The Ticket: Politics from The Atlantic

As Democrats slugged it out in Nevada this week, the president undermined the Justice Department in Washington. News anchor Katy Tur—and everyone else covering politics—has had to constantly switch gears between two stories: a crowded primary of challengers working to overtake one another, and a post-impeachment White House emboldened to break yet more democratic norms. But when the general election arrives, and the two stories merge, will the news media be up to the task?

Tur grew up around television news and covered the Trump campaign. Now an anchor on MSNBC, she joins Isaac Dovere to discuss 2020 coverage. They sat down on NBC’s set in Las Vegas, where the network hosted this week’s Democratic debate ahead of the Nevada caucuses.

On Thursday, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton presided over debate on a bill to advance the Equal Rights Amendment. After the bill passed, she sat down in her office with Isaac Dovere to discuss the historic ERA vote and how she thinks Congress can take action on gun violence.

Also on the show: thoughts on New Hampshire and an exclusive exchange with Andrew Yang, recorded as he prepared to announce the end of his candidacy.

After the chaos of Iowa, New Hampshire is set to deliver the first clear results of the 2020 presidential race. And on the show to preview the first primary vote is New Hampshire Congressman Chris Pappas.

The freshman Democrat is new to Washington, but he's been around Granite State politics his entire life. He was elected state representative at 22, but has been meeting presidential candidates since he was 7. His family's Manchester restaurant has been a waypoint on the trail to the White House for decades.

He discusses New Hampshire politics, his state's fight against the opioid crisis, and his choice next Tuesday (both who he's voting for, and whether to do a ballot selfie.)

Isaac Dovere previews the Iowa caucuses with congressional candidate J.D. Scholten. A former baseball player running to represent the state’s most rural district, Scholten offers an on-the-ground view as Iowans gather to pick a president.

He discusses his race against Rep. Steve King (who he nearly unseated in 2018), what Iowans care about as they go to the caucuses, and whether the state should keep its first-in-the-nation vote.

Like many of his fellow Iowans, he’s had presidential candidates personally courting him for months — enough so that, during taping, his phone buzzed with a call from Sen. Elizabeth Warren. (He sent her to voicemail.)

The new mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, won all fifty of Chicago’s wards in a landslide last year. A lawyer with experience in government oversight, Lightfoot ran on an anti-corruption and police reform platform. She campaigned as a political outsider in a city long run by dynasties. And she represents a lot of firsts: the first African-American woman to lead the city, its first openly gay mayor, and for her, the first time running for higher office.

Lightfoot came into the job with a big opportunity to remake America’s third largest city. She joins the show to talk about her upbringing, her motivation to enter politics, and what she hopes Chicago can show the rest of the country.

The governator discusses the Republican party, his commitment to the environment, and the Democratic candidates (his review: "such bad actors").

Ruben Gallego says President Trump doesn’t understand war, but the situation with Iran could soon escalate to one. Gallego is a progressive congressman from Arizona and a combat veteran who served in Iraq — stationed at one point at one of the bases struck by Iranian missiles this week. He discusses his experience of war, his insights on the developing crisis, and what he worries about most.

Steve Chabot, a House Republican who helped lead his party's impeachment fight against Bill Clinton, explains why he’s unconvinced by the Democrats’ case against Trump.

Donald Trump wasn’t the only election surprise of 2016. Three months before he won the presidency, the United Kingdom also shocked observers by voting to leave the European Union. Ever since, Brexit has dominated British politics. 

But while Americans may have to wait another eleven months to see Trump’s name back on the ballot, British elections arrive much faster (and of late, much more frequently). Britain may not be terribly enthusiastic about heading back to the polls, but the stakes couldn’t be higher. Will the UK have another referendum? Will it endorse a ‘hard’ Brexit? And how are British voters actually making up their minds?

Staff writer Helen Lewis joins Isaac Dovere from London to preview the election.

During an impeachment hearing this week, President Trump's former top Russia adviser accused Republicans of peddling Russian propaganda.

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian who will join The Atlantic as a staff writer in January. As one of the world’s leading experts on pre- and post-Communist Europe, disinformation and propaganda, and the future of democracy, she joins Isaac Dovere to discuss impeachment through a global lens.

How did a conspiracy theory concocted by Russian intelligence officers become a Republican defense of President Trump? And what future does Applebaum see for NATO and Western democracy if the president is in office for another four years?

The special December issue of The Atlantic focuses on a single theme: “How to Stop a Civil War.” Two contributors to the issue, Harvard professor Danielle Allen and staff writer Adam Serwer, join Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to discuss their arguments in the magazine.

Allen’s piece, “The Road From Serfdom,” asserts that unity must be made a priority again and offers prescriptive steps for how it can be achieved. In “Against Reconciliation,” Serwer argues that the nation’s pursuits of compromise have often led it to abandon its promises of freedom and equality for all its citizens—that Americans have been content to sacrifice civil rights for civil discourse.

The three sat down to discuss where they agree, where they disagree, and how optimistic they are that world’s oldest democracy can survive its bitter divisions.

Senator Tim Kaine discusses Democrats' historic win in Virginia and what it means for 2020.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg discusses his unlikely presidential run.

James Fallows spent decades covering national politics for The Atlantic. For the last four years though, he’s traveled the parts of America typically left out of the national conversation. And he comes back with good news.

The fourth Democratic debate this week highlighted Elizabeth Warren’s new front-runner status. It also marked the return to public events for Bernie Sanders, who showcased his energy following a heart attack and touted a key new endorsement from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two progressive candidates haven’t gone after each other thus far. How much longer will that last? And where does the race go from here?

Joining Isaac Dovere this week is Elaine Godfrey, who reports on progressive politics for The Atlantic.

Staff writer Mike Giglio has been reporting on ISIS since before Americans knew what to call it. He documents his five years in the region for a new book, Shatter the Nations: ISIS and the War for the Caliphate.

He joins Isaac Dovere to discuss the abrupt changes happening in Syria. How did a phone call upend American policy towards its Kurdish allies? What’s happening on the ground now? And where will this new cycle of violence lead?

As a CIA officer detailed to the White House, Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin is one of the few people to have done the same work as the whistle-blower.

She joins Isaac Dovere to discuss that experience, how it led her to play a key role in starting the impeachment inquiry, and how she’s now explaining that decision of conscience to the pro-Trump district she represents.

As impeachment news comes in by the minute, The Atlantic hosts its annual festival in our nation’s capital. Minnesota senator and presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar joins Isaac Dovere on stage for a live taping of Radio Atlantic.

The Montana governor talks about his presidential campaign, his personal connection to the gun control debate, and why running his home state has uniquely prepared him to run a divided country.

Begun with a gold-rush brothel in the Yukon, the Trump empire has long been passed down through generations. Donald Trump inherited a business from his father, who inherited it from his father.

Now following in those footsteps are Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump — all brought into the family business, whatever that happened to be at the moment. When it was real estate, they worked at the Trump Organization. When it became television, they were in the cast of The Apprentice. And with politics the new family business, they’ve acted as key figures in his administration and campaign.

The question of which Trump will succeed their father is no longer just a family matter though. Having remade the Republican Party in his image, the president has given his eventual successor a key role in shaping the future of American politics.In his October cover story, McKay Coppins tells the story of how the next generation of Trumps have competed for power — and how the move from midtown Manhattan to 1600 Pennsylvania may have established an unexpected frontrunner.

This week, Beto O'Rourke took a bus out of New York. Not a campaign bus, just a regular old bus. Isaac Dovere joined for the trip and they talked about how the presidential candidate has been changed by the recent mass shootings in West Texas.

In December, Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest after President Trump announced plans to withdraw troops from Syria. As the last "adult in the room" at the White House, critics worried his departure would loosen the president’s behavior even further. Days after the news broke though, Christmas and the government shutdown pushed Mattis’ resignation into the background. 

Now, nine months later, he’s beginning to speak publicly again. For the latest issue of the magazine, Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg had a series of conversations with Mattis following his resignation. He re-joins Radio Atlantic with host Edward-Isaac Dovere.

This week showed increasing signs that a recession could be on the horizon. Manufacturing is shrinking. Job growth is slowing. The markets are spooked — and now so is the president. But what exactly is happening?

Annie Lowrey joins Isaac Dovere to make sense of the recession news. (What exactly is the yield curve and why does it matter?) They discuss what a downturn would do to the 2020 race. And they explore why many voters don’t feel economically secure despite record growth.

This June marked the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, but also the one decade anniversary of the Great Recession ending. How did that experience remake the political landscape? Have most Americans really recovered? And what would a new recession mean for them?

Andrew Yang joins Isaac Dovere on the trail in Iowa. Yang’s campaign started as a long-shot from a first-time politician, but he’s found a following. His message about the bleak future technology’s bringing to America (and his plan to give everyone $1000 a month) has led to an enormous online fandom — one that’s actually translating into poll numbers and dollars.

Unlike many more traditional candidates, he’s already qualified for the next Democratic debates. So, what does his campaign say about today’s politics? Is it fatalistic or just realistic? And what does success look like for him?

On Wednesday, Senator Cory Booker gave a speech on gun violence and white nationalism at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, the same church that lost nine of its members to a white supremacist gunman four years ago.

Following his speech, the presidential hopeful sat down with Isaac Dovere in the pastor's office to discuss his plans for ending gun violence in America and why he believes that "we can't let these conversations devolve into the impotent simplicity of who is or isn't a racist."

While in Detroit covering the Democratic debates, Isaac Dovere sits down with Dana Nessel, Michigan’s new Democratic attorney general and the state’s first openly gay statewide officeholder.

Last year, Nessel was part of an all-women executive slate that many said couldn’t win. But every single woman candidate did and Nessel now holds a job that Republican men had controlled for 16 years.

What lessons does Nessel’s victory have for Democrats trying to retake Michigan and other crucial states in the industrial midwest? The candidates on stage in Detroit argued over a choice between appealing to progressives or moderates to win. But is that a false choice? And is Joe Biden the safe bet many voters think he is?

Seth Moulton, the Massachusetts congressman and presidential candidate, joins Isaac Dovere this week. Moulton shares his thoughts on Nancy Pelosi, ‘the squad,’ and the direction of the Democratic Party. Speaking soon after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s hearings on Capitol Hill, Moulton gives his reaction as an early proponent of impeachment. And the decorated Marine veteran discusses his campaign’s focus on national security issues and why the current commander-in-chief is “putting American lives at risk.”

On Sunday, President Trump told four members of Congress to “go back” to the countries “from which they came.”

Journalists have spent the week working through how to discuss what is a textbook racist statement aimed at four congresswomen who—besides all being American citizens—are all women of color.

Newsrooms faced hard questions: Do you call the president a racist? How do you not call the president a racist? Do you give him the attention he wants, and how do you modulate that, contextualize it, explain it?

Margaret Brennan, moderator of CBS’s Face the Nation, joins Isaac Dovere on this week’s Radio Atlantic to discuss how journalists are faring with these questions and what we can expect going into 2020.

This week, the British ambassador to the United States resigned after private cables leaked with his frank assessment of the White House and its occupant. Sir Kim Darroch described the administration as “clumsy” and "inept" and said President Trump "radiates insecurity." In response, the president called Darroch “wacky,” a “very stupid guy,” and a “pompous fool.”

The episode is another in a long string of public feuds for Trump. But the departure of the ambassador from America's closest ally is no small matter—and one that ripples far outside Washington. So, what consequences could this have for the country and the world? And how do diplomats deal with this president when, as a current ambassador told the Times, "it could have been any one of us?" 

To discuss, Isaac Dovere is joined by Thomas Pickering, a Career Ambassador for the United States whose seven ambassadorships span decades of Republican and Democratic administrations.

Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld has experience taking down a Republican president. He began his career in politics as one of the first lawyers hired to investigate Watergate for the House.

Working alongside another low-level staffer named Hillary Clinton, his job was to define what constituted an impeachable offense for a president. Now, he’s one of the rare Republicans who thinks Donald Trump’s actions have met that definition. He’s called for the president to be impeached, and even to resign his office.

He joined Isaac Dovere on this week’s Radio Atlantic to discuss his time investigating Watergate, the state of the Republican Party, and why he thinks his candidacy isn’t such a longshot.

On Wednesday—for the first time in a decade—Congress held a hearing on reparations for slavery. It was a crystallizing moment for an issue that has gained prominence since Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 2014 Atlantic essay.

Coates and others testified before a House committee on June 19th—Juneteenth—a day the nation celebrates emancipation from slavery. Every year, Atlantic staff writer Vann R. Newkirk II writes a Juneteenth essay. He joins Isaac Dovere to discuss the history of the holiday, the importance of the hearing, and where the fight for reparations stands now.

The 2020 race is on. Staff writer Edward-Isaac Dovere, who covers Democratic politics, was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the unofficial kick-off of the fight to replace Donald Trump. Elaina Plott, who covers the White House, will be in Orlando on Tuesday when the president officially announces his re-election campaign.

