How to Build an Autocracy
The preconditions are present in the U.S. today. Here’s the playbook Donald Trump could use to set the country down a path toward illiberalism.
The preconditions are present in the U.S. today. Here’s the playbook Donald Trump could use to set the country down a path toward illiberalism.
Monday night began with a dramatic showdown between the Trump administration and the Department of Justice over the legality of Trump’s executive order on immigration.
Syrian refugees have committed zero attacks in the United States.
Will the president’s plan to reduce the cost and burden of rules work? And is it even necessary?
Trump’s national security advisor faces challenges ahead in his quest to become part of the president’s decision-making process.
If the president is serious about implementing safe zones in Syria, he must clarify exactly what he means.
“When you are burdened with something constantly—every day—you can't thrive as a human being.”
Taking in people who have no safe home isn't about GDP growth; it's about basic decency.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended the omission of Jews from Trump’s statement with a double act of historical revisionism.
The evidence points to no, but the fact that it’s even a question demonstrates why his conflicts of interest are a problem.
Ford, Tesla, Google, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon.com, General Electric, and other companies are speaking up about the president’s executive order.
There’s reason to reserve judgment, but no cause for giving the president the benefit of the doubt.
Many are hoping he’ll stick to his promises on cutting taxes and scrapping regulations. But they’re also worried about tweets.
His biggest victories tend to be followed by his angriest outbursts—as elite ridicule curdles his triumph.
Experts worry about the impact on academia and scholarship.
Franklin Leonard’s anonymous survey has launched careers, recognized four of the past eight Best Picture winners, and pushed movie studios to think beyond sequels and action flicks.
A growing earnings gap between those with a college education and those without is creating economic and cultural rifts throughout the country.
How one man's meticulous snow level records became proof of climate change
How one Irishman uses 10,000-year-old turf to prepare fish from the Wild Atlantic Way
Condescension and hostility towards people of faith has a political cost.
How his social media feed compares to political communication in past administrations
CKDu has killed tens of thousands of people in the last decade. This short film illustrates a portion of its scale and scope.
A short film about one woman's DIY idea that became a global phenomenon
There should be nothing surprising about what the Donald Trump has done in his first week—but he had underestimated the resilience of Americans and their institutions.
“President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country,” reads the statement from Obama spokesperson Kevin Lewis.
The White House statement on Holocaust Remembrance day did not mention Jews or antisemitism.
It’s not just large metropolises, with their globally integrated economies, that could feel the effects. Small to midsized cities could feel some pain, too.
At Dulles International Airport on Sunday, lawyers and activists feared federal officials were ignoring court decisions staying the president’s executive order restricting travel from several mostly Muslim nations.
Alex Jones, Roger Stone, and their cohort are thriving at the dawn of the Trump era.
The two ride-hailing services were seen as taking opposing positions in the controversy over President Trump’s recent executive order.
It’s a lot more complicated (and comprehensive) than a tariff.
Mere days after his inauguration, the president's company announced its intention to expand into more cities.
The presidents of Mexico and the United States are negotiating their new economic relationship in an oddly public way.
For women who have been away from the workforce for a spell, sometimes re-entry programs are the only way back in.
The country’s two largest state-run banks have been lobbying for relief from sanctions imposed in 2014.
Training programs are popping up around the country for a rush of new jobs.
Rather than debating critics directly, the Chinese government tries to derail conversation on social media it views as dangerous.
Even after automation, sewing remains a craft that’s passed down through generations. An Object Lesson.
Should technology companies treat state-funded outlets like RT the same way as they treat The New York Times?
Researchers have created creepy sounds that are unintelligible to humans but still capable of talking to phones’ digital assistants.
The American president has reinforced the victimhood narrative at the core of the Islamic State’s recruitment pitch.
The move comes in response to President Trump’s executive order banning citizens from Iraq and six other Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting at the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec; eight people were wounded in Sunday’s attack during evening prayers.
