Tag: The Atlantic

Written by Olivia Paschal (@oliviacpaschal) and Madeleine Carlisle (@maddiecarlisle2) Today in 5 Lines The Trump administration announced that the United States will reinstate sanctions on Iran that had previously been lifted under the Obama administration. Eight countries will receive temporary waivers allowing them to keep importing some oil from Iran. In a reversal from his comments Thursday, Trump said that U.S. troops will not shoot at migrants heading to the southern border if they throw rocks. The U.S. economy added 250,000 jobs in October, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent, a near 50-year low. Today on The Atlantic Mothers for Medicaid: In Georgia, where the mortality rate for black mothers and babies is one of the highest in the country, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is promising to expand Medicaid. Her embrace of the issue could make the difference in the governor's race. (Vann R. Newkirk II) What Voters Want: Health care is the single most important issue in the midterm elections, writes Annie Lowrey. How the Midterms Could Change North Carolina: The state’s Republican-controlled legislature is trying to change the constitution. (Susie Armitage, ProPublica) An Endless War: Earlier this week, the Trump administration called for a ceasefire in Yemen’s civil war. See which are likely to go Republican and which are likely to go Democratic.

The voters who are most amped for the 2018 elections look elite in nearly every way. “They have something to win back.” It’s the segment that’s surprising: Religiously unaffiliated voters, who may or may not be associated with other civic institutions, seem most excited about supporting or donating to causes, going to rallies, and expressing opinions online, among other activities. Political engagement may be providing these Americans with a new form of identity. By 2014, those numbers had shifted significantly: Pew found that 28 percent of Democrats identified as religiously unaffiliated. During that time, they were significantly more likely to have contacted an elected official or to have donated to a candidate or cause. The data on religiously unaffiliated Democrats combines with other statistics to form a rough picture of the voters who have been getting the most civically involved over the past year. It may be challenging to understand these people through a national poll: While it’s easy for Democrats to talk about their angry Facebook posts, it’s more difficult to capture the kind of political transformation that Putnam is seeing among local groups in Pennsylvania. She met one group of women who knew each other largely through Girl Scouts and chartered a bus to the Women’s March in 2017. Many liberals are feeling anger, and finding ways to express that. It’s not going to occur over one election cycle,” Cox said.

Written by Olivia Paschal (@oliviacpaschal), Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey), and Madeleine Carlisle (@maddiecarlisle2) Today in 5 Lines Speaking at The Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C., Senator Jeff Flake criticized Brett Kavanaugh for his recent appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling his interactions with lawmakers “sharp and partisan.” “We can’t have that on the Court,” he said. Four members of a militant white-supremacist group were arrested in connection with last year’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jason Kander, a rising star within the Democratic Party, announced that he’s dropping out of the Kansas City mayor’s race to seek treatment for PTSD. Despite that, Wittes writes, “If I were a senator, I would vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation.” The Power of Women’s Anger: In her new book, Rebecca Traister argues that women's anger can lend itself to political change. However, in Laura Kipnis’ opinion, such a tactic is short sighted. Why Did No One Save Gabriel? : Los Angeles authorities knew that eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez was suffering brutal abuse at home. But they didn’t act until it was too late. But, The Wall Street Journal reports, Trump appears to have personally directed his son, Eric Trump, and his former lawyer Michael Cohen to coordinate legal action against Daniels. Does the organization have a popularity problem?

Clinton breaks her silence on the explosive hearing on Christine Blasey Ford's allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh notably dismissed the hearing as a 'political hit job' done by Bill and Hillary Clinton. FOX News Channel (FNC) is…

Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines The White House has reportedly authorized the FBI to interview anyone necessary in its investigation into sexual-assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, after the administration previously limited the scope of the agency’s probe. In a wide-ranging press conference, President Trump said he wants the investigation to be “comprehensive” and, contradicting earlier White House talking points, said that it “wouldn’t bother” him if the FBI speaks with Julie Swetnick, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Trump also praised the revised trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, which was announced late Sunday, as “a great deal for all three countries.” Trump said he will sign the new deal, called the “United States Mexico Canada Agreement,” by late November. Trump, speaking on the first anniversary of the mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas, said he expects his administration to ban so-called “bump stocks” in a matter of weeks. Today on The Atlantic A Threat to the Court’s Legitimacy: If Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed by the Senate, it will be a nightmare for Chief Justice John Roberts, argues Ronald Brownstein. Just Ask Bill Gates: In recent years, Facebook has become increasingly unpopular, just like its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “For decades, many women may have seen little difference between the two parties when it came to sexual misconduct, allowing them to prioritize other concerns,” Young writes. “Now there’s a bright line.” More Norms Out the Window: One of the biggest tragedies of the Kavanaugh drama? Passionate members of the political left have alienated many of their would-be allies on the right. : There are three points of inconsistency between Ford’s and Kavanaugh’s testimonies that an FBI investigation might be able to clear up.

Momentum’s alternative Labour conference, the World Transformed, is back in Liverpool, where it was born two years ago. And like the city’s most famous sons, the Beatles, the grassroots group has ambitions to make it big in the US, where socialism is the new political buzzword. At TWT one of the star turns has been Julia Salazar, the charismatic activist who this month defeated a veteran incumbent in a Democratic primary to run for a seat in the New York state senate. “And there are also parallels with the resistance – there are lot more mainstream, liberal Democrats who are very resistant to the entry of leftists and socialists like myself into the party. “I think the platform of a democratic socialist appeals … to someone who might have reactionary politics but who also recognises their class interest and self-interest is more aligned with a democratic socialist vision than a conservative one,” she said. “It’s a myth that it’s safer for Democrats or Labour to run candidates that capitulate to the centre,” she said. Links between leftwing US political activists and Momentum have been growing for years. Klug said British and US campaigners had adopted methods from one another, both in the UK general election and in multiple elections across America. The Momentum version of that training was developed during the general election campaign and it has since passed it on to the US National Nurses United (NNU) for use in its Medicare for All campaign. Bonnie Castillo, the executive director of the NNU, one of the country’s biggest and most politically outspoken unions, said making international connections was hugely important to the movement, especially making the case against privatised healthcare.

Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey), Madeleine Carlisle (@maddiecarlisle2), and Olivia Paschal (@oliviacpaschal) Today in 5 Lines Amid calls from Democrats to “abolish ICE,” the White House hosted an event honoring what it termed the “heroes” of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. President Trump tweeted that he hopes former CIA Director John Brennan goes to court over the revocation of his security clearance, saying that it would make it easier to show “the poor job he did” as CIA director. First Lady Melania Trump advocated against cyberbullying as part of her Be Best campaign, while Trump insulted Brennan on Twitter. In an open letter, Pope Francis responded to last week’s Pennsylvania grand jury report concluding that more than 1,000 victims had been abused by 300 Catholic priests across the state. “We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them,” he wrote. Jury deliberations continued for a third day in the fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Today on The Atlantic Addicted to Pot? As marijuana legalization rolls forward, some Americans are smoking pot daily—leading to addictive behavior and health problems that nobody seems to be talking about. (Annie Lowrey) Multiple Messages: Democrats don’t need one united message; they need hundreds of messages tailored to each candidate, writes former New York Representative Steve Israel. Concentrated Poverty: In Fresno, California’s poorest large city, a legacy of discrimination has lasting effects on its residents.

Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines Jurors in Paul Manafort’s fraud trial ended a second day of deliberations without reaching a verdict. The judge said he has received threats and denied media requests to release the names of jurors in fear for their safety. Trump refused to say whether he plans to pardon Manafort if he’s convicted, but said that his former campaign chair is “a very good person” and that the trial is “very sad.” Trump blamed the cancellation of his military parade on Washington D.C. officials, saying they had inflated the cost. More than a dozen former U.S. intelligence officials condemned Trump’s decision to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance in a letter late Thursday. Today on The Atlantic Overruled: Former FBI agent Peter Strzok was set to receive a two-month suspension and a demotion for his alleged misconduct during the 2016 presidential election. Instead, he was fired. (Natasha Bertrand) She ‘Worked for Me’: Trump “employs a particular species of dismissive language when he’s talking about black women,” writes Vann R. Newkirk II—as evidenced by his remarks about the death of singer Aretha Franklin. Two Birds, One Stone: The United States is expected to have a massive physician shortage by the year 2030. (Adam Harris) ‘This Is a Crisis’: A new report shows that one in 10 Airbnb hosts is a teacher. (Katie Rogers, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, and Maggie Haberman, The New York Times) A ‘Political Hack’: Trump’s decision to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance was vindictive, writes Stephen F. Hayes, but Brennan himself has used tactics like that.

Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former aide to President Trump, released a recording of Lara Trump offering her $15,000-a-month job after she was fired from the administration. In a blistering op-ed for The New York Times, former CIA Director John Brennan called Trump’s claims of no collusion “hogwash” and said Trump revoked his security clearance to scare “others who might dare to challenge him.” Jurors began their deliberations in the fraud trial of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort. Trump criticized the “fake news media” as being “the opposition party” after hundreds of newspapers around the country published editorials condemning his attacks on the press. Today on The Atlantic Watch the Women: There’s one group of voters that could make or break the midterm elections for the Democrats: working-class white women. (Ronald Brownstein) ‘Why a Free Press Matters’: The free press is in an unprecedented state of crisis, write Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner: “This is a test, not only for those of us who work in journalism, but also for the nation as a whole.” Where Is the Collusion? : As dull as Paul Manafort’s trial was, it “answered that question again and again.” (Natasha Bertrand) Aretha’s Revolution: The life of Aretha Franklin “bookended a grand arc of tumult, letdowns, progress, setbacks, terror, and hope in American history,” writes Vann R. Newkirk II. Snapshot What We’re Reading Don’t Believe It: The medical industry is running a propaganda campaign against universal health care, writes Ryan Cooper. Here’s why their arguments are “garbage.” (The Week) Bill Clinton, Not Richard Nixon: Many Republican strategists and activists are becoming increasingly convinced that if Democrats win the House and move to impeach President Trump, it’ll actually backfire on them. (Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair) Visualized Forecasting the Midterms: FiveThirtyEight predicts that Democrats have a 75 percent chance of winning control of the House in November. Here’s the state-by-state breakdown.

Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines President Trump escalated his attacks against former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman, calling her a “dog” on Twitter. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters she “can’t guarantee” that Trump has never used a racial slur after Manigault Newman claimed Trump is on tape using the N-word. Defense lawyers for former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort rested without calling any witnesses in his fraud trial. Closing arguments for the trial are expected to begin on Wednesday morning. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court released a report listing more than 300 clergy members accused of sexual abuse, and identifying at least 1,000 child victims. Two people were injured after a car plowed into the gates of the United Kingdom’s Parliament. London’s Metropolitan Police are investigating the incident as a possible act of terrorism. The Races We’re Watching Voters in Connecticut, Vermont, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are heading to the polls for their primary elections. In Minnesota, Republicans see opportunities to take back several seats, including the governor’s mansion: Former Governor Tim Pawlenty and Jeff Johnson are vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. On the Democratic side, former Republican staffer and political pundit Richard Painter is challenging incumbent Senator Tina Smith.