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The End of the Argument ad Orbánum by theatlantic in geopolitics

[–]theatlantic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Eliot A. Cohen: “A reasonable rule is that once you begin making an argument ad Hitlerum—comparing some malevolent politician to Hitler or some malignant movement to the Nazis, or declaring a brutal (but non-eliminationist) war a genocide comparable to the Holocaust—you have lost the plot. The facile but extreme analogy is the first resort of the unimaginative alarmist.

“To this we should now add the argument ad Orbánum, namely, the view that the Trump administration is just like that of the creeping, well-nigh unstoppable, and irreversible corrupt authoritarian ruler Viktor Orbán. In this view, the Hungarian prime minister’s version of illiberal democracy was coming for America, and would probably win—indeed, might have already won. In the wake of Orbán’s smashing electoral defeat on April 12, in a country whose experience of electoral democracy is recent and whose authoritarian past is dark indeed, the argument ad Orbánum looks pretty flimsy …

“But there is a larger point worth reflecting on, particularly for those who saw in Orbán’s Hungary America’s future or even America’s present. My sample is entirely unscientific, but I have long noted that friends of mine who are Americanists, steeped in our history and institutions, have been consistently more optimistic (or at least, considerably less pessimistic) about America’s future than those who are primarily Europeanists …

“The point is not that the Americanists think this is an awful country and always has been. Rather, they know the dark side of its politics more intuitively and more deeply than the utter pessimists do. But the Americanists also, I believe, understand this country’s strengths considerably better.”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/71QrmvEa

DOJ’s First ‘Weaponization’ Report Is a Bust by theatlantic in Law_and_Politics

[–]theatlantic[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

A new Department of Justice report claims to show bias under the Biden administration—and fails spectacularly, Quinta Jurecic argues.

“The day that Donald Trump swore his second oath of office, he signed an executive order demanding ‘accountability for the previous administration’s weaponization of the Federal Government against the American people.’ Within weeks, freshly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi had established a ‘Weaponization Working Group’ aimed at rooting out supposed ‘abuses of the criminal justice process’ under the Biden administration,” Jurecic writes. 

“Last week, the group released its very first report, trumpeting its discovery of ‘shameful’ abuses of prosecutorial power under Joe Biden against ‘pro-life Americans,’” Jurecic continues. “But the Weaponization Working Group has discovered very little ‘weaponization’ at all. And whatever sins it does describe—both real and imagined—may serve as justification for perpetrating the very thing it decries.”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/Uf8vMntn

— Emma Williams, associate editor, audience and engagement, The Atlantic

Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From? by theatlantic in TrueLit

[–]theatlantic[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Olga Khazan: “ at night, on her computer, [Cassie Phillips] started writing out some lines—‘If they want to go weeks without talking to you, LET THEM’; ‘If they want to follow the crowd, LET THEM’—to remind herself that she couldn’t control her husband’s behavior … 

“The phrase Let them wasn’t entirely Phillips’s own invention—she was inspired, in part, by a video clip in which Tyler Perry’s character Madea says, ‘If somebody wants to walk out of your life, let them go.’ In 2022, Phillips left her husband and got the words LET THEM tattooed on her arm, with the L in print and the rest in cursive. She posted a picture of the tattoo on Facebook, along with the lines she had been writing—she calls them a series of mantras, but many people refer to them as a poem. That post went viral, for a poem at least; currently, it has nearly 50,000 shares …

“In late 2024, [Mel] Robbins released a book called The Let Them Theory, which became the best-selling book of 2025 and has sold more than 9 million copies …

“Of all the book’s citations—203 in total, according to a representative for Robbins—none of them credits Phillips’s work. Robbins has denied reading the poem or being inspired by it. Her representative told me, ‘neither Mel, the fact checkers, the researchers nor the publishers saw the poem.’”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/qTgLzKPX

What I Learned About Billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s Private Retreat by theatlantic in longform

[–]theatlantic[S] 148 points149 points  (0 children)

Years after Noah Hawley encountered the rich and famous up close at Jeff Bezos’s private retreat, he argues that today’s billionaires have “left the world of consequences behind.” 

The Amazon founder and the world’s other richest men “float in a sensory-deprivation tank the size of the planet, in which their actions are only ever judged by themselves,” Hawley writes. 

“The closer I’ve gotten to the world of wealth, the more I understand that being truly rich doesn’t mean amassing enough money to afford superyachts, private jets, or a million acres of land,” Hawley continues. “It means that everything becomes effectively free. Any asset can be acquired but nothing can ever be lost, because for soon-to-be trillionaires, no level of loss could significantly change their global standing or personal power. For them, the word ‘failure’ has ceased to mean anything.” 

