A Tale of Two Presidents
Remembering Carter as we steel ourselves for Trump’s second inauguration.
Print Magazine
February 2025 Issue
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Editorial
The Political Economy of Trumpism
Though he started by threatening Mexico, Canada, and China, Trump’s tariffs mean the US will drain Europe as Ukraine fades.
Blocking Planned Parenthood From Medicaid Will Only Worsen the US Maternal Health Crisis
The “defund Planned Parenthood” campaign is back—and headed to the US Supreme Court.
The Nation’s Early Experiments in Jazz
When the magazine began covering jazz in the 1920s, it often struggled to catch the beat.
Institutional Resistance Is Futile
It’s time for the Democratic Party to abandon its staid, rules-based resistance to Trumpism and wage a fierce, moral response.
Banning Trans Health Care Puts Young People at Risk of Harm
Contrary to what conservative lawmakers argue, the Supreme Court will increase risks by upholding state bans on gender-affirming care.
Prison Journalism Is Having a Renaissance. Rahsaan Thomas Is One of Its Champions.
Thomas and his colleagues at Empowerment Avenue are subverting the established narrative that prisoners are only subjects or sources, never authors of their own experience.
My Brother, Chef Mahmoud Almadhoun, Was Killed Because He Fed Gaza’s Starving People
His killing by Israel sent a chilling message that no one is safe, including humanitarians who stand in the way of Gaza’s erasure.
How Love Fuels Resistance: Parenting for Liberation
Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson discuss their new anthology, We Grow the World Together, about how caregiving and the organizing work of abolitionists can go hand in hand.
Column
The Media Is Giving Away Its Rights Even Before Trump Tries to Take Them
Recent events have shown that Trump does not have to impose a new regime of censorship if the press censors itself first.
Let’s Cool It With the Hot Takes
Much of the immediate commentary on the election turned out to be wrong. If we want to avoid the same outcome in the future, we'd better slow down.
The Age of Vanceism Is Just Beginning
The next four years in American politics may be characterized as much by the vice president as by his boss.
Letters
Feature
How to Save the Democrats
They’re in shambles. They need to change—fast. Here’s what they should do.
Kamala Harris Was Poised to Crush the Women’s Vote. What Went Wrong?
Once Harris became the nominee, women voters surged behind her.
But on Election Day, she won a smaller share of them than Biden did. This is how it fell apart.
How Biden’s Foreign Policy Destroyed His Presidency
Biden's domestic agenda was the most progressive of any president since Lyndon Johnson. But it was entwined with a foreign policy that leaves his legacy drowned in blood.
Inauguration Day 2: The Call Is Coming From Inside The Building
In 2020, after losing his bid for reelection to Joe Biden, Donald Trump summoned a mob to the Capitol. Today, as we mark the peaceful transfer of power, we offer this reminder.
Jazz Off the Record
In the late 1960s, the recording industry lost interest in America’s greatest art form. But in a small, dark club on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, jazz legends were playing the ...
A Listener’s Guide to Jazz From 1964–1972
A selection of the best recorded examples of the otherwise mostly undocumented music heard in jazz clubs like Slugs’.
A Year After Israel Bombed My Family’s Home, I'm Still Trapped in the Ruins
While the physical scars have mostly healed, the emotional ones remain as fresh as the day Israel brought my home down on me and my family.
Subscribers Only The Mountain West’s Mega-McMansion Problem
The rich have turned the region into “ultra-exclusive enclaves,” creating hazardous living conditions for everyone else.
Books & the Arts
The Worlds of Noam Chomsky
If ordinary Americans know one critic of the American Empire, it’s almost certainly Chomsky.
Fady Joudah’s Poetry of Dislocation
In his new book of poetry, […], the poet, translator, and ER doctor explores Palestinians’ experiences of exile and displacement—and the difficulty of healing amid the ongoing Nakba....
Olga Tokarczuk’s New Rules for Realism
In The Empusium, the Polish novelist’s first novel since her Nobel, she pays homage to Thomas Mann in order to redraw the boundaries of the realist novel.
What Do We Want From Bob Dylan’s Story?
In James Mangold's film A Complete Unknown, we get a cautious and reverent story of a musician who has always sought to transcend the limits imposed upon him.
The Introspective Club Hits of Jamie xx
With In Waves, Jamie xx—whose real name is James Smith—has perfected what he explored in In Colour: an album full of searching tunes that can double as dance songs.
Bijan Stephen
