wow. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

"America’s life-or-death challenge as a nation, whether it be in 1776 or 2026, is this: When there are so many forces dedicated to dividing us, how can we best hang together?" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

"The affordability issue, which seemed to be a rocket exploding upwards 12 months ago, now looks more like a bomb to which the Republican Party finds itself tightly strapped” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

Abby Spanberger will now be governor of Virginia, Mikie Sherrill governor of NJ. I wrote about both of them, and their friend group, last year www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

“When people say the A.I. reasons, they misunderstand. The A.I. does not reason. They reason.” I had a fascinating chat with @leecronin.bsky.social about autonomous A.I. Listen: buff.ly/36MBR5O Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.

"One thing that last night’s results seem to convey clearly is that many voters are unhappy with President Donald Trump." www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

I thought the name was familiar. Seems like he's exactly the same guys as he was in ninth grade. "What began as a ninth-grade prank...has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to let loose a personal computer virus." web.archive.org/web/20080107...

"'The robots are people too,'" he told me. 🧐🧐 Common Crawl, a nonprofit---funded in part by AI companies--- that runs a giant database, has been sending paywalled articles to AI companies. And they've been lying to publishers about it. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

"These are not the actions of mature adults. They are examples of crude people displaying their incompetence as they flail about in jobs—including the presidency—for which they are not qualified” @radiofreetom.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

“You won’t fuck this up,” Rahm Emanuel said, faux-menacing, jabbing four-and-a-half fingers at me, “because if you do, your kids won’t have a mother anymore.” A terrific Ashley Parker profile. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

The book from which this extraordinarily open-hearted and moving essay is excerpted in @theatlantic.com is out this week from @nxthompson.bsky.social. Buy it here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/678434...

Pete Wehner: "America has lost its moral bearings; as a result, it has also lost its moral standing in the world. A curtain of darkness is settling over our nation. And it’s getting ever harder to avoid connecting the authoritarian dots." www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

One recommendation to authors: record your own audiobook! It's scary at first and it takes forever. But turns out it's wonderful to revisit it all out loud, and it's much more intimate and real for the listener. Definitely don't use AI.

“There are a lot of reasons I run,” @nxthompson.bsky.social writes. “I like to remember that I’m still alive, and that I survived my cancer. But really I run because of my father.” Running “reminds me of my father, and gives me a way to avoid becoming my father.”

My conversation with Reuters about running, my new book, and how to balance hard things in life. www.reuters.com/lifestyle/ni...

For @reuters.com's Culture Current, I spoke with elite runner and The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson (@nxthompson.bsky.social) about his new book "The Running Ground," the sport's global boom, and why he's grateful he didn't run faster sooner. Read the full Q&A: www.reuters.com/lifestyle/ni...

“If you’re not frightened, you’re not paying attention.” A detailed story on how the 2026 midterms could be subverted—and how the subversion could be stopped. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

People keep asking me about my book title: "The Running Ground'" The line comes from Maximus of Tyre. My father had given me this print to forgive a loan. Reading it after his death, I realized that among all the objects that could evoke memory and love, Maximus included an ancient Greek track.

"We get through most days in life without having to really think about death, which also means that we don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the remarkable fact that we are alive." Astonishing writing, beautiful piece.

I was Nick's @wired.com intern in 2008, and he rolled into the offices (late) on my first day in his running clothes. What a delight some 17 years later to interview Nick, a former WIRED EIC and now The Atlantic's CEO, about his excellent new book, which is about running and so much more:

I had a wonderful time talking to my old WIRED colleague @katie-drummond.bsky.social for the release of The Running Ground. I am so glad she didn't quit when I showed up to the office on her first day in my running gear. She was incredible then and she's doing an amazing job now.

The number of times my jaw dropped reading this story… it was many times! www.wired.com/story/ai-tea...

“When running was going right, the rest of my life seemed to follow,” writes @nxthompson.bsky.social in this lyrical, deeply affecting essay about cancer, endurance and the lessons we learn from our fathers. @dvnjr.bsky.social's pick this week via @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

"One lesson I learned about running that also applies to writing: The best time to do something important is usually right now. And when you have to get something done in a short amount of time, it’s wise not to spend that time complaining about how little time you have."