On this week’s Radio Atlantic: two reporters inhabiting two very different universes discuss what the coming months have in store. 

Who does President Trump want to face? Who has the best shot of beating him? And now that he’s running as President of the United States, what will be different this time around?

In the coming days, the Supreme Court will announce its decisions on two cases that ask the same basic question: how far should partisan politics go?

One will determine whether a citizenship question will appear on the 2020 census. The other asks whether partisan gerrymandering is constitutional.

With these decisions imminent, that same question about partisanship in non-partisan institutions hangs over the court itself. Still wounded by Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle, the nation’s highest court has a “virus of illegitimacy.” And with Democratic candidates endorsing proposals to pack the court, that virus could remake the third branch of American government.

On this week’s Radio Atlantic, Isaac Dovere discusses the court with lawyer and Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern.

Recent weeks have seen unprecedented anti-abortion bills pass in states across the country. In Alabama, abortion is now banned under state law, without any exceptions for rape or incest. Georgia, Ohio, and Kentucky have all passed so-called ‘heartbeat’ bills making abortion illegal six to eight weeks into pregnancy.

On Wednesday, Louisiana's legislature passed its own heartbeat bill without any exceptions for rape or incest. In Missouri, abortion has been outlawed after eight weeks. And on Friday, it may become the first state without any access to abortion, as a clinic may be pressured to close.

These bills have been challenged in court as conflicting with Roe v. Wade, but of course, that conflict is the point. Will a conservative Supreme Court use one of these state laws to overturn Roe? And will this new attention to abortion change how Americans vote in 2020?

Privacy is now the most important idea on the internet—so what exactly is it? And if we care about our privacy, why aren’t we willing to pay to keep it?

This week’s Radio Atlantic is a preview of the new season of Crazy/Genius, The Atlantic’s podcast about technology and culture. Staff writer Derek Thompson joins Isaac Dovere to discuss Season 3, which kicks off with an episode about privacy.

Subscribe to Crazy/Genius: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play

Trump isn’t like most Republican presidents, but his views on trade have been an unusually firm departure from his party. Despite long championing free trade, the GOP is now led by a man who seems deeply skeptical of it. Last week, he upended trade negotiations with China by levying tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, carrying out a threat he’d issued just before a Chinese delegation visited the White House. On Monday, China retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods.

A trade war between the world’s two largest economies seems to be here. And the risks are dire. Financial institutions have warned that "a trade war could cause a global recession," but, as the president infamously tweeted last year, he thinks “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”

On this week’s Radio Atlantic, staff writer Isaac Dovere sits down with Colin Grabow, a trade expert from the libertarian Cato Institute, to discuss the two trade battles at hand: one between the U.S. and China, and the other within the Republican party.

Franklin Foer joins Isaac Dovere to discuss his story in the June issue of The Atlantic about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Orbán described his vision of Hungary as an "alternative to liberal democracy," and, in recent years, cemented his power by undermining civil society.

When Orbán’s party won a majority last year, it rewrote parts of the constitution, redrew parliamentary districts, and stacked courts. Foer details how one of the last independent institutions—a university in Budapest founded by George Soros—has fought back on Orbán’s efforts to expel it from Hungary.

These efforts have not been met with condemnation from the Trump administration. To the contrary, when he spoke with Foer, the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary said: "I can tell you, knowing the president for a good 25 or 30 years, that he would love to have the situation that Viktor Orbán has."

Next week, President Trump will welcome Orbán to the White House.

How has Hungary found itself losing its democracy? What does it mean for the future of Europe? And what role does the U.S. have in all of this?

Last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was the first one in years without a comedian. In the Trump era, comedians have struggled to adjust — are things too serious? Too biased? Too absurd? Is any of it funny anymore?

Jordan Klepper has been on three very different political comedy shows in three years. He was a fake news correspondent on The Daily Show, then a parody conspiracy theorist on The Opposition, to now playing himself in a new documentary series called simply: Klepper. He joins staff writer Isaac Dovere to discuss the state of political comedy (and why he went from parodying Alex Jones to getting strip-searched in Georgia).

Atlantic Ideas Editor Yoni Appelbaum and Vox editor-at-large Ezra Klein have both deeply researched the question of impeachment — and each came to a different conclusion.

Appelbaum argued in The Atlantic’s March cover story that the House of Representatives “must immediately open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, and bring the debate out of the court of public opinion and into Congress, where it belongs.”

Klein argues that “impeachment will be a partisan war over the president’s removal, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. The fact-finding potential within the process will be overwhelmed by the question of whether impeachment is merited.”

With that question pressing in the wake of the Mueller report, they sit down with Isaac Dovere to discuss the history of impeachment and make their cases: should Congress move ahead with impeachment?

On Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr ordered immigration judges to stop releasing asylum seekers on bail. The move signals an even fiercer immigration policy that could include the return of family separations. A few weeks ago, the president threatened to close the southern border. Days later, he fired his Homeland Security chief, who reportedly lost out to hardliners in the White House.

Isaac Dovere interviews Taylor Levy, the Legal Coordinator at Annunciation House, a Catholic charity based in El Paso that provides shelter to immigrants on both sides of the southern border. El Paso has emerged as a hot spot for migration recently. It’s drawn national attention for the number of people crossing there and for the conditions in which those people have been held. Levy shares the harrowing stories of migrants she works with every day.

What are these families escaping when they seek asylum in the U.S.? Why are they being held outside under bridges? And does the Trump administration’s new “Remain in Mexico” policy endanger them?

The crowded race for the Democratic nomination includes both frontrunners and long-shots, but how do we know which is which? Some big names have trailed in fundraising and polls. And some written off early have found surprising support.

On this week’s Radio Atlantic, Isaac Dovere is joined by one of the biggest long-shot successes in recent Democratic politics: Howard Dean. The former Vermont governor was an unlikely frontrunner for the presidency, but for a time in the 2004 race, he was the man to beat.

Dean talks about what it was like to go from long-shot to frontrunner—and what it’s like to have it all fall apart. He recalls how his 2004 campaign was animated (and perhaps limited) by anger at President Bush. Now, Dean warns Democrats against falling into the same trap with Donald Trump.

In recent days, three women have accused former Vice President Joe Biden of inappropriate contact. On Wednesday, Biden announced in a video that he is going to be “mindful” about personal space going forward, that he hears what these women are saying, and that he "gets it."

While a number of prominent women have come to Biden's defense, there are plenty of critics who have said he has no place representing a diverse, empowered, progressive electorate in the coming presidential race. When it comes to gender, have the politics of the Democratic party passed Joe Biden by? What happens now to the Biden proto-candidacy? And what does it mean for the Democratic party of 2020?

Alex Wagner sits down with Jennifer Palmieri, former Communications Director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and for the Obama White House from 2013 to 2015.

Last week, the special counsel submitted his report to Attorney General Bill Barr. And this week, Barr shared his brief summary of the big conclusions: there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. As for obstruction of justice, Mueller left that question unresolved. In his letter, Barr said the DOJ had decided the evidence presented didn’t merit criminal charges.

More could change with the release of the actual report. In fact, six House committee chairs have demanded it by next Tuesday. But the Mueller chapter of this presidency is now essentially closed. 

What does the post-Mueller landscape look like? Does the end of his investigation — with no bombshells detonated as yet — hurt Democrats in 2020? Or might it actually help them? Staff writers McKay Coppins and Isaac Dovere join Alex Wagner to discuss.

When elected, most presidents either sell their assets or put them in a blind trust. Isolating a president’s financial interests from their time in office has been a norm for decades: from Jimmy Carter giving up his peanut farm to Barack Obama liquidating his assets.

But Donald Trump is not like most presidents. He’s said he won’t divest from his businesses, even though his real estate deals around the world open up countless opportunities for conflicts of interest. His unprecedented decision may violate the “emoluments clause” of the Constitution — a rule that’s existed longer than the American republic, but has never before faced scrutiny in the courts. On Tuesday, a panel of Fourth Circuit judges heard an emoluments case and their decision appears likely to send the fight to Supreme Court.

Alex Wagner talks to Joshua Matz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in that case, a Georgetown law professor, and co-author of the January 2017 Atlantic story: ”Why Trump Will Violate the Foreign Emoluments Clause”

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will spend around seven years in federal prison — far less than the nineteen to twenty-four years recommended by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The sentences prompted a backlash when a federal judge in Virginia said Manafort deserved leniency for his “otherwise blameless life.”

But it’s not just the punishment that has people talking. Manafort’s crimes only came to light after the unlikely events that led to the Mueller investigation. Manafort’s own lawyer said as much this week: “but for” the 2016 election, his client wouldn’t have been in court. The episode has renewed questions that have been asked — if not answered — since the the 2008 financial crisis: Why are white-collar criminals so rarely prosecuted? And when they are, why do they seem to get off with lighter punishment?

Alex Wagner puts those questions to attorney and former federal prosecutor Ken White. White is the person behind @popehat on Twitter and the author of the recent Atlantic article: “6 Reasons Paul Manafort Got Off So Lightly.”

The Democratic party is in a battle with itself. After devastating losses in 2016, the party was resurgent in 2018, but the lessons from both elections remain unclear: should the Democratic party be one of progressive grassroots activism or should it try to win back suburban and moderate voters?

Dan Pfeiffer — former senior advisor to President Obama and co-host of Pod Save America — thinks the choice is a false one. He joins Alex Wagner to discuss what lessons Democrats should carry into 2020.

On Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee, Michael Cohen called the president a racist, a conman, and a cheat. He also brought documents.

Trump’s onetime confidant testified for seven hours. He laid a trail of legal breadcrumbs that are likely to be followed by House Democrats and federal investigators, among others—long after Robert Mueller hands in his report to the Attorney General.

Fordham Law Professor Jed Shugerman joins Alex Wagner to explain the legal problems President Trump now faces.

Last week, President Trump declared a national emergency to get funding for the wall. The move gave him elevated power to move money around, but it was immediately met with lawsuits from 16 states. What exactly is a national emergency? Why is this one different? And just how far do a president’s emergency powers really go?

Alex Wagner speaks with Liza Goitein, Co-Director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center. Months before the president’s announcement, Goitein looked into what powers presidents have in a national emergency.

She wrote about her research in The Atlantic magazine, describing over 100 emergency powers she said were “ripe for abuse” and that “this edifice of extraordinary powers has historically rested on the assumption that the president will act in the country’s best interest when using them.”  What could happen in the hands of a president less concerned with norms?

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently accused the National Enquirer of “extortion and blackmail” over private photos of him obtained by the tabloid. In a Medium post, Bezos shared emails from the Enquirer that threaten to publish those photos unless he accedes to their demands. How did a celebrity magazine get into the rough and tumble world of extortion?

Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker staff writer and CNN’s Chief Legal Analyst, joins Alex Wagner to share insights from his 2017 profile of the man who runs the tabloid. How did the National Enquirer become what it is today? Why does it pay to silence stories about Donald Trump? And why is it at war with Jeff Bezos?

Recently, news broke that Virginia’s Democratic governor and attorney general both wore blackface in the 1980s. The controversy now enveloping the state has seemed all too familiar, as blackface photos of even more politicians have come out in recent years. Alex Wagner sits down with staff writers Vann R. Newkirk II and Adam Serwer to ask: how does this keep happening?

Senator Kamala Harris has drawn criticism for beginning her 2020 campaign by pitching herself as a ‘progressive prosecutor’ despite a more mixed record.

Alex Wagner sits down with two people who have thought deeply about the power of prosecutors in America: Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler and New York Times Magazine staff writer Emily Bazelon. What exactly is Harris’s record? How does race inform the debate about prosecutorial power? And what does it all mean for the broader conversation in 2020 about criminal justice?

The government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history, but President Trump seems no closer to a deal to resolve it. Why does the “master dealmaker” -- as he sold himself on the campaign trail -- seem at a loss in his first negotiation with a Democratic House?

New York Times White House Correspondent and ‘Trump whisperer’ Maggie Haberman joins Alex Wagner to explain how his business career actually predicted his performance during the shutdown.

On Friday, the New York Times published a startling story: In 2017, days after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, the bureau opened an inquiry into whether the president was secretly working on behalf of Russia. It was an explosive development in an already major story.

Since this news came out, it’s informed how we see two other very big new stories: On Sunday, the Washington Post reported that Trump has gone to “extraordinary lengths” to conceal details of his conversations with Vladimir Putin. And on Monday, the Times reported that Trump had discussed withdrawing the United States from NATO.

Trump claims he has been tougher on Russia “than any other President,” while also proposing that “getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing.” Over the years, people have speculated about Trump’s ties to Russia. But this week’s news raises the question very clearly: Is the President of the United States a Russian asset?

Social media platforms once promised to connect the world. Today’s digital communities, though, often feel like forces for disunity. Anger and discord in 2018 seemed only amplified by the social media institutions that now dictate our conversations. Executive editor Matt Thompson sits down with staff writer Alexis Madrigal to find out how we got to this point and whether we can do anything to solve it.

