Democrats did the work, Republicans didn’t—and that says a lot about the two parties. Adapted from The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage, St. Martin’s Press 2021. The Affordable Care Act, the health-care law also known as Obamacare, turns 11 years old this week. Somehow, the program has not merely survived the GOP’s decade-long assault. It’s actually getting

The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic. Donald Trump greets families of the fallen at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day 2017. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty) When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris, in 2

A conservative publication, which I will not name, just spiked a book review because I said that the Laffer Curve didn't apply at American levels of taxation, even while otherwise expressing my vast displeasure with the (liberal) economic notions of the book I was reviewing. This isn't me looking for an alternative explanation for the spiking of a bad review: the literary editor accepted it, edite

The alt-right movement has sought over the past two years to rebrand white nationalism, lifting it out of the obscure corners of the website Stormfront and elevating it into the mainstream political discussion. In some ways the effort succeeded. President Trump’s campaign offered white nationalists a political home in the mainstream. They heard Trump’s hardline anti-immigration stances and repeate

Editor’s Note: We’ve gathered dozens of the most important pieces from our archives on race and racism in America. Find the collection here. The strangest part about the continued personality cult of Robert E. Lee is how few of the qualities his admirers profess to see in him he actually possessed. Memorial Day has the tendency to conjure up old arguments about the Civil War. That’s understandable

CNN and Donald Trump are at it again. The two have been feuding for months. On Tuesday, the network refused to air an ad by Trump’s campaign that called the mainstream media “fake news,” a term frequently used by the president. The campaign, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc, responded, blasting CNN in a press release, titled, “Fake News Station Refuses to Run Ad Highlighting The President’s Firs

Editor’s Note: We’ve gathered dozens of the most important pieces from our archives on race and racism in America. Find the collection here. President Trump has peppered his first months in office with periodic announcements about the history of the nation he now leads, which he shares in the apparent presumption that others will be similarly amazed and astonished. In February, he marked Black His

The backlash-provoking spot likely came out of a months-long, multimillion-dollar process that offered producers plenty of opportunities to spike it. This week, after a new, activism-themed ad from Pepsi fizzled when it was met with backlash on social media, the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel told his audience, "The fact that this somehow made it through—I can't imagine how many meetings, and edits,

In 2011, I was hired, straight out of college, to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council. My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman––I was the only hijabi in the West Wing––and the Obama administration always made me feel welcome and included. Like most of my fellow American Muslims, I spent much

In a letter on Sunday, FBI Director James Comey wrote that newly discovered emails do not change the FBI’s prior conclusion that Hillary Clinton should not be charged with a crime. Esam Al-Fetori / Brian Snyder / Gary Cameron / Jim Young / Reuters / Brennan Linsley / Susan Walsh / AP / razihusin / Shutterstock (Zak Bickel / The Atlantic) Oops, never mind! That’s FBI Director James Comey’s new mess

It can’t pass a budget, can’t confirm appointments, and now it can’t even scrounge up funding to address public-health crises. In 2011, I wrote a piece for Foreign Policy magazine about the 112th Congress; the editors helpfully titled it “Worst. Congress. Ever.” It was a bit of hyperbole, but it may be no exaggeration to call the current, 114th Congress the worst ever—at least edging out the infam

The billionaire’s bid for the nomination was opposed by many insiders—but his success reveals the ascendance of other elements of the party coalition. In The Party Decides, an influential book about how presidential nominees are selected, political scientists John Zaller, Hans Noel, David Karol, and Marty Cohen argue that despite reforms designed to wrest control of the process from insiders at sm

Donald Trump’s big victories in the Mid-Atlantic primaries don’t represent quite the end of the ballgame—but they come damn close. And now Donald Trump’s many and fierce opponents in the Republican Party and the conservative movement face the hour of decision. Trump looks ever more certain to be the party nominee. Yet not perhaps since George McGovern in 1972 has a presumptive nominee so signally

Historical precedents augur against Donald Trump—but perhaps the old rules no longer apply. Historical context is a great asset. But is history always an accurate guide? Does past performance always give us the best predictor of future outcomes? This election season provides a fascinating frame to see if the polarization in politics, from Washington to the states to the public, is no different tha

GOP voters aren’t looking for their own young, optimistic candidate to put a new face on the party—many, in fact, want just the opposite. Republican presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio arrives to speak during a campaign rally in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Paul Sancya / AP) Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign was premised in large part on the idea that the young, hopeful, charismatic Senator