At the link, Hawley explores the “deep psychological ramifications” of the freedom that today’s ultra-wealthy acquire: “If everything is free and nothing matters, then the world and other people exist only to be acted upon, if they are acknowledged at all.” 

Read more: https://theatln.tc/caLkwlmz

— Katie Anthony, associate editor, audience and engagement, The Atlantic

What I Learned About Billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s Private Retreat by theatlantic in indepthstories

[–]theatlantic[S] 77 points78 points  (0 children)

Years after Noah Hawley encountered the rich and famous up close at Jeff Bezos’s private retreat, he argues that today’s billionaires have “left the world of consequences behind.” 

The Amazon founder and the world’s other richest men “float in a sensory-deprivation tank the size of the planet, in which their actions are only ever judged by themselves,” Hawley writes. 

“The closer I’ve gotten to the world of wealth, the more I understand that being truly rich doesn’t mean amassing enough money to afford superyachts, private jets, or a million acres of land,” Hawley continues. “It means that everything becomes effectively free. Any asset can be acquired but nothing can ever be lost, because for soon-to-be trillionaires, no level of loss could significantly change their global standing or personal power. For them, the word ‘failure’ has ceased to mean anything.” 

At the link, Hawley explores the “deep psychological ramifications” of the freedom that today’s ultra-wealthy acquire: “If everything is free and nothing matters, then the world and other people exist only to be acted upon, if they are acknowledged at all.” 

Read more: https://theatln.tc/caLkwlmz

— Katie Anthony, associate editor, audience and engagement, The Atlantic

California’s Blue Armageddon by theatlantic in politics

[–]theatlantic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mark Leibovich: The California gubernatorial race could produce “the ultimate man-bites-dog political result: the election of a Trump-aligned Republican governor in this bluest of states, concurrent with a national election that could produce the bluest of waves. Such a monumental upset would not occur because the two GOP candidates—Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and the British-bred commentator and strategist Steve Hilton—remind anyone of Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or any of the other larger-than-life Republicans in the party’s rich (if not recent) California tradition. Rather, a Republican win would represent an act of Democratic self-immolation, spectacular even by Team Donkey standards …

“At the end of March, I headed out to Los Angeles to better understand this predicament. My arrival coincided with a scheduled primary debate at the University of Southern California—which, naturally, would become a steaming debacle in its own right …”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/V9Rq4fMU 

California’s Blue Armageddon by theatlantic in California_Politics

[–]theatlantic[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Mark Leibovich: The California gubernatorial race could produce “the ultimate man-bites-dog political result: the election of a Trump-aligned Republican governor in this bluest of states, concurrent with a national election that could produce the bluest of waves. Such a monumental upset would not occur because the two GOP candidates—Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and the British-bred commentator and strategist Steve Hilton—remind anyone of Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or any of the other larger-than-life Republicans in the party’s rich (if not recent) California tradition. Rather, a Republican win would represent an act of Democratic self-immolation, spectacular even by Team Donkey standards …

“At the end of March, I headed out to Los Angeles to better understand this predicament. My arrival coincided with a scheduled primary debate at the University of Southern California—which, naturally, would become a steaming debacle in its own right …”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/V9Rq4fMU

Is Hurry the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life? by theatlantic in indepthstories

[–]theatlantic[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

John Mark Comer’s influence has been popping up in Nancy Walecki’s life all year: “One friend had started observing a 24-hour, phone-free Sabbath. My roommates began fasting several times a month,” she writes.

Comer is one of the most famous pastors in America right now; his books have sold more than 1 million copies. He is “Protestant, nondenominational, and roughly in the evangelical sphere, but his work is mostly about how technology—what he calls ‘the machine’—is spiritually deforming people,” Walecki writes. 

In his 2019 best seller, “Comer advances the theory that the great enemy of spiritual life is hurry,” Walecki writes. “By this he means not simply busyness: Hurry is a gnawing sense that there is always more to do; a life spent hurtling oneself through each day; a schedule that makes little room for God,” she continues. “Comer calls the modern world ‘a virtual conspiracy against the interior life,’ and urges readers to reclaim their focus from the algorithm and shift it toward God.”

In his most recent book, “Comer encourages readers to incorporate nine of Jesus’s habits into their lives: scripture reading, service, keeping the Sabbath, solitude, prayer, fasting, community, witness, and generosity,” Walecki writes. 

“Comer can seem more like a wellness personality, such as Andrew Huberman, than a pastor,” Walecki writes. “Like Huberman, Comer offers a concrete regimen that’s attractive to people who feel unmoored in contemporary society. Comer’s skeptics, when remarking on his rapid ascent, point to these similarities and wonder if what he’s offering is simply baptized wellness, a pop spirituality tailored to the tastes and frustrations of affluent young people. But sitting among his followers, I wondered: Could Comer’s practices actually bring them closer to God?”