Observing antidemocratic ‘power grabs’ by state Republicans, Atlantic staff writer George Packer writes that “the corruption of the Republican Party in the Trump era seemed to set in with breathtaking speed. In fact, it took more than a half century to reach the point where faced with a choice between democracy and power, the party chose the latter.”

To understand how the party of Lincoln became the party of Trump, Alex Wagner spoke with Packer on this week’s episode of Radio Atlantic. Listen to hear Packer describe the three ‘insurgencies’ that explain the transformation of the GOP over the last half-century. An ideological revolution that began with Barry Goldwater became a coup for power with Newt Gingrich (A.K.A. “The Man Who Broke Politics”). Afterwards, moderate Republicans became an endangered species, the Tea Party emerged as a major force, and Trump’s brand of corrosive politics became, Packer says, “inevitable.”

On Thursday, Maria Butina became the first Russian national convicted of seeking to influence the 2016 election. As part of Russia’s years-long effort to cozy up to the American right, Butina gained access to conservative circles through the National Rifle Association. And as the NRA is under scrutiny for ties to Russian operatives, it appears the organization illegally coordinated with the Trump campaign.

Alex Wagner catches up on the week’s developments with Atlantic staff writer Natasha Bertrand. Then, to make sense of how the NRA, Russia, and the Trump campaign connect to one another, she’s joined by Mike Spies, a staff writer for The Trace who covers the gun lobby.

A Chinese researcher recently touched off a global controversy when he announced the birth of the world’s first genetically edited babies. The claims remain unverified, but the news shocked and dismayed scientists around the world. Atlantic staff writers Ed Yong and Sarah Zhang join Matt Thompson to discuss the news and what it means for the future of genetic editing.

Links

- The CRISPR Baby Scandal Gets Worse by the Day (Ed Yong, December 3, 2018)

- Chinese Scientists Are Outraged by Reports of Gene-Edited Babies (Sarah Zhang, November 27, 2018)

-A Reckless and Needless Use of Gene Editing on Human Embryos (Ed Yong, November 26, 2018)

Paul Manafort’s cooperation with the Mueller probe has collapsed. In a Monday filing, the special counsel’s office said he repeatedly lied to federal investigators, nullifying the plea agreement and exposing him to new charges.

Not soon after, news stories broke reporting that Manafort had met with Julian Assange in 2016, that a meeting between Manafort and Ecuador’s then-president was under scrutiny by Mueller, and that Manafort’s lawyer was briefing Trump’s attorneys. All this comes as the investigation appears to be reaching a crescendo. What does Mueller know? What did Manafort lie about? And what will President Trump do next?

The midterms were over a week ago, but a number of races have yet to be called. In Florida, the senate and governor elections have both come down to a recount, and accusations of vote-tampering are flying.

Alex Wagner talks with Atlantic staff writer Isaac Dovere to understand what’s going on, and then turns to two veterans of the last such debacle: Mark McKinnon, chief media adviser for George W. Bush's 2000 campaign and Jeremy Bash, national security issues director for the Gore campaign.

They discuss winning the narrative, butterfly ballots, and landing to a “cloud of chads.”

Executive Editor Matt Thompson interviews Atlantic reporters on what lessons they drew from the midterm elections, speaking in turn with: Vann Newkirk, Emma Green, Ron Brownstein, Adam Harris, and David Graham.

Links

- “The Democrats’ Deep-South Strategy Was a Winner After All”(Vann R. Newkirk II, November 8, 2018)

- ”Tuesday Showed the Drawbacks of Trump's Electoral Bargain” (Ronald Brownstein, November 7, 2018)

- “The Year of the Woman Still Leaves Women With Terrible Representation in Government” (Emma Green, November 7, 2018)

- “The Democrats Are Back, and Ready to Take On Trump” (David A. Graham, November 7, 2018)

- “America Is Divided by Education” (Adam Harris, November 7, 2018)

- “The Georgia Governor’s Race Has Brought Voter Suppression Into Full View” (Vann R. Newkirk II, November 6, 2018)

The upcoming midterms mark the first nationwide referendum on the Trump presidency and the GOP-led Congress. Coming amid a shocking spree of political violence and an ugly showdown over voting rights, Tuesday’s election will have massive ramifications. What conclusions can we draw from the vote?

Links

- “The Jews of Pittsburgh Bury Their Dead” (Emma Green, October 30, 2018)

- “Trump Shut Programs to Counter Violent Extremism” (Peter Beinart, October 29, 2018)

- “Trump’s Caravan Hysteria Led to This” (Adam Serwer, October 28, 2018)

- “A Broken Jewish Community” (Emma Green, October 28, 2018)

- “Voter Suppression Is the New Old Normal” (Vann R. Newkirk II, October 24, 2018)

- “The 2018 Midterms Are All About Trump” (Ronald Brownstein, October 18, 2018)

On October 2nd, Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, never to be seen again. Details of the journalist’s brutal killing and dismemberment have since emerged, prompting an international crisis for the kingdom and its de-facto ruler, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

This week, The Atlantic’s Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg sits down with Fred Hiatt, the Washington Post’s editorial page editor and Jamal Khashoggi’s former boss, to discuss the man Khashoggi was and what justice may come after his death.

Links

- “This is the first step to recalibrating U.S.-Saudi relations” (The Editorial Board, Washington Post, October 22, 2018)

- “The U.S. Loved the Saudi Crown Prince. Not Anymore.” (Krishnadev Calamur, October 22, 2018)

- “There can be no coverup of this act of pure evil” (The Editorial Board, Washington Post, October 19, 2018)

- “Trump Sees Khashoggi’s Disappearance Mostly as a PR Problem” (David A. Graham, October 19, 2018)

- “Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression” (Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post, October 17, 2018)

- “Saudi Crown Prince: Iran's Supreme Leader 'Makes Hitler Look Good'” (Jeffrey Goldberg, April 2, 2018)

Senator Elizabeth Warren recently shared results of a genetic analysis to back up her family’s story of Cherokee ancestry, hoping to blunt a favorite Republican attack line. The move backfired. A DNA result does not confer a Cherokee heritage. And in general, efforts to link our genetics with our ethnic or cultural identities have a long and sordid history. So what’s more revealing: the results of DNA tests like Warren’s? Or what we try to find in them?

Links

- “The First DNA Test as Political Stunt” (Sarah Zhang, October 15, 2018)

- “Trump, Warren, and America's Racial Essentialism” (Vann R. Newkirk II, October 16, 2018)

- “Your DNA Is Not Your Culture” (Sarah Zhang, September 25, 2018)

- “When White Nationalists Get DNA Tests That Reveal African Ancestry” (Sarah Zhang, August 17, 2017)

- "Radio Atlantic: Becoming White in America" (Kevin Townsend, April 13, 2018)

A college education has become a key asset towards success in the American economy, but for many Americans, access to higher education—especially at a prestigious university—feels increasingly out of reach. With its capricious admissions and massive debt loads, the system is struggling. So we’re sitting down this week with two members of our Education team—editor Alia Wong and staff writer Adam Harris—to ask the question: is U.S. higher education sustainable?

Links

- “Harvard Admissions on Trial” (Alia Wong, October 5, 2018)

- “America Wakes Up From Its Dream of Free College” (Adam Harris, September 11, 2018)

- “George Washington’s Broken Dream of a National University” (Adam Harris, September 21, 2018)

- “Lotteries May Be the Fairest Way to Fix Elite-College Admissions” (Alia Wong, August 1, 2018)

- “Why the Ivy League Needs to Admit More Students” (Alia Wong, September 28, 2018)

- “Here’s How Higher Education Dies” (Adam Harris, June 5, 2018)

- “The Era of Affirmative Action May Not Last Much Longer” (Adam Harris, July 3, 2018)

- “The College-Graduation Problem All States Have” (Adam Harris, June 16, 2018)

Four years ago, after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, protestors took to the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Among them was a school administrator, always clad in a trademark blue vest. DeRay Mckesson, now a face of what became the Black Lives Matter movement, spoke in Washington this week at The Atlantic Festival. Mckesson recently authored a memoir: On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope.

Links

- On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope (DeRay Mckesson, 2018)

- “DeRay McKesson Talks About the Hardest Job He's Ever Had” (Lola Fadulu, June 2, 2018)

- “Hashtag Activism Isn't a Cop-Out” (Noah Berlatsky, January 7, 2015)

After a news week that’s felt more like a news month, Matt Thompson sits down with two experienced editors to ask how people manage to make and consume news in today’s environment. Adrienne LaFrance is the editor of TheAtlantic.com. Franklin Foer is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and the author of World Without Mind.

Links

- “The Death of the Public Square” (Franklin Foer, July 6, 2018)

- “The Most Powerful Publishers in the World Don’t Give a Damn” (Adrienne LaFrance, August 8, 2018)

- “Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Understand Journalism” (Adrienne LaFrance, May 1, 2018)

- “The Era of Fake Video Begins” (Franklin Foer, May 2018 Issue)

- “When Silicon Valley Took Over Journalism” (Franklin Foer, September 2017 Issue)

- “It’s Time to Regulate the Internet” (Franklin Foer, March 21, 2018)

- “Social Media in 1857” (Adrienne LaFrance, November 1, 2017)

As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces assault allegations, the #MeToo movement reaches its first anniversary. Beyond a potential hearing reminiscent of the Anita Hill testimony 27 years ago, recent days have seen the head of CBS toppled, the editor of The New York Review of Books gone, and even a glacier renamed. What’s changed since the start of the #MeToo movement and what hasn’t?

Links

- “The Logical Fallacy of Christine Blasey Ford’s ‘Choice’” (Megan Garber, September 20, 2018)

- “The Phantom Reckoning” (Megan Garber, September 16, 2018)

- “Brett Kavanaugh and the Revealing Logic of ‘Boys Will Be Boys’” (Megan Garber, September 17, 2018)

- “I Believe Her” (Caitlin Flanagan, September 17, 2018)

- “Why the Les Moonves Departure Is Not Enough” (Megan Garber, September 10, 2018)

- “Shame and Survival” (Monica Lewinsky, Vanity Fair, June 2014)

- “Nanette Is a Radical, Transformative Work of Comedy” (Sophie Gilbert, June 27, 2018)

With authoritarianism and populism on the rise around the world, The Atlantic examines the fate of democracy in its October issue. Anne Applebaum writes that Poland shows how quickly things can fall apart and Jeffrey Rosen writes that the state of American politics is one Founder’s worst nightmare. They join Jeffrey Goldberg and Alex Wagner to discuss this precarious moment in history.

Links

- “Is Democracy Dying?” (October 2018 Issue)

- “America Is Living James Madison’s Nightmare” (Jeffrey Rosen, October 2018)

- “A Warning From Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come” (Anne Applebaum, October 2018)

- “The Threat of Tribalism” (Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld, October 2018)

- “Americans Aren’t Practicing Democracy Anymore” (Yoni Appelbaum, October 2018)

- “Twitter’s Flawed Solution to Political Polarization” (Christopher A. Bail, New York Times, September 8, 2018)

Mark Leibovich has a day job covering the reality show of politics as the New York Times Magazine’s Chief National Correspondent, but he’s spent the spent the last few years reporting a book on America’s other biggest reality show: football.

The new season begins with Colin Kaepernick the face of Nike, Donald Trump the NFL’s biggest commentator, and America’s most popular sport facing a myriad of problems. How does football survive both CTE and declining ratings? Which is the bigger swamp – Washington, DC, or an NFL owner’s box?

Links

- Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times (Mark Leibovich, 2018)

- “The Absurdist Spectacle of the Nike Boycotts” (Hannah Giorgis, September 5, 2018)

- “Colin Kaepernick, Nike, and the Myth of Good and Bad Companies” (Joshua Hunt, September 5, 2018)

- “Taking a Blowtorch to Debate” (Alex Wagner, September 5, 2018)

- “Trump’s Divisive and Relentless Politicization of the NFL” (Ben Strauss, September 1, 2018)

This week, the most rigorous estimate yet of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria was published, marking a grim milestone: the hurricane season of 2017 was one of the deadliest in North America in a century. A year after Puerto Rico, Houston, and other communities were devastated by storms, they’re still counting the victims and trying to rebuild. Because of climate change, these types of extreme disasters may only grow more common.

In this episode, The Atlantic’s staff writers Vann Newkirk and Elaina Plott join Matt Thompson to discuss their reporting on Puerto Rico and Houston. How are they doing a year later? And what should we learn from their recovery efforts?

Links

- “A New Death Toll for Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria” (Vann R. Newkirk II, August 28, 2018)

- “Hurricane Harvey Is Houston’s Unending Nightmare” (Elaina Plott, August 26, 2018)

- “A Look Back at Hurricane Harvey: One Year Since Landfall” (Alan Taylor, August 26, 2018)

- “Researchers Are Still Counting the Dead From Hurricane Maria” (Vann R. Newkirk II, August 2, 2018)

Matt and Gillian discuss Paul Manafort’s guilty verdict and Michael Cohen’s guilty plea with Franklin Foer and David A. Graham. Was Tuesday a turning point for the Trump administration?

