Daniel Warner

“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you bunch of crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell,” the President of the United States wrote on Truth Social on Easter

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Donald Trump as an individual will not define American politics forever. But MAGA may outlast him.

The expression “coalition of the willing” was first coined by an American political scientist in the 1970s and used by George W. Bush during the Iraq war. It was an American attempt to circumvent the United Nations to carry out peacekeeping or stabilization missions. Now that logic is being turned on its head. Coalitions of the willing are no longer imagined as supporting U.S. action, but as a hedge against U.S. uncertainty. What began as a tool of American leadership is now being reimagined. Ad hoc coalitions are forming to distance themselves from Washington rather than follow it.

Photograph Source: Edward Ardizzone – Public Domain “Journalism is an essential pillar of democracy,” observed Irene Khan, the U.N.

Great powers decline twice: first in reality, then in imagination. The deeper question is not whether China will surpass the United States economically or militarily, but whether anyone under the age of thirty still identifies with the American archetype of Marlboro cigarettes, vintage denim, and all. When that desire fades, the empire is already halfway gone.

Michael Jackson’s biopic Michael is a box-office phenomenon. It earned $217 million worldwide on opening weekend, the biggest debut ever for a biographical film. But the movie has almost nothing to say about multiple allegations of Jackson’s child sexual abuse. Donald Trump commands a similar public fascination. The civil finding that he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll, along with controversies such as Todd Blanche’s approval of Trump’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” are part of a broader swirl of legal and ethical questions surrounding his presidency. Even so, they barely interrupt the spectacle around him.

The upcoming June 14 vote on limiting Switzerland’s population to 10 million is a daily reminder here in Geneva that nativist populism remains a powerful

The upcoming June 14 vote on limiting Switzerland’s population to 10 million is a daily reminder here in Geneva that nativist populism remains a powerful political force. In France, Marine Le Pen continues to build support on anti-immigration politics. Nigel Farage pushes similar anxieties in Britain. The AfD does the same in Germany. Donald Trump’s More

Bill Clinton mediates the handshake between Yitzak Rabin and Yassir Arafat outside the White House on September 13, 1993. Photo: White House Historical Association.

The United States is going through a period of gloom and doom. Confidence in its institutions has fallen, politics is deeply polarized, and talk of