Trump’s chaotic executive order will have lasting repercussions throughout the Muslim world.
The highlights from seven days of reading about the world
Most presidents view inaugural addresses as a rare opportunity to appeal beyond “the base.” This was base-only.
Medical students from the seven banned nations may never get to practice in the U.S., where many would have worked in underserved areas.
With the collapse of the country’s health system, Syrians are already dying of treatable diseases. Now, none of them have a hope of making it to the U.S.
Officials found 14 incidents of amnesia in Massachusetts patients with a history of using the painkillers.
The fear of immigration raids can harm children’s brains and health, potentially for life.
Taking a page from the anti-abortion lobby, pro-choice groups are pushing proactive legislation at the state level.
Redefining “clean” in an era of the skin microbiome
The gas travels alongside particles from the sun, and could offer clues to life’s origins.
Iranian scientists have been a major boon to everything from Mars exploration to Ebola-fighting to advanced mathematics.
Astronomers have added a new data point in their attempts to answer the cosmic question.
An ancient variety of milk might do wonders for digestion—or it could be a money grab.
Some Trump supporters are willing to lie about his inauguration attendance to preserve their ideological identities. A new study explains how curiosity can help resist reflexive partisanship.
“This is the closest to midnight the Doomsday Clock has ever been in the lifetime of almost everyone in this room.”
They’re more likely to avoid games meant for “really, really smart” children.
Images from this weekend’s protests against the immigration ban, from New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, Washington, DC, Dallas, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, and more.
The 2017 singles finals in Melbourne saw the unlikely return of iconic rivalries, for what may well be the last time.
To a moment defined by “alternatives,” TBS’s Full Frontal is adding one more: the alternative event.
Almost every winning actor gave a speech that, in some way, addressed the Trump presidency and his recent actions—signaling a new normal for Hollywood’s award season.
When it was published in 1947, Gerard Reve’s The Evenings was considered shocking for its portrayal of youth in a postwar Netherlands. Now beloved in its home country, the novel is arriving stateside for the first time.
Two legends of music-video history are back with sci-fi visions.
Nato Thompson’s new book explores the history of how music, TV, games, and advertising have been used to influence consumers.
In his latest history, Randall Fuller explains how Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection helped the United States to evolve.
Non-federal statutes vary widely and could come into play should the Trump Administration move to decentralize the Office for Civil Rights’ hardline on sexual assault.
The best recent writing about school
In the constant battle against mean girls and boys, one district in New Hampshire is intervening with a student-driven approach.
When states began to require more math courses, black high-school graduates began to see bigger paychecks.
The Charlotte School of Law was placed on probation and denied federal financial-aid money. Where does the school go from here?
A trio of professors in Boston stumbled across a trove of signs, threw them into a rented van, and created an “accidental archive.”
How much do internships, majors, and institutions really matter for lifetime earnings?
“Where would we have gone? We were people without a home, without a country.”
Part of our ongoing series of photo essays at The Atlantic titled “Americans at Work.” This week, photographs of a working family in Los Angeles, made by photographer Justin L. Stewart
All admissions would be stopped for 120 days; Syrians would be banned.
The television icon who helped redefine the sitcom, both in front of and behind the camera on her eponymous show, died at age 80.
President Trump is vowing to “send in the Feds,” but researchers aren’t convinced they understand the rise, or how to stop it.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been hovering near the figure since the election of President Trump.
The projects were blocked under the Obama administration.
Part of our ongoing series of photo essays at The Atlantic titled “Americans at Work.” This week, photographs of the NorthWest Bible Church’s Between Jobs Ministry in Spring, Texas, made by photographer Elizabeth Conley.
The short film He Who Dances on Wood is a soliloquy on the joy of dance.
In an exclusive excerpt from The Witness, Kitty Genovese's brother gets close to confronting her murderer.
Syrian refugees have committed zero attacks in the United States.
In a series of conversations, The Atlantic will explore civitas, the contract binding all citizens together.
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