Links

- “The Day That Everything Changed for Trump” (David A. Graham, August 22, 2018)

- “Trump’s Victory Was a Disaster for Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort” (David A. Graham, August 23, 2018)

- “Blind Confidence Couldn’t Save Paul Manafort” (Franklin Foer, August 21, 2018)

- “The Plot Against America” (Franklin Foer, March 2018 Issue)

- “Will Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart — Or His Handler?” (Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine, July 8, 2018)

- “All Eyes on the Presidency” (Adam Serwer, August 22, 2018)

- Corruption in America (Zephyr Teachout, 2016)

With movies like Crazy Rich Asians, BlacKkKlansman, and Sorry To Bother You out in theaters, Hollywood is trying to mute the complaint that it lacks racial and ethnic diversity, to avoid another #OscarsSoWhite. But depicting people of color onscreen was always the easy part. Next comes a harder question: how authentically are minority experiences being represented? Matt sits down with senior editor Gillian White and culture writer Hannah Giorgis to discuss.

Links

- “What Does It Mean to ‘Sound’ Black?” (Hannah Giorgis, August 15, 2018)

- “There’s Nothing Wrong With Black English” (John McWhorter, August 6, 2018)

- “With BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee Sounds the Alarm About America’s Past and Present” (David Sims, August 8, 2018)

- “Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal on Blindspotting and the Power of Poetry” (Hannah Giorgis, July 21, 2018)

- “Blindspotting Is a Boldly Sincere Love Letter to Oakland” (David Sims, July 20, 2018)

- “The Oscars’ Terrible Idea” (David Sims, August 9, 2018)

- “Yet Another Reason the New ‘Popular Film’ Oscar Is a Terrible Idea” (Christopher Orr, August 11, 2018)

It’s been a year since the violence of the “Unite the Right” rally and the political turmoil of its aftermath. How did Charlottesville change the country? Has the alt-right withered under the new scrutiny or grown amidst the new visibility? And what responsibility do tech platforms have to stop the spread of hateful ideologies?

Links

- "The White Nationalists Are Winning" (Adam Serwer, August 10, 2018)

- “White threat in a browning America” (Ezra Klein, Vox,  July 30, 2018)

- “The Hate Report: The alt-right is down, but not out” (Will Carless and Aaron Sankin, Reveal, June 1, 2018)

- “The Defense That Failed White Nationalists” (Adam Serwer, May 10, 2018)

- “The Lost Boys” (Angela Nagle, December 2017 Issue)

- “The Hoods Are Off” (Matt Thompson, August 12, 2017)

The first anniversary of Radio Atlantic this week coincides with one of the newsiest weeks of 2018. So we’ve decided to take the opportunity to lift our sights above the fog of news for a few minutes, and discuss the things that are most important to remember—the Keepers of the Year. We revisit some of the most memorable keepers of the show’s earliest months, and share reflections from our Atlantic colleagues.

Links

- “Nanette Is a Radical, Transformative Work of Comedy” (Sophie Gilbert, June 27, 2018)

- Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Neil Postman, 1985)

- “My Family's Slave” (Alex Tizon, June 2017 Issue)

- “Complicating the Narratives” (Amanda Ripley, Medium, June 27, 2018)

- “how to do nothing” (Jenny Odell, Medium, June 29, 2017)

- “Philip Roth's final interview: 'Life can stop on a dime'” (Charles Mcgrath, Irish Times, January 22, 2018)

As President Trump meets with other western leaders in Europe, the spirit of democratic cooperation we’re used to in NATO summits is gone. But it’s not just Trump. Populist movements around Europe are agitating against the cooperation that has bound the continent since World War II. Where is the West headed? Is this a short-term fever brought on by unique stresses? Or does it herald a re-fracturing of the continent? Are the ‘member states’ of Europe becoming ‘nation states’ again?

Links

- “Angela Merkel, Escape Artist” (Yasmeen Serhan, July 3, 2018)

- “What If Russia Invaded the Baltics—and Donald Trump Was President?” (Uri Friedman, July 27, 2016)

- “England’s Unfamiliar Emotion: Hope” (Sophie Gilbert, July 10, 2018)

- “Why Didn't Boris Johnson Get Fired Before He Quit?” (Yasmeen Serhan, July 9, 2018)

- “The End of the Brexit Illusion” (David Frum, July 9, 2018)

- “Trump’s Plan to End Europe” (David Frum, May 2017 Issue)

- Educated (Tara Westover, 2018)

“Humanity is now in the midst of its fastest-ever period of change,” writes Ed Yong in the July/August issue of The Atlantic. Urbanization and globalization mean pathogens can spread and become drug-resistant more quickly than ever.

Yong joins executive editor Matt Thompson and fellow science writer Sarah Zhang to discuss what vulnerabilities exist a century after the 1918 pandemic, and how our sharpest risks might be societal and psychological.

Links

- “The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?” (Ed Yong, July/August 2018 Issue)

- “VIDEO: Is Trump Ready for a Global Outbreak?” (Ed Yong, Jun 14, 2018)

- “China Is Genetically Engineering Monkeys With Brain Disorders” (Sarah Zhang,  June 8, 2018)

- “The Perfect Storm Behind This Year's Nasty Flu Season” (Sarah Zhang,  January 13, 2018)

- “Trees That Have Lived for Millennia Are Suddenly Dying” (Ed Yong, Jun 11, 2018)

- @sarahzhang on Twitter; @-mention her if you’ve read Audrey Schulman’s A Theory of Bastards

- 160 Years of Atlantic Stories

- “How Bad Is the Flu?” (Justina Hill, March 1944 Issue)

Outrage over families separated at the border has reached a fever pitch. Social media is awash with images of undocumented migrants held in cages, sounds of children crying for their parents, and viral videos of a callous administration response. On Wednesday, President Trump caved to immense political pressure and signed an executive order meant to end family separation at the border. But what effect will it actually have?

Video producer Jeremy Raff has been in McAllen, Texas, attending "mass trials" of immigrants—many of whom have been separated from their children with no certainty on when, or if, they will be reunited. Raff shares what's happening along the border, then staff writer Priscilla Alvarez joins to discuss what the news in Washington means for separated families.

Links

- "Purgatory at the Border" (Jeremy Raff, June 19, 2018)

- "'So What? Maybe It Is a Concentration Camp'" (Jeremy Raff, February 23, 2018)

- "Extinguishing the Beacon of America" (Alex Wagner, June 15, 2018)

- "Trump Says He Will End the Family Separations He Imposed" (David A. Graham, June 20, 2018)

Nationwide, black Americans live three years less than white Americans. In places with a history of segregation, that life-expectancy gap can be as much as twenty years. Staff writer Olga Khazan joins Matt Thompson, Alex Wagner, and Vann Newkirk to share the story of Kiarra Boulware, a young black woman from Baltimore whose struggles shed a light on how people living only a few miles apart have such disparate health prospects

Links

- “Being Black in America Can Be Hazardous to Your Health” (Olga Khazan, July/August 2018 Issue

- “The 'Horrifying' Consequence of Lead Poisoning” (Olga Khazan, November 8, 2017)

- “The Lead-Poisoned Generation in New Orleans” (Vann R. Newkirk II, May 21, 2017)

- “How Income Affects the Brain” (Olga Khazan, May 15, 2018)

- “The Obesity Cure Is Out of Reach in the Heaviest States” (Olga Khazan, May 7, 2018)

- “Trump's EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real” (Vann R. Newkirk II, February 28, 2018)

- “Food Swamps Are the New Food Deserts” (Olga Khazan, December 28, 2017)

- “What the 'Crack Baby' Panic Reveals About The Opioid Epidemic” (Vann R. Newkirk II, July 16, 2017)

- “The Fight for Health Care Has Always Been About Civil Rights” (Vann R. Newkirk II, June 27, 2017)

- “VIDEO: Environmental Racism Is the New Jim Crow” (Vann R. Newkirk II, June 5, 2017)

- “When You Can't Afford Sleep” (Olga Khazan, September 15, 2014)

Two of the world’s most volatile heads of state—Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump—have moved in the span of a year from trading insults to trading fawning letters. Now, they're days away from the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Between Kim's nuclear ambitions and Trump's political pressures, the stakes of this exchange couldn’t be higher. Are we headed toward the world’s most unlikely match? Or its worst diplomatic divorce?

Links

- “The Threat to Kim Jong Un Within North Korea” (Uri Friedman, June 4, 2018)

- “So Is the North Korea Summit Back On, or What?” (Uri Friedman, May 31, 2018)

- “How South Korea Pulled Trump and Kim Back From the Brink” (Uri Friedman, May 27, 2018)

- “South Korea’s President Moon is the man in the (very precarious) middle” (Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Washington Post, May 28, 2018)

- “Former South Korean National-Security Adviser: The U.S. May Have to Withdraw Some Troops” (Uri Friedman, May 23, 2018)

- “Trumpism: Speak Loudly and Carry a Big Stick" (Uri Friedman, April 6, 2018)

- “The Man Behind the North Korea Negotiations” (S. Nathan Park, March 12, 2018)

A new generation of political activists have grown up more interested in provoking outrage from their fellow citizens than in winning them over. Among the most influential exemplars of the genre is Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser to President Trump. What happens when the trolls run politics? What happens when they run the White House?

Links

- “Trump’s Right-Hand Troll” (McKay Coppins, May 28, 2018)

- “How an Aspiring It-Girl Tricked New York's Party People - and Its Biggest Banks” (Jessica Pressler, New York Magazine, May 28, 2018)

- “Review: 'Children of Blood and Bone,' by Tomi Adeyemi” (Vann R. Newkirk II, April 2018 Issue)

- “This Is The Daily Stormer’s Playbook” (Ashley Feinberg, Huffington Post, December 13, 2017)

- “Watch: Young Stephen Miller jokes “torture is a celebration of life”” (Noah Kulwin, Vice, May 30, 2017)

- “The Future of Trumpism Is on Campus” (Elaine Godfrey, January 2, 2018)

- “Is Free Speech Really Challenged on Campus?” (Julian E. Zelizer and Morton Keller, September 15, 2017)

- “Trolls Are Winning the Internet, Technologists Say” (Adrienne LaFrance, March 29, 2017)

- “The First Troll” (James Parker, December 2016 Issue)

- “Should We Feed the Trolls?” (Adrienne LaFrance, April 28, 2016)

The decades-old dispute between Israelis and Palestinians seems to be at a new low these days. Two American-born writers – an Israeli author and a Muslim journalist – join editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg and global editor Kathy Gilsinan to grapple with the bleak state of affairs. Yossi Klein Halevi is the author of the new book Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. Wajahat Ali recently traveled to the West Bank to write “A Muslim Among Israeli Settlers” for the June 2018 issue of The Atlantic. The four discuss how we got here and what paths forward remain.

Links

- “A Muslim Among Israeli Settlers” (Wajahat Ali, June 2018 Issue)

- "Settlers in the 'Most Contentious Place on Earth'" (Wajahat Ali, May 10, 2018)

- “The Real Dispute Driving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” (Yossi Klein Halevi, May 14, 2018)

- Yossi Klein Halevi joined Jeffrey Goldberg on The Atlantic Interview (May 1, 2018)

- “Jerusalem’s Ramadan Is Different This Year” (Emma Green, May 18, 2018)

- “The Coming Storm in Israel” (Neri Zilber, May 11, 2018)

- “Iran vs. Israel: Is a Major War Ahead?” (Avi Issacharoff, May 11, 2018)

- “Celebration in Jerusalem, Bloodshed in Gaza” (Emma Green, May 14, 2018)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has been the focus of headlines and cable news for a full year now. Despite his seemingly leak-proof team, speculation and anxiety swirl around the inquiry. What do we actually know about the investigation? How much deeper does the iceberg go? And where is it heading next?

Links

- "The Lingering Mysteries of a Trump-Russia Conspiracy" (Natasha Bertrand, May 16, 2018)

- "Trump Finally Fesses Up to Reimbursing Michael Cohen" (David A. Graham, May 16, 2018)

- “What Exactly Is Rudy Giuliani's Role?” (David A. Graham, May 7, 2018)

- "Trump Goes to War With Mueller" (David A. Graham, May 2, 2018)

- "Mueller's Probe Is Even More Expansive Than It Seems" (Natasha Bertrand, May 14, 2018)

- "'These Are Very Dangerous Questions for the President'" (Adam Serwer, May 1, 2018)

This week's Radio Atlantic brings you the first episode of our new show Crazy/Genius, hosted by Atlantic staff writer (and past Radio Atlantic guest) Derek Thompson. In this episode, two guests debate whether Facebook is fixable, or whether its business model is designed to sell us lies.

