Trump’s next steps, he said, “we’re very happy to relocate it from the halls of Congress into the courts.”

    And if Democrats decide they want to sue Trump over his border wall, they may have a novel option—courtesy of their Republican colleagues. The GOP’s 2014 lawsuit against then-President Barack Obama was the first time a district-court judge affirmed the right of the House of Representatives, as an institution, to sue a sitting president. In the midst of this impasse, that suit could serve as a model for Democrats, as Congress once again turns to the courts to help it get out of the work of governing.

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  • Why Did the Border Patrol Union Switch Its Position on the Wall?

    • Conor Friedersdorf

    The NBPC once opposed “wasting taxpayer money on building fences and walls along the border.”

    In advocating for border security, President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to enlist Border Patrol agents and their union, the Washington Post reports, even bringing union leaders for Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the White House “to tout the wall.”

    That isn’t surprising in one sense: Lots of politicians use uniformed law-enforcement officers as political props. But in another sense, it is rather strange. Typically, unions zealously oppose anything that makes the labor of their members less necessary. The Luddites smashed automated looms. The grocery-store checkers are against self-checkout kiosks. The fast-food workers don’t want touch-screen ordering.

    Why would union officials representing men and women who patrol the border be in favor of a barrier intended to stop migration better than humans?

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  More Popular Stories

• The Racial Wealth Gap Could Become a 2020 Litmus Test

  With black votes in the balance in the Democratic primary, would-be candidates are already developing aggressive policies to target inequality.

  • Vann R. Newkirk II
  • 5:00 AM ET
• Global

  Cambodian Deportees Return to a 'Home' They've Never Known

  America is deporting Cambodian refugees convicted of crimes. Did the U.S. have a responsibility to help them when they first arrived as refugees?

  • Charles Dunst
  • 4:56 AM ET

• Bill Barr Breaks With Trump on the Mueller Probe

  The attorney-general nominee attempted to assuage Democrats’ fears that he would be beholden to the president, but parts of his testimony still left them unnerved.

  • Natasha Bertrand
  • Jan 15, 2019
• Newsletter

  

  The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: No Holds Barred

  William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, was grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee during the first day of his confirmation hearings

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• Why Republicans Finally Moved Against Steve King

  Elections have consequences, and the Iowa conservative’s sudden vulnerability back home gave House GOP leaders the permission they needed to act against his latest racist comments.

  • Russell Berman
  • Jan 15, 2019

• Donald Trump’s Pattern of Deference to the Kremlin Is Clear

  Now it’s on the president to explain his posture.

  • David A. Graham
  • Jan 15, 2019

• Barr Will Be Grilled About ‘Unusual’ Memo on Mueller’s Obstruction Probe

  Trump’s attorney-general nominee has written that a key aspect of the Russia investigation is “fatally misconceived.”

  • Natasha Bertrand
  • Jan 15, 2019
• Writers
  • Emma Green
    There’s a Way for Democrats to Sue Trump—Thanks to the Republicans
    7:00 AM ET
  • Vann R. Newkirk II
    The Racial Wealth Gap Could Become a 2020 Litmus Test
    5:00 AM ET
  • Russell Berman
    Why Republicans Finally Moved Against Steve King
    Jan 15, 2019
  • David A. Graham
    Donald Trump’s Pattern of Deference to the Kremlin Is Clear
    Jan 15, 2019
  • Adrienne LaFrance
    Six Hours and Three Minutes of Internet Chaos
    Jan 13, 2019
  All Writers

• Is This the Year for a Redistricting Revolution?

  Arnold Schwarzenegger and Barack Obama don’t agree on much—but they’ve both turned redistricting reform into their main political cause for the years ahead.

  • Edward-Isaac Dovere
  • Jan 15, 2019
• Politics Daily

  The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: The NeverEnding Shutdown

  Trump faces questions over meetings with Putin, as the government shutdown stretches into its 24th day.

  • Olivia Paschal and Shan Wang
  • Jan 14, 2019

• Al Sharpton’s Bid to Be a 2020 Kingmaker

  The civil-rights leader says he’s open to eventually backing Michael Bloomberg or Joe Biden but won’t make a formal endorsement for more than a year.

  • Edward-Isaac Dovere
  • Jan 14, 2019
• Video

  The Atlantic Bears Witness to Trump’s Destructive Presidency

  Editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg explains “Unthinkable,” an attempt to chronicle the most bizarre—and dangerous—moments of this presidency.

  • Jeffrey Goldberg and Vishakha Darbha
  • Jan 14, 2019

• The Dueling Narratives on Trump and Russia

  While Democrats express alarm over Trump’s affinity for Vladimir Putin, Republicans see partisan conspiracy theorizing.

  • Andrew Kragie
  • Jan 14, 2019

• Lindsey Graham’s Shifting Sands on the Shutdown

  On Friday, the South Carolina Republican urged Trump to declare a national emergency and “build a wall NOW,” but on Sunday he proposed a short-term deal and more talks.

  • Andrew Kragie
  • Jan 14, 2019
• Unthinkable

  The Moral Failure of Family Separation

  To separate children from their parents is an offense against nature and civilized society.

  • Ashley Fetters
  • Jan 13, 2019
• Unthinkable

  The President’s Pursuit of White Power

  Trump’s response to Charlottesville showed the core of his philosophy: the preservation of America’s traditional hierarchies of race.

  • Adam Serwer
  • Jan 13, 2019
• Unthinkable

  It’s Been Two Years. The President Still Hasn’t Released His Tax Returns

  He also seems to be making a lot of money outside the presidency.

  • Annie Lowrey
  • Jan 13, 2019
• Unthinkable

  The Collusion With Russia Is in Plain Sight

  What did Donald Trump say to Vladimir Putin when no one else could hear them?

  • Franklin Foer
  • Jan 13, 2019
• Unthinkable

  The Chain Reaction That Began When Trump Fired James Comey Is Speeding Up

  May 9, 2017, could turn out to be the most consequential day in the history of this presidency.

  • Benjamin Wittes
  • Jan 13, 2019
• Unthinkable

  The War on Black Athletes

  Trump isn’t the first president to show such overt interest in sports, but he’s the only president in recent memory to attack athletes for their politics.

  • Jemele Hill
  • Jan 13, 2019
• Unthinkable

  The Faulty Logic in Trump’s Travel Ban

  The president’s stated purpose was to keep terrorists out, but his plan has all kinds of problems.

  • Hannah Giorgis
  • Jan 13, 2019