The Presidential Transition Meets Murphy’s Law

One senior official is charged with ensuring a peaceful transfer of power when there is an apparent election winner. The Trump appointee is jeopardizing all that.

November 13, 2020

Democracy’s Afterlife

Trump, the GOP, and the rise of zombie politics.

December 3, 2020 issue

How Trump Lost

If he’d governed as he ran in 2016, as an economic populist, he would likely have been reelected. Instead, he reverted to the same old Republican playbook.

November 7, 2020

How Trump Won

He failed as an autocrat, despite opponents’ overblown fears, but succeeded in breaking the neoliberal consensus of the Beltway. We ignore that at our peril.

November 9, 2020

‘This Planet is Our Spaceship’: An Interview with Cauleen Smith

“Art at its best gives much and demands little in return. Wouldn’t it be marvelous if we applied that ethic to every other aspect of life?”

November 28, 2020

In Uganda, Another Museveni Crackdown

As an election approaches, opposition to the strongman’s long, brutal rule is gathering—but it has to reckon with his security state and its international enablers.

November 25, 2020

Death on the Via Dolorosa

The police shooting of an unarmed autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem this summer provoked brief outrage, but little sign of a lasting movement for change in Israel.

November 23, 2020

The Powerful Reticence of Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Rather than presenting himself overtly as a gay artist in the age of AIDS, he preferred to work as a secret agent in the house of culture.

November 22, 2020

The Case for Prosecuting Trump

Putting the former president on criminal trial carries big political risks. But to let this lawless leader off scot-free may be more dangerous still.

November 20, 2020

Georgia On My Mind

The suburbs of Atlanta, where I grew up in an era still scarred by segregation, have transformed in ways that helped deliver Joe Biden the presidency. But some things never change.

November 19, 2020

How the Awful Stuff Won

Andrew Marantz’s and Megan Phelps-Roper’s books explore the dark and far-reaching consequences of our dependence on the Internet.

November 5, 2020 issue

For the Lulz

4chan, Gamergate, and how thwarted, angry young men have reshaped political discourse

March 26, 2020 issue

‘Social Media Reward Bad Behavior’

The former head of Reddit on how platforms like Facebook have amplified disinformation—and don’t want to stop—because attention equals profit.

October 26, 2020