Some Americans who grew up identifying with Roseanne have found themselves alienated by Roseanne Barr’s outspoken devotion to President Trump. Many of Kanye West’s fans revolted after he tweeted out an image of himself wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. Pop culture will probably always mirror the divides playing out in society. But when social divides are more massive than they’ve been in generations, does all our entertainment become a litmus test for our political beliefs?

Links

- “Bill Cosby and the Slow Death of Celebrity Impunity” (Megan Garber, April 26, 2018)

- "The 'Dragon Energy' of Kanye West and Donald Trump" (Vann Newkirk, April 25, 2018)

- "How 'Roseanne' Divides the Left" (Conor Friedersdorf, April 4, 2018)

- “Roseanne vs. the 'Nasty Woman'” (Megan Garber, March 23, 2018)

- Chika Oranika on Twitter (April 26, 2018)

- Teddy Bear scene, “Daisy” (The Golden Girls, September 17, 1987)

“We are a president-obsessed nation, so much so that we undermine the very idea of our constitutional democracy,” writes John Dickerson in his May cover story in The Atlantic. “No one man—or woman—can possibly represent the varied, competing interests of 327 million citizens.” Have we heaped so much upon the president that the job has become impossible? Is Trump testing the office in valuable ways? And if the presidency is broken, how do we fix it?

Links

- "The Hardest Job in the World" (John Dickerson, May 2018 Issue)

- “Scott Pruitt Bypassed the White House to Give Big Raises to Favorite Aides” (Elaina Plott and Robinson Meyer, April 3, 2018)

- "Letter to Joseph Hooker from Lincoln, January 26, 1863" (Library of Congress)

- Educated (Tara Westover, 2018)

- Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It (Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik, 2018)

- Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders, 2017)

- “There’s Something Funny About Tiffany Haddish” (Caity Weaver, GQ, March 26, 2018)

Long the crossroads of civilizations, Syria has now spent seven years as the proxy warzone of great powers. With over half a million dead and millions more displaced, the conflict is  now “arguably the world’s largest humanitarian disaster since World War II,” writes Andrew Tabler in The Atlantic. “The Syrian Civil War now threatens to morph into the Syria War—a regional conflagration which seems likely to burn for a generation. And civilians are cursed to live it, and die in it, every day.” How did we get here? And what comes next?

Links

- “How Syria Came to This” (Andrew Tabler, April 15, 2018)

- “What If There Is No Ethical Way to Act in Syria Now?” (Sigal Samuel, April 13, 2018)

- “The Obama Doctrine” (Jeffrey Goldberg, April 2016 Issue)

- “The Syrian War Is Actually Many Wars” (Krishnadev Calamur, April 13, 2018)

- “Trump's Selective Empathy for Syrian War Victims” (Krishnadev Calamur, April 18, 2018)

- The Poems of Max Ehrmann (Max Ehrmann, 1906)

In her new book Futureface, Alex Wagner writes that “immigration raises into relief some of our most basic existential questions: Who am I? Where do I belong? And in that way, it’s inextricably tied to an exploration of American identity.” In the book, Alex explores her own American identity – daughter of a Burmese immigrant mother and a small-town Irish Catholic father – and asks how true the stories we grow up with really are.

Along with co-hosts Matt and Jeff, Alex is joined by The Atlantic’s deputy politics editor Adam Serwer to discuss the tangled intersections of history, heritage, family, race, and nationality. Is America truly a melting pot? Can nationalism be liberal? And is that stalwart American immigrant story just a history written by the victors?

Links

- Futureface (Alex Wagner, 2018)

- “The Nationalist's Delusion” (Adam Serwer, November 20, 2017)

- “America Is Not a Democracy” (Yascha Mounk, March 2018 Issue)

- ”The End of Identity Liberalism” (Mark Lilla, New York Times, November 18, 2016)

- ”How Can Liberals Reclaim Nationalism?” (Yascha Mounk, New York Times, March 3, 2018)

- “Why Are We Surprised When Buddhists Are Violent?” (Dan Arnold and Alicia Turner, New York Times, March 5, 2018)

- “The Americans Our Government Won’t Count” (Alex Wagner, New York Times, March 30, 2018)

- “Huapango” by José Pablo Moncayo (South West German Radio Kaiserslautern Orchestra, 2007)

- Black and White: Land, Labor, and Politics in the South (Timothy Thomas Fortune, 1884)

- Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History (Steven Zipperstein, 2018)

As Atlantic staff writer Robinson Meyer recently wrote, Facebook “is currently embroiled in the worst crisis of trust in its 14-year history.” This week, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. Congress for the first time. It’s not clear whether Congress will seek to exert more regulatory control over the company, even after revelations that as many as 87 million people unwittingly had their Facebook data given to the political firm Cambridge Analytica, which may have used some of that data to influence the 2016 U.S. election. And the questions senators asked of Zuckerberg suggest they may not yet understand Facebook well enough to regulate it effectively, even if they wanted to.

In this Radio Atlantic news update, Rob shares what he learned from his exclusive interview with Zuckerberg, and from the CEO’s testimony before Congress. We discuss with Atlantic senior editor Gillian White whether Facebook can be regulated, and whether it will.

Links

- “Mark Zuckerberg Says He’s Not Resigning” (Robinson Meyer, April 9, 2018)

- “The 3 Questions Mark Zuckerberg Hasn’t Answered” (Robinson Meyer, April 10, 2018)

- “How Facebook’s Ad Tool Fails to Protect Civil Rights” (Gillian B. White, October 28, 2016)

- “Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race” (Julia Angwin and Terry Parris Jr., ProPublica, October 28, 2016)

- Sarah Jeong on Twitter

- “The Most Important Exchange of the Zuckerberg Hearing” (Alexis C. Madrigal, April 11, 2018)

- “Mark Zuckerberg Is Halfway to Scot-Free” (Alexis C. Madrigal, April 11, 2018)

- “My Facebook Was Breached by Cambridge Analytica. Was Yours?” (Robinson Meyer, April 10, 2018)

- “Can Anyone Unseat Mark Zuckerberg?” (Robinson Meyer, March 22, 2018)

- “The Cambridge Analytica Scandal, in 3 Paragraphs” (Robinson Meyer, March 20, 2018)

“Trump gambled that Americans resent each other’s differences more than they cherish their shared democracy. So far that gamble has paid off,” writes David Frum in his new book Trumpocracy.

Along with The Atlantic's Global Editor Kathy Gilsinan, David joins to explain how President Trump has undermined our most important institutions. What does democracy around the world look like when the leader of the free world is less interested in it himself?

Links

- Trumpocracy (David Frum, 2018)

- “Saudi Crown Prince: Iran's Supreme Leader 'Makes Hitler Look Good'” (Jeffrey Goldberg, April 2, 2018)

- “The Risks to Freedom in Hungary” (David Frum, April 5, 2018)

- “How to Build an Autocracy” (David Frum, March 2017 Issue)

- “Freedom Fights for Survival in Hungary” (David Frum, April 10, 2017)

- “An Exit From Trumpocracy” (David Frum, January 18, 2018)

- “Americans Can't Afford to Grow Used to This” (David Frum, January 9, 2018)

- “Tracking the appearances of “rosy-fingered Dawn” in The Odyssey” (Jason Kottke, kottke.org, April 3, 2018)

- “Strategies of Attainment” (C. Lee Shea, War on the Rocks, April 1, 2018)

In his last speech, known to history as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” Martin Luther King Jr. began by remarking on the introduction he’d been given by his friend, Ralph Abernathy. “As I listened to ... his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself,” King said modestly, “I wondered who he was talking about.”

The facsimile of King that America would fashion after his assassination—saintly pacifist, stranger to controversy, beloved by all—might have provoked something well beyond wonder. To create a version of King that America could love, the nation sanded down the reality of the man, his ministry, and his activism. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, Vann Newkirk and Adrienne Green join our hosts, Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson, to discuss the truth of King in the last year of his life and after.

Links

- KING: Full coverage from The Atlantic of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy

- “The Whitewashing of King’s Assassination” (Vann R. Newkirk, MLK Issue)

- “The Chasm Between Racial Optimism and Reality” (Jeffrey Goldberg, MLK Issue)

- King’s Three Evils (Martin Luther King Jr., May 10, 1967)

- “The Civil-Rights Movement’s Generation Gap” (Bree Newsome, MLK Issue)

- “Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'Letter From Birmingham Jail'” (Martin Luther King Jr., August 1, 1963)

- “How Much Had Schools Really Been Desegregated by 1964?” (Martin Luther King Jr., MLK Issue)

- “Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War” (Martin Luther King Jr., MLK Issue)

- “Generational Differences in Black Activism” (Conor Friedersdorf, June 30, 2016)

The family is where the forces that are driving Americans farther apart—political polarization, generational divides, class stratification, Facebook fights—literally hit home. Economic, ideological, and technological shifts pose uncertain consequences for what Daniel Patrick Moynihan called “the basic social unit of American life.” And not even a burgeoning industry of experts can tell parents what to do. “Parents are now more anxious than ever about their children,” writes Paula Fass in The Atlantic, “while disputes about how to raise children the ‘right’ way to meet a darkening future are a commonplace of child-rearing advice.”

On March 20, The Atlantic launched a new section on the family—looking not just at America, but around the world; focusing not just on today, but on yesterday and tomorrow. In this episode, two of the editors steering this coverage, Rebecca Rosen and Adrienne LaFrance, join our hosts to explore how families are faring amid massive change.

Links

-“Millennials: The Mobile and the Stuck” (Derek Thompson, August 24, 2016)

- “The Perils of 'Sharenting'” (Adrienne LaFrance, October 6, 2016)

- “It's Hard to Go to Church” (Emma Green, August 23, 2016)

- “The Graying of Rural America” (Alana Semuels, June 2016)

“Politicians from both parties publicly worship the solemn dignity of entrepreneurship and small businesses. But by the numbers, America has become the land of the big and the home of the consolidated,” writes The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson.

In a time when Americans have lost faith in their institutions, the nation seems to now look to corporations for positive action. Can big business be a force for good or only a force for profit? Does their very size pose a threat? If corporations can be people, can they be good citizens?

Links

- “Is Big Business Really That Bad?” (Robert D. Atkinson and Michael Lind, April 2018 Issue)

- “America’s Monopoly Problem” (Derek Thompson, October 2016 Issue)

- “'Corporations Are People' Is Built on an Incredible 19th-Century Lie” (Adam Winkler, March 5, 2018)

- “How American Business Got So Big” (Gillian B. White, November 18, 2016)

- “A Small Town Kept Walmart Out. Now It Faces Amazon.” (Alana Semuels, March 2, 2018)

- “Why Amazon Pays Some of Its Workers to Quit” (Alana Semuels, February 14, 2018)

- “The Internet Is Enabling a New Kind of Poorly Paid Hell” (Alana Semuels, January 23, 2018)

- “Hitchens Talks to Goldblog About Cancer and God” (Jeffrey Goldberg, August 6, 2010)

Discarding the limits on a leader's time in office is a classic autocrat's move. So when Xi Jinping began to clear a path for an indefinite term as China's president, he dimmed many once-bright hopes that he would speed the nation's path toward a new era of openness and reform. For James Fallows,The Atlantic's national correspondent, it was a sad vindication of a warning he issued two years ago in the magazine, of “China’s Great Leap Backward.”

As the 15th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq approaches, we review the developments in China, and look back at another warning that proved prescient: Fallows's National Magazine Award-winning essay, "The Fifty-First State?" Fallows joins our hosts, Alex Wagner and Matt Thompson, along with The Atlantic's global editor Kathy Gilsinan.

Links

- “China’s Great Leap Backward” (James Fallows, December 2016 Issue)

- “Xi Jinping Reveals Himself As An Autocrat” (James Fallows and Caroline Kitchener, February 26, 2018)

- “China Is Not a Garden-Variety Dictatorship” (David Frum, March 5, 2018)

- “The Myth of a Kinder, Gentler Xi Jinping” (Isaac Stone Fish, February 27, 2018)

- “China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone” (Anna Mitchell and Larry Diamond, February 2, 2018)

- China's Trapped Transition (Minxin Pei, 2006)

- “The Fifty-First State?” (James Fallows, November 2002 Issue)

- “The Obama Doctrine” (Jeffrey Goldberg, April 2016 Issue)

- Steve Coll on “The Atlantic Interview” (February 7, 2018)

- A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East(David Fromkin, 1989)

- On Grand Strategy (John Lewis Gaddis, 2018)

- An American Tragedy (Theodore Dreiser, 1925)

- “Babylon Berlin” on Netflix

- “Christopher Steele, the Man Behind the Trump Dossier” (Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, March 12, 2018)

Moviegoers across America are filling theaters to see, as The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer describes it, “a high-tech utopia that is a fictive manifestation of African potential unfettered by slavery and colonialism.” Wakanda, the setting of Marvel’s blockbuster film Black Panther, is suddenly everywhere, which means people the world over are seeing something that’s never had this widespread an audience: Afrofuturism.

