AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarThe President’s Pursuit of White Powerverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Adam SerwerTrump’s response to Charlottesville showed the core of his philosophy: the preservation of America’s traditional hierarchies of race. Armed white terrorists, many of them Confederate veterans, stormed the July 1866 constitutional convention in New Orleans and slaughtered nearly 50 people, many of …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarThe War on Black Athletesverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Jemele HillTrump isn’t the first president to show such overt interest in sports, but he’s the only president in recent memory to attack athletes for their politics. The exact date I knew that Colin Kaepernick would never play in the NFL again was March 20, 2017. That day, Donald Trump held a rally in …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarThe Faulty Logic in Trump’s Travel Banverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Hannah GiorgisThe president’s stated purpose was to keep terrorists out, but his plan has all kinds of problems. Exactly one week after he was inaugurated, President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring nationals from seven Muslim-majority nations—Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—from …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarImagine the Stormy Daniels Scandal in Any Other Presidencyverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Sophie GilbertIt’s mind-boggling to think what would have happened had Barack Obama or George W. Bush paid off a porn actress to cover up an alleged affair. Certain phrases, uttered in a moment, become part and parcel of a presidency, particularly when they reveal glimpses of the person occupying the office. “The …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarSix Hours and Three Minutes of Internet Chaosverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Adrienne LaFranceIn the annals of revelatory Trump tweets, “covfefe” is the ultimate. It is possible to view the history of presidential politics in McLuhanian terms, via the changing technologies that leaders have used to communicate. William Jennings Bryan stood at the edge of a train car and bellowed orations to …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarThe Self-Pardoning Presidentverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Garrett EppsTrump’s claim that he has the “absolute” right to pardon himself goes way beyond Nixon’s “I’m not a crook.” Andrew Johnson solemnly assured a campaign rally that he was not Judas Iscariot. Lyndon B. Johnson lifted his shirt to show reporters his gallbladder-surgery scar. Jimmy Carter told Playboy …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarThat Time Trump Threw Paper Towels at Puerto Ricansverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Vann R. Newkirk IIIn the history of Puerto Rico, the president’s name will be tied closely to the story of Hurricane Maria. It is impossible to blame a single individual for the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which brought thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in destruction to Puerto Rico. To attempt to do so …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarHow Not to Smooth Things Over With the CIAverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Vernon LoebThe president’s strained relationship with the intelligence community goes back to his visit to Langley just a day after his inauguration. On President Donald Trump’s first full day in office, he crossed the Potomac to visit CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where he attempted to assure the …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarMattis’s Departure Was a Turning Pointverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Alex WagnerAnd it is further proof that this president will attempt to destroy the reputation of anyone who crosses him. The operating thesis regarding democracy in the age of Trump is that America continues to operate because sane people still work in the government. General James Mattis, the former secretary …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarThe President Learns About Separation of Powersverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Russell BermanAnd he doesn’t like it. It took all of two weeks for President Donald Trump to mount his first verbal assault on the federal judiciary. In early February 2017, a federal judge in Seattle, James Robart, halted the travel ban the Trump administration had hastily implemented a week earlier based on an …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarWhat It Means When Trump Doesn’t Show Upverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Eliot A. CohenMost presidents have visited and spoken at Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day. Not Trump. Sometimes our character is marked by what we do not do, what we do not say, and where we do not go. For President Donald Trump, who delights in arousing and infuriating his opponents and inflaming his …
AvatarThe AtlanticAvatarAvatarThe World Isn’t Laughing at Just Trumpverified_publisherThe Atlantic - By Rachel DonadioAmerican allies are laughing at the whole country. Before The Laugh, there was The Handshake. In May 2017, ahead of a Nato summit in Belgium, President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shook hands—and neither would let go. For six seconds, an eternity in handshaking, the two men …