Nearly nine months after Donald Trump’s reelection, Democrats still can’t make sense of it. Only the faintest glimmers of a reset are visible. The only thing that might pass for a strategy seems to be the hope that, given time, voters will finally come to their senses: It’s the people who need to think again, not the politicians who are ...Read more

There can be wisdom in cliche. More than 120 years after philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” his well-known phrase remains an essential guide for national defense. Case in point: The French failed to draw the proper lessons from the brutal trench warfare of World War I and ...Read more

Without access to data that’s both objective and seen to be objective, financial markets and government policy are dangerously compromised.

So alarm over the recent firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer and the nomination of EJ Antoni, chief economist of the conservative Heritage Foundation, to succeed her is ...Read more

For leaders in business, failing to learn the lessons of a crisis can be disastrous. For leaders in government, when millions of lives are at risk, such disasters can be catastrophic. Unfortunately, that’s where the US is heading, thanks to the disagreement that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has with his boss, President Donald Trump.

A little ...Read more

For an early look at the culture wars, we suggest listening (if you can find it) to the 2002 interview with Gene Simmons, the Israel-born bass guitarist of Kiss, conducted by Terry Gross, the dignified host of NPR’s “Fresh Air.”

Things jumped the shark when the chat turned to the topic of the codpiece routinely worn on stage by Simmons, ...Read more

The democracy field is asking itself hard questions about direction, strategy and impact. This summer, I’ve had one-on-one conversations with over 25 professionals across the space as I sought to answer these questions for myself.

These professionals spanned generations, political affiliations, and domains of work: civics education, ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — One accusation hurled at Gov. Gavin Newsom for his retaliatory redistricting move against President Donald Trump and Texas Republicans is that he’s overriding the will of California voters. Rubbish.

The flawed argument goes like this:

Californians — once upon a time — voted overwhelmingly to ban partisan ...Read more

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast, overwhelming levees and swallowing neighborhoods. The storm displaced some 1.5 million people, claimed over 1,800 human lives and left tens of thousands of animals either deceased or stranded.

Scenes in the media from that time—dogs pacing on rooftops and cats perched on...Read more

Vladimir Putin came to Alaska and got the red-carpet treatment, complete with a fighter-jet flyover and a warm presidential handshake. The state was an ironic location for a summit given Russia’s continuing seller’s remorse over having sold it to America in the mid-19th century. While expectations were low for a full ceasefire, most ...Read more

Let’s unpack our need to unpack the whole “woman on TikTok who fell in love with her psychiatrist” saga.

First the facts: Kendra Hilty recently posted 25 videos on TikTok in which she discussed her decision to end four years of 30-minute monthly sessions (most of them on Zoom) with a male psychiatrist who prescribed her medication. At ...Read more

When comedian Mike Birbiglia asked actor Bob Odenkirk whom he’s jealous of, the Chicago-area native gave an answer that left the podcast host speechless.

“Anyone who has little kids at home,” Odenkirk said.

“There’s no question,” he continued. “I knew what I was doing when I had kids growing up. I was being a dad. I mean, that ...Read more

Democrats, bless their hearts, keep trying to figure out the magic formula to stop President Donald Trump. But here’s a cold splash of reality: If Trump’s popularity ever collapses, it will probably be because of something completely beyond their control.

In 2020, it wasn’t some brilliant strategy that defeated Trump. It was COVID. A ...Read more

The president supports purchasing goods that are “made in America.” To encourage this, President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on imports from literally every country that the U.S. does business with, with 10% to 15% as the floor baseline. His hope is that tariffs would push more companies to move their manufacturing and production ...Read more

Every time I chased stability to build a future, chronic illness pulled me back into a hospital bed.

Sometimes it has been for days, sometimes weeks. My life with sickle cell disease is a relentless cycle of excruciating pain, nerve damage and blood transfusions. I’ve survived two kidney transplants, countless medical procedures and numerous ...Read more

Over the past several years, we've watched President Donald Trump and his administration wield misinformation not just as a shield, but as a weapon—deploying conspiracy theories, half-truths, and outright falsehoods to bury tough headlines and duck accountability.

The first months of Republican control, instead of being a time of bold policy...Read more

I sank into Randy Carter's comfy couch, excited to see the Hollywood veteran's magnum opus.

Around the first floor of his Glendale home were framed photos and posters of films the 77-year-old had worked on during his career. "Apocalypse Now." "The Godfather II." "The Conversation."

What we were about to watch was nowhere near the caliber of ...Read more

Trying to delete TikTok starts with a tap and ends with second thoughts. Everything in between feels tedious as your decision is repeatedly challenged.

Although you insist that your decision is permanent, the app still prompts you to review all your data, click through another confirmation screen, and consider deactivating your account instead....Read more

Sam Altman has a good problem. With 700 million people using ChatGPT on a weekly basis — a number that could hit a billion before the year is out — a backlash ensued when he abruptly changed the product last week.

OpenAI’s innovator’s dilemma, one that has beset the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Apple Inc., is that usage is so ...Read more

By midmorning in the Central Valley, the light turns hard and white, bleaching the sky and flattening every shadow. The rows of melons stretch to the horizon, vines twisted low in cracked soil. Pickers move in the rhythm the crop demands — bend, twist, lift, drop — their long sleeves damp with sweat, caps pulled low, bandanas hiding heat-...Read more

For President Donald Trump, it's all about appearances.

He's busy with so many makeovers: The Versailles-ification of the Oval Office, which seems to sprout more gold leaf and ornamentation every time Trump assembles the media there. The paving of the Rose Garden, now Mar-a-Lago Patio North, crowded with white tables and yellow umbrellas just ...Read more