“Blockbusters rarely challenge consensus, and Disney blockbusters even less so,” Vann Newkirk wrote for The Atlantic in an essay about the film. “That’s what makes the final provocation of Black Panther so remarkable and applicable today.” But what is Black Panther’s remarkable provocation, and how does it apply to our world?

Black Panther is only one part of a sudden explosion of Afrofuturism into mainstream American culture, from a new visual concept album by Janelle Monae to Children of Blood and Bone, a forthcoming YA book series by Tomi Adeyemi that has already become part of a seven-figure deal. Adam Serwer and Vann Newkirk join our hosts to talk about what this genre encompasses, and what its newfound popularity means.

Links

- “The Tragedy of Erik Killmonger” (Adam Serwer, February 21, 2018)

- “The Provocation and Power of Black Panther” (Vann Newkirk, February 14, 2018)

- “What Chadwick Boseman and Lupita Nyong'o Learned About Wakanda” (David Sims, February 28, 2018)

- “Why Fashion Is Key to Understanding the World of Black Panther” (Tanisha C. Ford, February 14, 2018)

- “Why I'm Writing Captain America” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, February 28, 2018)

- “‘Black Panther’ and the Invention of ‘Africa’” (Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, February 18, 2018)

- “The Surprising Optimism of African Americans and Latinos” (Russell Berman, September 4, 2015)

- Standing at Armageddon (Nell Irvin Painter)

- Autonomous (Annalee Newitz)

After Rick Magnis, a Texas judge, reviewed the evidence in Benjamine Spencer’s case, he recommended a new trial for Spencer “on the grounds of actual innocence.” But Texas’s highest criminal court took the rare step of rejecting the judge’s ruling. Why? Because Spencer did not meet the state’s “Herculean” standard of unassailable proof, such as DNA, that would remove all doubts of his innocence. According to the judge who wrote the opinion denying Spencer a new trial, this standard has kept innocent people in prison without a possibility of getting out.

In this third and final chapter of “No Way Out,” we reveal more evidence that points to Spencer’s innocence: A new witness who confirms his alibi, new technology that calls into question the testimony of the star eyewitness in his trial, and a full recantation by another key eyewitness against him. We also share a stunning discovery: potential DNA evidence that offers Spencer the thinnest hope of meeting the state’s astronomical burden of proof.

And yet, none of this may be enough to exonerate Benjamine Spencer. In this episode, we explore why that is, and what it means.

Links:

- A list of key individuals mentioned in this story

- "Can You Prove Your Innocence Without DNA?" (Barbara Bradley Hagerty, January/February 2018 issue)

- "Innocence Is Irrelevant" (Emily Yoffe, September 2017 issue)

In part one of our three-part series "No Way Out," Barbara Bradley Hagerty told the story of how Benjamine Spencer was convicted for the murder of Jeffrey Young, and how much of the evidence that led to that conviction has fallen apart under scrutiny. But if Spencer did not kill him, who else could have? And if the evidence does point to another assailant, is that enough to free Spencer?

In this episode, part two of three, Barbara explores an alternate theory of the crime. She talks with two friends of another man they say boasted about committing it. Their story, coupled with the shoddiness of the evidence that convicted Spencer, was enough to secure a recommendation that Spencer be given a new trial, "on the grounds of actual innocence."

---

Key individuals mentioned in this story (listed in order of appearance):

From Part I:Benjamine Spencer, the prisoner, convicted in October 1987, retried and convicted in March 1988, given life in prisonJeffrey Young, the victim, murdered in Dallas in March 1987Jay Young, Jeffrey’s son, the elder of twoCheryl Wattley, Spencer’s current attorneyTroy Johnson, a friend of Jeffrey Young’s, who tried calling him the night of his murderHarry Young, Jeffrey’s father, a senior executive in Ross Perot’s companyJesus “Jessie” Briseno, a detective for the Dallas Police Department, the lead investigator on the murder of Jeffrey YoungGladys Oliver, the prosecution’s star eyewitness in the trials of Benjamine SpencerRobert Mitchell, another man convicted a week after Spencer in a separate trial for the same crime, now deceasedFaith Johnson, the current district attorney in DallasFrank Jackson, Spencer’s defense attorney in the original trialAndy Beach, the prosecutor in the trial that sent Spencer to prisonAlan Ledbetter, the foreman of the jury that convicted SpencerDanny Edwards, the jailhouse informant who testified in Spencer’s original trials that Spencer had confessed to himDebra Spencer, Benjamine Spencer’s wife at the time of his convictionChristi Williams, the alibi witness who testified in Spencer’s defense at his trialsJim McCloskey, the founder of Centurion Ministries, the group that has aided Spencer's quest for exonerationDaryl Parker, a private investigator who has helped re-examine Spencer’s case and Young’s murderJimmie Cotton, one of three eyewitnesses for the prosecution in Spencer’s original trialsCharles Stewart, another of three eyewitnesses for the prosecution in Spencer’s trials, now deceasedSandra Brackens, a potential witness in Spencer’s defense who was not called to testify at his trialsNew to Part II:Michael Hubbard, an alternative suspect in Young's deathFerrell Scott, a childhood friend of Hubbard'sKelvin Johnson, a friend of Hubbard's who claims to have committed robberies with himCraig Watkins, a newly-elected District Attorney interested in reinvestigating claims of innocence Judge Rick Magnis, the judge of Texas' 283rd DistrictSubscribe to Radio Atlantic to hear part three in the “No Way Out” series when it's released.

In 1987, Jeffrey Young was robbed and killed, and his body was left on a street in the poor neighborhood of West Dallas. Benjamine Spencer was tried and convicted for the attack.

Spencer was black, 22 years old, and recently married. Young was 33 and white, and his father was a senior executive for Ross Perot, one of the most prominent businessmen in Dallas. No physical evidence connected Spencer to the murder. Instead, he was convicted based on the testimony of three eyewitnesses and a jailhouse informant who claimed Spencer confessed to the crime. Spencer has now been in prison for most of his life.

From behind bars, Spencer amassed evidence to support his claim of innocence, and secured the assistance of Centurion Ministries, a group that re-examines cases of prisoners like him. Together, they were able to convince a Texas judge of Spencer’s innocence. In investigating this story, not only did we confirm Centurion’s findings, but we’ve gathered new, exculpatory evidence, some of which appears first in this special, three-episode series of Radio Atlantic.

---

Key individuals mentioned in this story (listed in order of appearance):Benjamine Spencer, the prisoner, convicted in October 1987, retried and convicted in March 1988, given life in prisonJeffrey Young, the victim, murdered in Dallas in March 1987Jay Young, Jeffrey’s son, the elder of twoCheryl Wattley, Spencer’s current attorneyTroy Johnson, a friend of Jeffrey Young’s, who tried calling him the night of his murderHarry Young, Jeffrey’s father, a senior executive in Ross Perot’s companyJesus “Jessie” Briseno, a detective for the Dallas Police Department, the lead investigator on the murder of Jeffrey YoungGladys Oliver, the prosecution’s star eyewitness in the trials of Benjamine SpencerRobert Mitchell, another man convicted a week after Spencer in a separate trial for the same crime, now deceasedFaith Johnson, the current district attorney in DallasFrank Jackson, Spencer’s defense attorney in the original trialAndy Beach, the prosecutor in the trial that sent Spencer to prisonAlan Ledbetter, the foreman of the jury that convicted SpencerDanny Edwards, the jailhouse informant who testified in Spencer’s original trials that Spencer had confessed to himDebra Spencer, Benjamine Spencer’s wife at the time of his convictionChristi Williams, the alibi witness who testified in Spencer’s defense at his trialsJim McCloskey, the founder of Centurion Ministries, the group that has aided Spencer's quest for exonerationDaryl Parker, a private investigator who has helped re-examine Spencer’s case and Young’s murderJimmie Cotton, one of three eyewitnesses for the prosecution in Spencer’s original trialsCharles Stewart, another of three eyewitnesses for the prosecution in Spencer’s trials, now deceasedSandra Brackens, a potential witness in Spencer’s defense who was not called to testify at his trialsSubscribe to Radio Atlantic to hear part two in the “No Way Out” series when it's released.

Conor Friedersdorf recently argued in The Atlantic that in this moment, when the truth is bitterly contested, fiction presents us an opportunity. It allows us to step into another person’s perspective and talk about gray areas without the problems of detailing an actual person’s private moments. But does blurring the lines between truth and fiction undermine the messy complexities of the real world? David Sims and Megan Garber join to discuss the spate of recent pop culture that aims to recast reality.

Links

- “‘The Arrangements’: A Work of Fiction” (Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, The New York Times Magazine, June 28, 2016)

- “Remote Control” (Sarah Marshall, The Believer, January 2014 Issue)

- "Re-Examining Monica, Marcia, Tonya and Anita, the 'Scandalous' Women of the '90s" (Sarah Marshall, Splinter, April 19, 2016)

- “The Crown: Netflix's Best Superhero Show” (Sophie Gilbert, December 9, 2017)

- “How #MeToo Can Probe Gray Areas With Less Backlash” (Conor Friedersdorf, January 18, 2018)

- “'Cat Person' and the Impulse to Undermine Women's Fiction” (Megan Garber, December 11, 2017)

- “Aziz Ansari and the Paradox of ‘No’” (Megan Garber, January 16, 2018)

- “Dinner Discussion” (Saturday Night Live, January 27, 2018)

- “Grease Dilemma” (CollegeHumor, 2011)

- Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine (Joe Hagan, 2017)

- “One Day at a Time Is a Sitcom That Doubles as a Civics Lesson” (Megan Garber, January 17, 2017)

- An epic 200-plus tweet thread on Janet Jackson (October 23, 2017)

“Conventional wisdom suggests that the temptations of Washington, D.C., corrupt all the idealists, naïfs, and ingenues who settle there," Franklin Foer writes in his cover story for the March issue of The Atlantic. "But what if that formulation gets the causation backwards? What if it took an outsider to debase the capital and create the so-called swamp?”

Before Paul Manafort led the campaign to position Donald Trump as the ultimate Washington outsider, Manafort had built a career on being the consummate D.C. insider. Foer tells the story of Manafort's rise and fall, his stint as a consigliere to oligarchs, and the lines he was willing to cross in lobbying and political consulting. Foer joins Jeff and Matt to describe how Manafort's career is a window into the rise of corruption in America.

Links

- “The Plot Against America” (Franklin Foer, March 2018 Issue)

- “How the Swamp Drained Trump” (McKay Coppins, January 30, 2018)

- “Dictatorships & Double Standards” (Jeane Kirkpatrick, Commentary, November 1, 1979)

- The Soul of a New Machine (Tracy Kidder, 1981)

- “Mackenzie Davis Answers the Tough Questions” (E. Alex Jung, Vulture, August 14, 2017)

- Shop Class as Soulcraft (Matthew B. Crawford, 2010)

Once again, immigration is at the top of America's legislative agenda, as it has been, seemingly every generation, for much of the nation's history. But while many recent discussions of immigration have focused on unauthorized immigrants, some of the most contentious aspects of the current debate concern legal immigration: Who should the U.S. allow to be an American? Priscilla Alvarez, an editor on The Atlantic's politics and policy team, joins hosts Matt and Alex to discuss the debate within Congress, and to review the lessons America's history offers.

Links

- “America’s Forgotten History of Illegal Deportations” (Alex Wagner, March 6, 2017)

- “The Diversity Visa Program Was Created to Help Irish Immigrants” (Priscilla Alvarez, November 1, 2017)

- “'An Assault on the Body of the Church’” (Emma Green, January 22, 2018)

- “The Ordeal of Immigration in Wausau” (Roy Beck, April 1994 Issue)

- “To Be Both Midwestern and Hmong” (Doualy Xaykaothao, June 3, 2016)

- "How Wausau's Immigration Fears Failed to Come True" (Robert Mentzer, Wausau Daily Herald, December 2014)

- “Black Like Them” (Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker, April 29, 1996 Issue)

- Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s (Francisco E. Balderrama)

- “Asians in the 2016 Race” (Alex Wagner, September 12, 2016)

The 'retail apocalypse' is upon us, they say. In the United States, 2017 saw emptied malls, shuttered department stores, and once-iconic brands falling into bankruptcy. Yet retail spending continues to grow, in strange new directions that could have significant effects. What will shopping look like in the future? How will these changes reverberate throughout the country? Atlantic editor Gillian White joins our hosts to discuss.

If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey.

