5 Posts found for source_year: 2026

One way to look at the rise of Donald Trump is as part of a decades-long backlash among the American leadership class to the idea of accountability. Since Richard Nixon was forced to resign, powerful people in both political parties have worked assiduously to ensure that their leaders would escape the consequences of their actions… This is not just about Trump; his impunity is the … [ Read more ]

Author: Adam Serwer | Source: The Atlantic (February 26, 2026) | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

The Trump adviser’s assertions about the “real world” reflect a deep misunderstanding of Thomas Hobbes’s dog-eat-dog worldview.

Author: Gal Beckerman | Source: The Atlantic (January 10, 2026) | Subjects: Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

Reagan Republicans fully understood the political risks of dismantling more than 50 years of public policy, yet—more effectively than any of their predecessors—they succeeded in manufacturing the popular consent needed to do precisely that. The key to this achievement was a simple but devastating insight: The most effective way to discredit liberal social policy was to starve it of resources and then point to its … [ Read more ]

Author: Heather Ann Thompson | Source: The Atlantic (January2026) | Subjects: America, History, International, Politics & Public Policy

As the political scholars (and brothers) Hyrum and Verlan Lewis write, “ideologies do not define tribes, tribes define ideologies.” To the Lewises and likeminded social scientists, “progressivism” and “conservatism” don’t name enduring philosophies of government, so much as ever-shifting rationalizations for the interests of rival alliances.

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But in the Lewises’ view, the belief that all of the left and right’s disputes reflect one essential moral … [ Read more ]

Author: Eric Levitz | Source: Vox (January 12, 2026) | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

The upside to mechanical values is that they’re easy to apply. It’s very hard to agree with other people about what counts as a full life, as great art, or as a soul-nourishing vocation. But it’s easy to agree about what leads to statistically longer lifespans, more page views and engagement hours, or more money. When we turn our values mechanical, we make it easy … [ Read more ]

Author: Christopher Thi Nguyen | Source: Vox (January 13, 2026) | Subjects: Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior