The New Yorker
False Pretense
Donald Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelans to prison without due process. Among them is a thirty-one-year-old makeup artist whose only crime is having the wrong tattoos. Jonathan Blitzer reports.
Today’s Mix
Are We Taking A.I. Seriously Enough?
There’s no longer any scenario in which A.I. fades into irrelevance. We urgently need voices from outside the industry to help shape its future.
Fighting Elon Musk, One Tesla Dealership at a Time
“It’s ironic that, as a pro-democracy and pro-climate group, we’re protesting against electric cars,” one activist said. “But you cannot sacrifice our democracy for one piece of the thing.”
How Donald Trump Is Teaching Christians to Abandon Empathy
The head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says that it is “used politically in ways that are very destructive and manipulative.”
Why Is Elon Musk Trying to Buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court Seat?
Tuesday’s election, as the only statewide race in the country before November, is a crucial test for the growing backlash against the Trump Administration’s agenda.
The Senate’s Age of Irrelevance
Elon Musk’s DOGE and President Trump’s executive orders are pushing Congress’s upper chamber from ineffectiveness to obsolescence. Will John Thune, the new Majority Leader, fight for the separation of powers—or roll over?
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
Why Benjamin Netanyahu Is Going Back to War
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The public’s fears for the fate of the ceasefire and the hostages have become a struggle over the rule of law.
How Trump Throttled Big Law
Is a top firm’s deal with the President a necessary act of survival or a damaging blow to the entire profession?
The Greater Scandal of Signalgate
The spectacle of incompetence and the attempts to smear a reporter are a misery; even worse is the encroaching threat of autocracy that cannot be concealed or encrypted.
Will Trump’s Gulf of America Power Trip Break the White House Press Corps?
The Associated Press had its day in court on Thursday, but free speech in this Presidency is already a big loser.
How John Roberts Has Empowered a Lawless Presidency
The Chief Justice’s recent rebuke of Trump obscures Roberts’s own role in fostering the destruction in Washington.
The Six-Figure Nannies and Housekeepers of Palm Beach
An influx of ultra-high-net-worth newcomers has increased demand for experienced—and discreet—household staff.
We Are Sleepwalking Into Autocracy
Senator Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, describes how free and fair elections might end in America as soon as 2026.
The Critics
The Second Season of “Wolf Hall” Surpasses Its Acclaimed Predecessor
In the culmination of the Hilary Mantel adaptation, Mark Rylance’s Thomas Cromwell becomes a more poignant figure, weighed down by regrets.
The Cinematic Glories of Manoel de Oliveira’s Endless Youth
The Portuguese director, who made twenty-two features after the age of eighty, rejuvenated the art of movies by linking personal experience to the arc of history.
An Ingénue’s Intimate Snapshots of the New Hollywood
Candy Clark’s Polaroid closeups of familiar faces—Steven Spielberg, Carrie Fisher, Jeff Bridges—evoke a looser, more freewheeling time in show business.
When Marvel Meets “Much Ado About Nothing”
A splashy new production of the play may give a sense of where Shakespeare productions are heading.
Crevette Makes Great Seafood Look Easy
A new restaurant from the team behind Dame and Lord’s doesn’t so much enter the seafood conversation as elegantly commandeer it.
An Overpriced “Othello” Goes Splat on Broadway
Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal lack direction, and “The Trojans,” a spirited football-themed Iliad, heads for the end zone.
The Best Books We Read This Week
A real-life saga about a family that, after moving to Los Angeles in search of better schools, was left mostly unhoused for the next five years; an illuminating collection of essays that inspects the relationship between fiction and nonfiction; a richly informative exploration of human biological diversity; and more.
Our Columnists
Baseball Reaches Its Breaking Point
An elbow-injury epidemic has become an existential threat to the sport, prompting the M.L.B. to brainstorm new solutions, such as the use of a heavier ball.
Why Do We Want to Believe That Jim Morrison Is Still Alive?
The singer died in 1971. A new documentary series posits that he faked his death to escape the burden of fame, and is living in hiding.
Resisting Trump 2.0 with Brain-Rot Memes
We participate in political memes to express our anxiety that whatever is coming next might be even more chaotic than what is already happening.
Don’t Believe Trump’s Promises About Protecting the Social Safety Net
The Social Security Administration is shuttering offices, and the Republicans’ own math suggests that they are planning big cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
Welcome to the Preschool Plague Years
Young children bring so much joy into their parents’ lives—and so, so many germs.
Ideas
The Myth of the Universal Patient
From growth charts to anemia thresholds, clinical standards assume a single human prototype. Why are we still using one-size-fits-all health metrics?
Just Between Us
Champions of gossip are out to change the practice’s bad reputation. Could dishing the dirt be good for us?
Your A.I. Lover Will Change You
A future where many humans are in love with bots may not be far off. Should we regard them as training grounds for healthy relationships or as nihilistic traps?
How an American Radical Reinvented Back-Yard Gardening
Ruth Stout didn’t plow, dig, water, or weed—and now her “no-work” method is everywhere. But her secrets went beyond the garden plot.
Open Secret
When a prosecutor began chasing an accused serial rapist, she unravelled a scandal. The evidence was in plain sight. So why were the police refusing to investigate Sean Williams?
Training the Canine Star of “The Friend”
Bing, a two-year-old Great Dane from Iowa, won a nationwide search for a dog with the right unwieldy size, mournful bearing, and general majesty for a role in the film adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel “The Friend.” In 2024, Nick Paumgarten wrote about how the animal trainer Bill Berloni got him ready for the limelight.
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