Links

- “The 4 Reasons Why 2017 Is a Tipping Point for Retail” (Derek Thompson, November 16, 2017)

- “All the Ways Retail’s Decline Could Hurt America’s Towns” (Alana Semuels, May 2017)

- “The Future of Retail Is Stores That Aren’t Stores” (Joe Pinsker, September 14, 2017)

- “How to Rebuild After the Retail Apocalypse” (Richard Florida, December 23, 2017)

- “How Dollar General Became Rural America’s Store of Choice” (Sarah Nassauer, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2017)

- Futureface (Alex Wagner, 2018)

- “The Appropriate Weight of Grief” (Michael Zadoorian, ART + marketing, May 6, 2016)

- “The Lesson of the Moth” (Don Marquis)

As the anniversary of his inauguration nears, a new book filled with salacious claims about the Trump administration has become a bestseller. Faced with renewed questions about his mental and temperamental fitness for the office, President Trump has pushed back, declaring himself a “very stable genius” and attacking his critics.

But no new claims or revelations, James Fallows wrote recently for The Atlantic, have been more telling than Trump's public behavior. If the stories presented in a book about the president constitute a scandal, Fallows asks, what does it mean that the scandal continues in public view? What dangers are courted by speculating about the president's mental acuity? What steps could be taken to make such speculation unnecessary? Fallows joins our hosts to discuss.

If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey.

Links

- “It's Been an Open Secret All Along” (James Fallows, January 4, 2018)

- ”Is Something Neurologically Wrong With Donald Trump?” (James Hamblin, January 3, 2018)

- “The Case for Hillary Clinton and Against Donald Trump” (The Editors, November 2016 Issue)

- “A Time Capsule of the Unpresidential Things Trump Says” (James Fallows, May 23, 2016, to November 20, 2016)

- Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President (Justin Frank, 2004)

- “John Dean: Nixon ‘Might Have Survived If There’d Been a Fox News’” (Edward-Isaac Dovere, POLITICO Magazine, January 02, 2018)

As 2018 begins, tensions and tumult in America are high. But before the end of 1968, Conor Friedersdorf reminded us in The Atlantic, "Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy would be assassinated; U.S. troops would suffer their deadliest year yet in Vietnam—and massacre scores of civilians at My Lai; Richard Nixon would be elected president; the Khmer Rouge would form in Cambodia; humans would orbit the moon; Olympic medal winners in Mexico City would raise their fists in a black power salute; President Johnson would sign the Civil Rights Act of 1968; Yale University would announce that it intended to admit women; 2001: A Space Odyssey would premier; and Led Zeppelin would give their first live performance."

What does that turbulent year have to tell us in this tumultuous moment? What forgotten history is worth revisiting? And in the past half-century, where has the nation made progress, and where has it struggled? Conor Friedersdorf joins us to discuss these questions with our hosts.

If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go www.theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey.

Links

– ”1968 and the Making of Modern America” (Conor Friedersdorf, January 1, 2018)

–  ”Put Your Husband in the Kitchen” (Helen Keller, 1932 Issue)

– “Report: Washington” (Elizabeth Drew, April 1968 Issue)

– “Americans' Respect for Police Surges” (Gallup, October 24, 2016)

Every year is impossible to synthesize. Yet 2017 was not just another year. To help us wrangle the chaotic, extraordinary events of the last 12 months into some sort of shape, we posed a question to journalists from across The Atlantic's staff, and to our listeners: What were the ideas of 2017?

In this episode, Jeff and Matt discuss the many different responses to that question we collected, and share their own ideas of the year. Share yours: 202-266-7600. And here's to the year ahead.

If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey.

Links

–The End of History and the Last Man (Francis Fukuyama, 1992)

–“It's Still Not the End of History” (Timothy Stanley and Alexander Lee, September 1, 2014)

–“This Article Won’t Change Your Mind” (Julie Beck, March 13, 2017)

–“The Challenge of Fighting Mistrust in Science” (Julie Beck, June 24, 2017)

–“Professor Smith Goes to Washington” (Ed Yong, January 25, 2017)

–“The Climate Scientist Who Became a Politician” (Ed Yong, February 2, 2017)

–“Do Scientists Lose Credibility When They Become Political?” (Ed Yong, February 28, 2017)

–“The Movement of #MeToo” (Sophie Gilbert, October 16, 2017)

–“How America Lost Faith in Expertise” (Tom Nichols, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2017 Issue)

–“A Political Opening for Universal Health Care?” (Vann R. Newkirk II, February 14, 2017)

–“The Fight for Health Care Has Always Been About Civil Rights” (Vann R. Newkirk II, June 27, 2017)

–“The Republican Lawmaker Who Secretly Created Reddit’s Women-Hating ‘Red Pill’” (Bonnie Bacarisse, The Daily Beast, April 25, 2017

Vladimir Putin just announced, to the surprise of no one, that he will run for reelection as President of Russia. In her January/February 2018 Atlantic cover story, Julia Ioffe writes that Americans misunderstand the man ruling the former Soviet empire: he’s not a master tactician playing three-dimensional chess, he’s a gambler who won big.

"Over the past year, Russian hackers have become the stuff of legend in the United States," Julia writes. "But most Russians don’t recognize the Russia portrayed in this story." What do they see that we don't? How does America look right now from their vantage point? And what does Vladimir Putin ultimately want? Julia joins our hosts, along with Atlantic global editor Kathy Gilsinan, to discuss.

If you listen to Radio Atlantic, we value your feedback. Please help us out by answering a quick survey. It should only take a few minutes. Just to go www.theatlantic.com/podcastsurvey.

Links

– “What Putin Really Wants” (Julia Ioffe, January/February 2018 Issue)

– “Vladimir Putin, Action Man” (Alan Taylor, September 13, 2011)

– “How the Kremlin Tried to Rig the Olympics, and Failed” (Julia Ioffe, December 6, 2017)

– “It Took Two to Make Russian Meddling Effective” (Julia Ioffe, June 23, 2017)

– “Putin’s Inauguration: Satire and Violence” (Julia Ioffe, The New Yorker, May 7, 2012)

– "Why Do They Stay?" (Hilzoy, Obsidian Wings, April 10, 2009)

That Pence is the vice president of the United States is "a loaves-and-fishes miracle," writes McKay Coppins in the latest issue of The Atlantic. It's remarkable enough that "an embattled small-state governor with underwater approval ratings, dismal reelection prospects, and a national reputation in tatters" would be chosen as a presidential running mate at all. But unlikelier still is the fact that Pence, known for his devotion to Christ, would become the most prominent character witness for President Donald Trump.

How did Pence reconcile his deeply held Christian values with his defense of Donald Trump after the revelation of the Access Hollywood recording? Would he support Trump if the presidency were within his own reach? And what do his decisions illuminate about evangelical Christians' attachment to the president? In this conversation, McKay shares what he's learned about Pence from reporting on his stints as governor, radio host, and frat snitch.

Links

– “God’s Plan for Mike Pence” (McKay Coppins, January/February 2018 Issue)

– “The Odds of Impeachment Are Dropping” (Peter Beinart, December 3, 2017)

– “Jared Kushner Responds (Very Briefly) to Flynn's Plea Deal” (Uri Friedman, December 3, 2017)“Should Christian Bakers Be Allowed to Refuse Wedding Cakes to Gays?” (Conor Friedersdorf, February 25, 2014)

– “If Indiana's Religious-Freedom Law Isn't Discriminatory, Why Change It?” (David A. Graham, March 31, 2015)

– Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950

– “Terry McAuliffe’s Dead-Serious Advice For Democrats: Have Some Fun!” (Ruby Cramer, BuzzFeed News, December 3, 2017)

In December 2007, the U.S. marked the beginning of its longest recession since World War II. Now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency born in the ashes of the nation's economic downturn, is under new leadership that promises big changes. Meanwhile, a tax plan speeding through Congress could have far-reaching effects on the economy, well beyond taxes. On paper, the U.S. economy looks robust. But for whom, and for how long?

This week, Annie Lowrey and Alana Semuels join our hosts to look at what's happened in the decade since the Great Recession, and what's happening now. What lessons have we learned from the crisis? And which are we doomed to repeat?

Links:

- "The Never-Ending Foreclosure" (Alana Semuels, December 1, 2017)

- "The Great Recession Is Still With Us" (Annie Lowrey, December 1, 2017)

- “The GOP Targets America’s Most Loved and Hated Tax Break” (Alana Semuels, November 2, 2017)

- “The U.S. Isn’t Prepared for the Next Recession” (Annie Lowrey, October 31, 2017)

- “Mick Mulvaney Is Pretending Everything's Totally Normal at Work” (Gillian B. White, November 28, 2017)

- “Could a Tax Fix the Gig Economy?” (Alana Semuels, November 6, 2017)

- “Trump Says His Tax Plan Won't Benefit the Rich—He's Exactly Wrong” (Annie Lowrey, September 29, 2017)

- "Could a Memo by Christina Romer Have Saved the Economy?" (John Hudson, February 22, 2012)

- “The Fight Over the CFPB Reveals the Broken State of American Politics” (David A. Graham, November 28, 2017)

- "The Shadow of the Stimulus" (Ross Douthat, February 1, 2009)

- "Return of the Shopping Avenger" (Jeffrey Goldberg, December 1, 2009)

- The Half Has Never Been Told  (Edward Baptist)

- The Unwinding (George Packer)

- "The Nutshell Studies" (Katie Mingle, 99 Percent Invisible)

- "The Reason This 'Racist Soap Dispenser' Doesn't Work on Black Skin" (Max Plenke, Mic.com, September 9, 2015)

For generations, Hollywood has defined what masculinity means in the U.S., with iconic screen figures such as John Wayne. But Wayne's stoic, taciturn image was the product of a complicated relationship with the director John Ford, one that offers different lessons about masculinity and its constraints. As scandals about men and their behavior fill the news, we discuss the legacy of John Wayne and other male screen icons. Our cohosts are joined by Atlantic staff writer Megan Garber and Stephen Metcalf, author of the story "How John Wayne Became a Hollow Masculine Icon."

Links: 

- "How John Wayne Became a Hollow Masculine Icon" (Stephen Metcalf, December 2017 Issue)

- "Masculinity Done Well and Poorly" (James Hamblin, September 25, 2017)

- "The End of Men" (Hanna Rosin, July/August 2010 Issue)

- "Angry White Boys" (Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, August 16, 2017)

- "Toxic Masculinity and Murder" (James Hamblin, June 16, 2016)

- "Does Masculinity Need To Be 'Reimagined'?" (Erik Hayden, September 21, 2010)

- "How Hollywood Whitewashed the Old West" (Leah Williams, October 5, 2016)

- "Hollywood Has Ruined Method Acting" (Angelica Jade Bastién, August 11, 2016) 

Andrew Anglin spent his formative years flirting with hippie progressivism, then tried his hand at becoming a tribal hunter-gatherer. But he only achieved notoriety after he founded the Daily Stormer, the world's biggest website for neo-Nazis. Anglin and his mob of followers have terrorized people around the world, and their influence has been cited by the perpetrators of fatal violence.

What lessons should be learned from Anglin's radicalization? And what is society's best response to his ideas? Luke O'Brien and Rosie Gray join Jeff and Matt to discuss these questions, and how far-right extremism is evolving.

Links:

- "The Making of an American Nazi" (Luke O'Brien, December 2017)

- "The Lost Boys" (Angela Nagle, December 2017)

- "How 2015 Fueled The Rise Of The Freewheeling, White Nationalist Alt-Movement" (Rosie Gray, BuzzFeed, 12/27/2015)

- "Behind the Internet's Anti-Democracy Movement" (Rosie Gray, 2/10/2017)

- "The Alt-Right's Rebranding Effort Has Failed" (Rosie Gray, 8/13/2017)

- "What Gwen Ifill Knew About Race in America" (Jeffrey Goldberg, 11/18/2016)

- "Joan Didion Doesn't Owe the World Anything" (Megan Garber, 10/29/2017)

- NoSleep Subreddit | Podcast

It’s a year after Donald Trump's upset election victory. Before and after the 2016 election, President Trump referred to journalists as enemies to himself and to the American people. But his victory wasn’t just a success in vilifying the media, it was a success in manipulating it. Trump was a media figure, skilled at drawing attention. And news organizations were unused to being so squarely part of the story.

What lessons have journalists taken from the 2016 campaign and President Trump’s election? What’s changed since then? And what should change going forward? In this episode of Radio Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance, the editor of TheAtlantic.com, and Yoni Appelbaum, the magazine's politics and policy editor, join Matt and Jeff to look back and look ahead one year after the Trump Era began.

Links:

- "How Trump Diagnosed American Politics" (Andy Kroll,  Nov 7, 2016)

- "Zuckerberg 2020?" (Adrienne LaFrance, Jan 19,  2017)

- 'We Thought You'd Like to Look Back on This Post from 1 Year Ago’ (Julie Beck, Nov 8, 2017)

- The Atlantic Interview

- "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (as interpreted by Jon Batiste) 

Since the 2016 election heightened America's deep political divides, the mantle of patriotism has become fodder for a bitter tug-of-war. Is it patriotic to leak a presidential secret? To voice dissent during a national rite? Should a general running the White House be deferred to or defied?

In this episode, Atlantic journalists Krishnadev Calamur and Sigal Samuel talk with Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father whose stirring speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention touched off a famous feud with the President-to-be, about what sacrifice means to him, and why America is worth it. We also hear from a couple veterans who offer their own perspectives on patriotism and military service.