“There are a lot of reasons I run,” @nxthompson.bsky.social writes. “I like to remember that I’m still alive, and that I survived my cancer. But really I run because of my father.” Running “reminds me of my father, and gives me a way to avoid becoming my father.”

There’s a fascinating debate in endurance sports about how hard you can exercise before it starts to shorten your lifespan. Here’s what Will Ahmed sees in Whoop’s data. Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.

“There are a lot of reasons I run,” @nxthompson.bsky.social writes. “I like to remember that I’m still alive, and that I survived my cancer. But really I run because of my father.” Running “reminds me of my father, and gives me a way to avoid becoming my father.”

I've just written about my intense relationship with my father and how running helped me both connect with him and avoid becoming him. It's my first article ever for @theatlantic.com My dad wrote here in 1967, and it seems fitting to publish this 58 years later. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Updating my LEGO White House

People of DC-land: Next Tues night, hear Nicholas Thompson—writer, editor, publisher, tech guy, and world-class distance runner—talk about his revealing and riveting new book, The Running Ground. Politics & Prose, Nov 28, 7pm. I've known Nick for decades and will be interviewing him. Join us!

"After the killing of Charlie Kirk, Hegseth asked a group of troops to recite the Lord’s Prayer with him. Later, Hegseth posted a video setting that recitation to imagery of missiles streaking across the sky and troops advancing on unseen enemies." www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

One exciting way A.I. could improve our health: 24/7 preventative monitoring. Will Ahmed says it could end the annual checkup. Listen to our full chat here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.

Just learned "The Running Ground" was selected as one of B&N's best books, and best sports books, of 2025. It's a story about a lot of things, including the ways that running can help illuminate how we age and decline, and how to counter that. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-runnin...

Ohad Elhelo took two A.I. ideas on opposite ends of the spectrum—generative A.I. and symbolic A.I.—and combined them to create a neuro-symbolic model. He says it’ll be one of many species of A.I. Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.

Heroes. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/n...

I am thrilled to announce “The Most Interesting Thing in A.I.” podcast is back for a third season. Episode one drops on Wednesday, I hope you listen & subscribe: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... Produced by Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic's creative marketing studio, in collaboration with PwC.

“They want everybody to be afraid,” Senator Patty Murray told us. “Oh my gosh, he’s going to do this. Oh my gosh, he did that. But when you deny somebody that fear, you diminish their power. And that is what we think is absolutely critical.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

“At this moment, when citizens in many of the world’s most successful liberal democracies are giving up, Venezuelans fight violence with nonviolence and oppose corruption through bravery.” Congratulations to Maria Machado on her Nobel Peace Prize. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Kash Patel's new coin does not signify gravitas. It says: "I am a grown man who has spent way too much time on the internet.’ www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Garry Kasparov has lived through a transition to authoritarianism. He has studied it his whole life. And he’s very worried now.

“His murder transformed him from an abstract idea or menace into a man with a loving family who was suddenly gone.” A fabulous Mark Whitaker essay on the deaths of both Charlie Kirk and Malcolm X.

"James Comey’s rights and liberties are not the only ones at risk today. So is your own right to participate in free and fair elections in order to render a verdict on Trump’s invasion of those rights and liberties." By @davidfrum.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Social media tried to keep us infinitely engaged through their algorithms. Chatbots are now trying through asking infinite questions and nudging us to stay engaged. It's now called "chatbait," it's taking over the Internet, and there's a lot that can go wrong.

Trump's agenda requires that people do things they know are wrong --- and that they know could harm them if his grip on power loosens. So as the public turns---his polls are dropping and the stench of corruption is climbing---will they keep doing his bidding? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

More than that. "The FBI ***recorded*** Tom Homan taking the money "after indicating he could help the agents — who were posing as business executives — win government contracts in a second Trump administration."

A new era of government censorship has begun. It started with the silencing of scientific speech, when the admin blocked release of research on bird flu. But MAGA has also cracked down on other wrongthink—on race, geography (!), and of course Trump himself www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

It is truly astonishing that the government’s reaction to Kirk’s murder has been more about the 1st Amendment than the 2nd.

""A complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective,” Judge Merryday wrote. “Not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/b...

“Authoritarianism is like measles: ignore it and it will go away. I have this guidance straight from Secretary Kennedy.” www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...