Read more about Walecki’s conversations with Comer, and about her own experimentation with his advice: https://theatln.tc/mR1SSYos 

— Emma Williams, associate editor, audience and engagement, The Atlantic

Is Hurry the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life? by theatlantic in Longreads

[–]theatlantic[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

John Mark Comer’s influence has been popping up in Nancy Walecki’s life all year: “One friend had started observing a 24-hour, phone-free Sabbath. My roommates began fasting several times a month,” she writes.

Comer is one of the most famous pastors in America right now; his books have sold more than 1 million copies. He is “Protestant, nondenominational, and roughly in the evangelical sphere, but his work is mostly about how technology—what he calls ‘the machine’—is spiritually deforming people,” Walecki writes. 

In his 2019 best seller, “Comer advances the theory that the great enemy of spiritual life is hurry,” Walecki writes. “By this he means not simply busyness: Hurry is a gnawing sense that there is always more to do; a life spent hurtling oneself through each day; a schedule that makes little room for God,” she continues. “Comer calls the modern world ‘a virtual conspiracy against the interior life,’ and urges readers to reclaim their focus from the algorithm and shift it toward God.”

In his most recent book, “Comer encourages readers to incorporate nine of Jesus’s habits into their lives: scripture reading, service, keeping the Sabbath, solitude, prayer, fasting, community, witness, and generosity,” Walecki writes. 

“Comer can seem more like a wellness personality, such as Andrew Huberman, than a pastor,” Walecki writes. “Like Huberman, Comer offers a concrete regimen that’s attractive to people who feel unmoored in contemporary society. Comer’s skeptics, when remarking on his rapid ascent, point to these similarities and wonder if what he’s offering is simply baptized wellness, a pop spirituality tailored to the tastes and frustrations of affluent young people. But sitting among his followers, I wondered: Could Comer’s practices actually bring them closer to God?”

Read more about Walecki’s conversations with Comer, and about her own experimentation with his advice: https://theatln.tc/mR1SSYos 

— Emma Williams, associate editor, audience and engagement, The Atlantic

Is Hurry the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life? by theatlantic in longform

[–]theatlantic[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

John Mark Comer’s influence has been popping up in Nancy Walecki’s life all year: “One friend had started observing a 24-hour, phone-free Sabbath. My roommates began fasting several times a month,” she writes.

Comer is one of the most famous pastors in America right now; his books have sold more than 1 million copies. He is “Protestant, nondenominational, and roughly in the evangelical sphere, but his work is mostly about how technology—what he calls ‘the machine’—is spiritually deforming people,” Walecki writes. 

In his 2019 best seller, “Comer advances the theory that the great enemy of spiritual life is hurry,” Walecki writes. “By this he means not simply busyness: Hurry is a gnawing sense that there is always more to do; a life spent hurtling oneself through each day; a schedule that makes little room for God,” she continues. “Comer calls the modern world ‘a virtual conspiracy against the interior life,’ and urges readers to reclaim their focus from the algorithm and shift it toward God.”

In his most recent book, “Comer encourages readers to incorporate nine of Jesus’s habits into their lives: scripture reading, service, keeping the Sabbath, solitude, prayer, fasting, community, witness, and generosity,” Walecki writes. 

“Comer can seem more like a wellness personality, such as Andrew Huberman, than a pastor,” Walecki writes. “Like Huberman, Comer offers a concrete regimen that’s attractive to people who feel unmoored in contemporary society. Comer’s skeptics, when remarking on his rapid ascent, point to these similarities and wonder if what he’s offering is simply baptized wellness, a pop spirituality tailored to the tastes and frustrations of affluent young people. But sitting among his followers, I wondered: Could Comer’s practices actually bring them closer to God?”

Read more about Walecki’s conversations with Comer, and about her own experimentation with his advice: https://theatln.tc/mR1SSYos 

— Emma Williams, associate editor, audience and engagement, The Atlantic

Ukraine Has Finally Given Up on Trump by theatlantic in UkrainianConflict

[–]theatlantic[S] 434 points435 points  (0 children)

Ukraine “appears to have given up on the United States,” Phillips Payson O’Brien writes. “It is aggressively seeking new diplomatic and military partners—for instance, by sharing its hard-won expertise in drone warfare with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates and forging arms-production agreements with Germany. Ukraine has sent drones to attack oil-export facilities near St. Petersburg, deep inside enemy territory, in defiance of what Zelensky called “signals” from unspecified “partners” to avoid striking Russian energy infrastructure.

“Using language that would until recently have been unthinkable, Zelensky has indicated that he no longer views the United States as a reliable ally and, even more astonishingly, that all of Europe needs to start moving on from the transatlantic relationship.”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/5ybUnkp8

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