To share thoughts, feedback, and questions on the show, leave us a voicemail with your contact info: (202) 266-7600.

Links:

- "The Anguish of John Kelly" (David Graham, 10/19/2017)

- "Kneeling for Life and Liberty Is Patriotic" (Conor Friedersdorf, 9/25/2017)

- "Why Cede the Flag to Donald Trump?" (David Frum, 9/24/2017)

- "The Tragedy of the American Military" (James Fallows, January/February 2015)

- "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" (Radio Atlantic, episode one)

- "My Parents' Country, in the Grip of the Shabab" (The New York Times Sunday Review)

- "Look at Tiny Baby Hank" (Vlogbrothers)

Allegations of sexual harassment (and more) by powerful men in numerous industries have been leading news reports across America. On-the-record accounts of disturbing behavior are proliferating. Several leaders of prominent companies have been forced out of their positions. Does this represent a lasting shift in attitudes toward scandalous conduct, or will the public's interest in these matters subside? Is this a tipping point, in other words, or a flash point?

The journalism of Jodi Kantor, Katie Benner, and their colleagues at The New York Times has been a major catalyst for putting this issue at the top of the national agenda. Kantor and her reporting partner Megan Twohey shared a byline on the October 5 investigation revealing three decades of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein. As a technology reporter based in Silicon Valley, Benner has chronicled numerous reports of predatory behavior by investors, founders, and other influential figures in the tech industry. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, Kantor and Benner join Alex and Matt to discuss what they've discovered in their reporting, and where they think it will lead.

Links:

- "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades" (Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, The New York Times, 10/5/2017)

- "How the Harvey Weinstein Story Has Unfolded" (Daniel Victor, The New York Times, 10/18/2017)

- "Women in Tech Speak Frankly on Culture of Harassment" (Katie Benner, The New York Times, 6/30/2017)

- "'It Was a Frat House': Inside the Sex Scandal That Toppled SoFi's C.E.O." (Katie Benner and Nathaniel Popper, The New York Times) | SoFi's response

- “The ‘Harvey Effect’ Takes Down Leon Wieseltier’s Magazine” (Adrienne LaFrance, The Atlantic, 10/24/2017)

- "Harvey Weinstein and the Economics of Consent" (Brit Marling, The Atlantic, 10/23/2017)

- "Girl at a Bar" (Saturday Night Live)

- Startup, especially seasons two and four

- The Burning Girl (Claire Messud)

- The Color of Law(Richard Rothstein)

- Uncivil

- Scene on Radio: Seeing White

"Infidelity," Esther Perel writes in the October issue of The Atlantic, "happens in bad marriages and in good marriages. It happens even in open relationships where extramarital sex is carefully negotiated beforehand. The freedom to leave or divorce has not made cheating obsolete." Adultery is as ancient as marriage, and as contemporary relationships have evolved, Perel writes, the causes and consequences of infidelity have much to teach us about the nature of commitment.  In this conversation, Perel talks with our hosts about some of those lessons, culled from numerous sessions counseling couples as a psychotherapist.

Perel is the author of Mating in Captivityand the host of "Where Should We Begin?"—an Audible original series entering its second season on October 24th. Her new book, The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity, is now available in bookstores.

Links:

- "Why Happy People Cheat" (Esther Perel)

- "You Need Help to Help Her" (Esther Perel, "Where Should We Begin?")

- "Muto" (Matt Thompson, Snarkmarket)

Few journalists have gotten a peek inside X, the secretive lab run by Google's parent company Alphabet. Its scientists are researching cold fusion, hover boards, and stratosphere-surfing balloons. Derek Thompson, staff writer at The Atlantic, spent several days with the staff of X. In this episode, he tells Matt and Alex all about what he found, and what it suggests about the future of technological invention.

Have thoughts or questions? Leave us a message! (202) 266-7600. Don't forget to leave us your contact info.

Links:“Google X and the Science of Radical Creativity” (Derek Thompson, 2017)“The Promise and Peril of Universal Internet” (Dominic Tierney, 2015)“The Physics Nobel and the Fate of Bell Labs” (Edward Tenner, 2009)“How Should the U.S. Fund Research and Development?” (Robinson Meyer, 2016) “Google Glass” (William Brennan, 2014)The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo (Brian Jordan Alvarez and collaborators, 2017) — N.b.: Parental discretion is advised.

In his new book, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Atlantic's national correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about the past eight years of his career—his pursuit of an understanding of America, and his route to becoming a celebrated author. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, our cohosts Matt, Jeff, and Alex each conduct an interview with Ta-Nehisi about what he's found.

This is a longer episode than our usual, so if you'd like to skip around, here are the three segments, for easy fast-forwarding:

[00:00] Matt's interview, focused on the questions that infused Ta-Nehisi's early writing at The Atlantic, and the answers that he's found

[32:46] Jeff's interview, focused on the two administrations Ta-Nehisi has chronicled, and his political outlook

[59:52] Alex's interview, focused on Ta-Nehisi's community, family, and life

Links:

- The Mis-Education of the Negro(Carter G. Woodson, 1933)

- “Black People, Culture and Poverty” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2009)

- "The Math on Black Out-of-Wedlock Births" (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2009)

- “The Radical Critique of Obama” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2009)

- “On Jewish Racism” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2009)

- “Still More…” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2009)

- “Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2012)

- "The End of White America?" (Hua Hsu, 2009)

- "The Issues: Race" (Hua Hsu & Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2009)

- “A Plea for Straight Talk Between the Races” (Benjamin Mays, 1960)

- "The First White President" (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2017)

- "This Is What European Diplomats Really Think About Donald Trump" (Alberto Nardelli, Buzzfeed, 2017)

- "Donald Trump's Race Wars" (Jonathan Chait, 2017)

- "Tyranny of the Minority" (Michelle Goldberg, 2017)

- Elizabeth Kolbert's author archive (The New Yorker)

According to the U.S. intelligence community, this much is settled fact: Russia intervened in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. But beyond that basic consensus, much remains unknown, the subject of multiple investigations by FBI director Robert Mueller and Congressional intelligence committees.

In this episode of Radio Atlantic, recorded before a live audience at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, Atlantic staff writer Julia Ioffe and contributing editor Eliot Cohen join hosts Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson for a wide-ranging conversation about what Russia has wrought.

We’d like to hear your questions about Russia: Call us up at (202) 266-7600 and leave us a voicemail. Don't forget to leave your contact info.

For links and other show notes, go here.

The idea that public schools are failing is one of the most commonly heard complaints in American society. But what are they failing to do? Surveys of American parents—and the history of the nation's public education system—tell a more complicated story. In this episode, The Atlantic's education editor Alia Wong joins Jeff, Matt, and Alex for a conversation about how we define and measure success in public education.

We’d like to hear your stories about education: public, private, school-of-hard-knocks, you name it. Call us up at (202) 266-7600 and leave us a voicemail with your story and your answer to the question, “What is public education for?” Don't forget to leave your contact info.

For links and other show notes, go here.

Eight months into the Trump administration, we're taking stock: What is shaping up to be President Trump's effect on America’s institutions? Will subsequent presidents preserve or disregard the norms he's tossed aside? What are his political allies and opponents learning from his actions?

Jack Goldsmith, author of The Atlantic's October cover story, explores these and many other questions with editor-in-chief Jeffrey Golberg. Then, Matt Thompson and Alex Wagner discuss Trump's impact on the GOP with longtime Republican strategist Mindy Finn and The Atlantic's politics and policy editor, Yoni Appelbaum.

For links and other show notes, go here.

Immigrants flock to the U.S. in pursuit of the American Dream. But does the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program mean a wake-up call for millions of undocumented Americans? In this episode of Radio Atlantic, reporter Jeremy Raff and editor Priscilla Alvarez join Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson to discuss what the suspension of DACA means for those directly affected ... and what it means for America as a whole.

For links and show notes, go here.

If history is any guide, the biggest problems for residents of the Houston area will come into focus only after the nation's attention has already turned elsewhere. In this Radio Atlantic extra, Matt Thompson talks with Atlantic staff writer David Graham about the questions we should be asking now, while Harvey remains in the headlines. As the recovery gets under way, what should we be watching? Plus, a Houston-area resident talks about what she's seen over the last week that she wants to hold on to in the months and years ahead.

"Winter is coming," they warned us, and the seventh season of Game of Thrones might have proved them right. But no one mentioned that winter in Westeros would coincide with so many troubling events in real-world politics. In this episode, Megan Garber, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins Radio Atlantic cohosts Alex Wagner and Matt Thompson for a conversation about lessons from the show, and other recent pop culture.

- If you're not a Game of Thrones fan, or don't want to be spoiled, worry not: the second segment of our conversation (around the 16:30 mark) turns beyond the show to discuss recent movies, books, and TV shows with political lessons to offer.

- If you are a Game of Thrones fan, be forewarned: we discuss spoilers up to and including the final episode of season 7.

For links and other show notes, go here.

It's been ten years since the iPhone came out, and now the first generation to grow up with smartphones is coming of age. Jean Twenge, a psychologist who has studied generational behaviors, has found troubling signals that these devices seem to be taking a visible toll on the mental health of post-Millennials. In the September 2017 issue of The Atlantic, Twenge shares her findings in a story adapted from her new book, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood—and What That Means for the Rest of Us.

In this episode, we talk with Twenge about her findings, hear from a few members of the post-Millennial generation about their relationships with their devices, and discuss what the research means for parents.

For links and other show notes, go here.

After white supremacists and neo-Nazis rallied in Virginia, resulting in the deaths of three Americans, President Trump's equivocating responses shocked Republicans and Democrats alike. Did this represent a major breakpoint in American politics? Why have Confederate symbols and ideas suddenly returned to the public sphere, not to mention HBO? And how should Americans comprehend the relationship between these extremist currents and the Trump administration? Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yoni Appelbaum explore these questions with Jeffrey Goldberg, Alex Wagner, and Matt Thompson.

For links and other show notes, go here.

When did the reality-based community start losing to reality show celebrity? Why are "alternative facts" and fake news suddenly ubiquitous features of the landscape? The spread of American magical thinking isn't, in fact, sudden, argues Kurt Andersen in the September 2017 Atlantic. It was rooted in the very origins of the nation, and started to blossom in the '60s. Andersen explores how these forces made their way to the White House in conversation with our Radio Atlantic cohosts, Jeffrey Goldberg, Alex Wagner, and Matt Thompson.

For links and other show notes, go here. 

Given new revelations about North Korea's nuclear capabilities—and newly harsh rhetoric from President Trump—Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson talk with Mark Bowden, author of The Atlantic's July/August cover story on how to deal with North Korea. In that story, Bowden laid out the four options a U.S. administration has for handling North Korea's nuclear ambitions—trying to prevent its progress, turning the screws on the country's leadership, decapitating its leaders, and accepting that a nuclear North Korea is inevitable—and why all of those options are bad. In this conversation, he talks about how this week's news affects that calculus, and whether any one of those paths has grown more likely.

This is a bonus episode. In our August 11 episode, our co-host Alex Wagner will rejoin us, and our guest will be Kurt Anderson, the author of our September cover story.

Our increasingly smart machines aren’t just changing the workforce, they’re changing us. Already, algorithms are directing human activity in all sorts of ways, from choosing what news people see to highlighting new gigs for workers in the gig economy. What will human life look like as machine learning overtakes more aspects of our society?

Alexis Madrigal, who covers technology for The Atlantic, shares what he’s learned from his reporting on the past, present, and future of automation with our Radio Atlantic co-hosts, Jeffrey Goldberg (editor-in-chief), Alex Wagner (contributing editor and CBS anchor), and Matt Thompson (executive editor).

For links and other show notes, go here.

America prides itself on pluralism and tolerance, but how far does that tolerance extend when it comes to religious expression? Could faith in general be on the decline?

Radio Atlantic cohosts Jeffrey Goldberg (editor-in-chief), Alex Wagner (contributing editor and CBS anchor), and Matt Thompson (executive editor) explore those questions with Emma Green, who covers religion and politics for The Atlantic.

For links and other show notes, visit this page.

The Atlantic was founded on the eve of the Civil War to advance the American idea. But as we approach the magazine's 160th anniversary, has that idea taken an unprecedented turn?

In this inaugural episode, our cohosts — Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief; Alex Wagner, contributing editor and CBS anchor; and Matt Thompson, executive editor — explore that question with Atlantic writers David Frum, and Molly Ball. And we present the world premiere of Jon Batiste's Battle Hymn of the Republic, reimagined for the magazine that first published it.

For links and other show notes, visit this page.

Coming July 21: A weekly conversation about what's happening in our world, how things got the way they are, and where they're heading next. Don't miss this sneak preview, for a taste of what's to come, including a teaser of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, recorded for The Atlantic by legendary jazz musician Jon Batiste.