The New Yorker
A Waste of Space
So far, NASA has been spared the sweeping cuts that DOGE has unleashed on other federal agencies. Is that about to change? David W. Brown reports on Trump and Musk’s takeover of the American space program.
Today’s Mix
Trump’s Vivisection of the Department of Education
The President cannot legally shut down a government agency, but his Administration could make it essentially impossible for the D.O.E. to function.
Donald Trump, Producer-in-Chief
What does it mean to have a President who views his time in office as the biggest, bestest Andrew Lloyd Webber theatrical ever?
What Gavin Newsom’s Embarrassing Podcast Suggests About the Democratic Party
There’s a new strategy of disavowal emerging among some progressive politicians—and it is destined to fail.
In “The Alto Knights,” Robert De Niro Sings a Familiar Gangland Tune
The great veteran of Mafia roles, cast as the rival bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, anchors Barry Levinson’s exploration of mid-century Mob life.
Is Gossip Good for Us?
Kelsey McKinney, a podcast host and a champion of gossip, is out to change the practice’s bad reputation.
The Lede
A daily column on what you need to know.
Trump Nears Open Defiance of the Courts
The Justice Department claims to be complying with a federal judge’s orders while provoking a constitutional crisis.
The Data Hoarders Resisting Trump’s Purge
Can librarians and guerrilla archivists save the country’s files from DOGE?
Killing the Military’s Consumer Watchdog
A unit inside the C.F.P.B. protects servicemembers and veterans from financial scams. The Trump Administration has tried to stop it.
The Last Time Pro-Palestinian Activists Faced Deportation
Mahmoud Khalil’s case is eerily similar to that of the L.A. Eight, in which a group of students were targeted because of their speech.
The Girl Who Gave Me Hope for Gaza
As a doctor at Al-Aqsa Hospital, I saw what a collapse in the ceasefire could mean—and what can happen when a patient is given a chance.
The Case of Mahmoud Khalil
If the Trump Administration comes out on the wrong side of this fight, it will be because defending free speech remains a politically lucid and powerful principle.
Goings On
Recommendations on what to read, eat, watch, listen to, and more.
What to Watch That Isn’t “The White Lotus”
Inkoo Kang on fizzy and incisive shows to stream. Plus: Sheldon Pearce on the Weather Station; Richard Learoyd’s haunting photography; and more.
A British Detective Comedy Where Mysteries Become Puzzles
Sarah Larson on why it’s a good time to watch “Ludwig,” in which David Mitchell tries to solve crimes—and the problem of being a person in the world.
An Illuminating Portrait of Maria Schneider’s Traumatic Career
Richard Brody reviews Jessica Palud’s film “Being Maria,” which centers the abuse that Schneider endured, and its lifelong aftereffects.
Laurie Santos’s Pursuit of Happiness
Yale’s resident well-being expert talks about what it means to live a good life and shares some books that might help us get within reach of one.
The Subversive Love Songs of Lucy Dacus
The singer-songwriter talks about boygenius, the perils of love, and “Forever Is a Feeling,” her new album.
The Critics
Pedro Lemebel, a Radical Voice for Calamitous Times
Lemebel’s writing was entirely focussed on those living on the farthest margins of society—people escaping the norms and seen as different.
Mister Lonely, the New TV Hero
Widowers drive the plots of “Paradise,” “Severance,” and “American Primeval,” to poignant effect.
The Resurrection of a Lost Yiddish Novel
At the end of the twentieth century, Chaim Grade preserved the memory of a Jewish tradition besieged by the forces of modernity.
“Purpose” on Broadway and “Vanya” Downtown
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s latest offers another family battle royale, and Andrew Scott dazzles in a one-man tour de force.
“Perfection” Is the Perfect Novel for an Age of Aimless Aspiration
Vincenzo Latronico’s slender volume captures a culture of exquisite taste, tender sensitivities, and gnawing discontent.
Our Modern Glut of Choice
A mind-boggling array of options defines nearly every aspect of our world today, including shopping, dating, and entertainment. Is such abundance making our lives better?
The Best Books We Read This Week
A stark critique of America’s schools that anchors our current educational system in eighteenth-century ideas about race and intelligence; a sly novel that captures a culture of exquisite taste, tender sensitivities, and gnawing discontent; and more.
Our Columnists
Why “Constitutional Crisis” Fails to Capture Trump’s Attack on the Rule of Law
The Administration’s defiance of Congress and the judiciary has both flouted and made use of the country’s legal system.
Trump Needs a History Lesson About Tariffs
Trump loves to cite his historical role model President William McKinley, who was a steadfast protectionist—until a depression and a G.O.P. wipeout.
Theatre So Experimental You Have to Sign an N.D.A.
The minds behind “You Me Bum Bum Train” discuss the making of their wildly popular theatrical experience and how they craft a show that gives people “epiphanies.”
The Unsettling Cheer of “The Baldwins”
Alec Baldwin’s new married-with-children reality show is full of forced merriment. But tragedy lurks beneath the surface.
Ideas
The Silencing of Russian Art
Vladimir Putin views his country’s cultural sphere like any other sector: a subordinate dominion, which should submit to the state’s needs and interests. What’s been lost?
Will Harvard Bend or Break?
Free-speech battles and pressure from Washington threaten America’s oldest university—and the soul of higher education.
What Do We Buy Into When We Buy a Home?
Homeownership, long a cherished American ideal, has become the subject of black comedies, midlife-crisis novels, and unintentionally dystopic reality TV.
Will Democrats Learn How to Build?
Liberals have long emphasized protections over progress. Champions of the “abundance agenda” propose a new political order.
The Game Designer Playing Through His Own Psyche
Davey Wreden found acclaim in his twenties, with the Stanley Parable and the Beginner’s Guide. His new game, Wanderstop, grapples with the depression that followed.
Steal, Adapt, Borrow
Jonathan Anderson twisted denim into new shapes at his own label. He then turned Loewe into fashion’s most coveted brand by radically reinterpreting classic garments. Now he seems poised to launch another makeover—at Dior.
From the Anniversary Issue
Gary, Indiana, and the Long Shadow of U.S. Steel
Can a company town that’s been called “the most miserable city in America” remake itself?
Fifty Weird Years of “Saturday Night Live”
“SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” delves into cast auditions, “More Cowbell,” and a fateful season in which Lorne Michaels almost lost the show with new experiments.
The Long Flight to Teach an Endangered Ibis Species to Migrate
Our devastation of nature is so extreme that reversing even a small part of it requires painstaking, quixotic efforts.
The Nuns Trying to Save the Women on Texas’s Death Row
Sisters from a convent outside Waco have repeatedly visited the prisoners—and even made them affiliates of their order. The story of a powerful spiritual alliance.
High-School Band Contests Turn Marching Into a Sport—and an Art
Band kids today don’t just parade up and down the field playing fight songs. They flow across it in shifting tableaux, with elaborate themes and spandex-clad dancers.
Lost and Found: A Newly Discovered Poem by Robert Frost
“Nothing New,” which the American poet wrote in 1918, is published for the first time in The New Yorker’s Anniversary Issue.
Arthur Miller on Liberal Paralysis
Miller wrote “The Crucible,” about the Salem witch trials, in 1952, when McCarthyism was stoking paranoia and repression in Washington and beyond. In this 1996 essay, Miller revisited his famous play and his reasons for writing it, at a moment when it had become such a classic that many had come to see it as nonpolitical. In fact, Miller wrote, it was “an act of desperation,” written in response to both the rise of fascism and to the fear among progressives about facing blowback for protesting.
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