Does the phrase “Hitler-branded architecture” ring any bells?

"He wanted it big. He wanted lots of gold, lots of marble." On Hitler's grandiose architectural plans for an expansion of the government's seat of power, and the dictator's use of fascist aesthetics to awe and intimidate. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"The president seems lost. Perhaps he should have stayed off the podium for a bit longer, rather than display how adrift he is to the American public and the world." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"A normal politician would attempt to convey that he is being reasonable and negotiating in good faith, whereas his adversaries are violent war criminals. Trump is arguing the reverse." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"When Hegseth tries to don the armor of a warrior priest, the result is a rancid mess that should offend believers and nonbelievers alike." www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

"Yet whatever truths it contains, Marc Andreessen’s worldview still comes with a few problems. In the first place, he is an ignoramus of epic proportions." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Airports "are the opposite of vacation, even as they are inextricably linked to it. And they lay bare the fragility of this modern life, how easy it is for everything to go wrong—right now, especially." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

"The erosion of deep reading weakens our capacity to grasp complex ideas. This shallowing effect reshapes the public square, allowing brief snippets of emotionally charged content to crowd out nuance, and algorithms to reinforce preferences and prejudices." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

“'There are too many ways for it to fail for it not to fail,' Kedrosky said of the AI industry’s web of risk. 'All you can say for sure is this is a fragile and overdetermined system that must break, so it will.'" www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

"On Yelp, where Newark Airport has a lower rating than several nearby prisons, 1,100 one-star reviews refer to it with vocabulary such as 'chaotic,' 'unacceptable,' and 'hell on earth.'" www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

A Trimmer has been called “a kind of state-otter, neither fish nor flesh, and yet he smells of both” and a political “hermaphrodite.” Yet Trimmers, "the antithesis of Donald Trump," are what this moment calls for. @DavidBrooks224 makes the case. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"At the core of the MAGA project and Trumpism is disruption and destruction, the delegitimization and razing of institutions, and the brutalization of opponents. Its leader, the president, abuses power, hurts the innocent, and mocks the dead." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Rigveda (c. 1500-1000 BCE) contains a hymn called "The Gambler's Lament," narrated by a man who has ruined his life by his addiction to gambling.

"It isn’t social conservatism that has seen so many readers disbelieve Lindy West’s rapid-onset bisexuality. Millennial Feminism failed because it was suffocating, immiserating, and often at odds with observable facts about human nature." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"It was not inevitable that a military strong enough to defend U.S. interests could avoid state capture or resist a military coup—it wasn’t even likely...No subject worried the Founders more than the risk of a standing army threatening civilian governance" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Trump now appears lost, unable to comprehend how a blockbuster movie that he scripted out, one in which he cast himself as the Liberator of Iran, has turned into a poorly received miniseries that might yet be renewed for another dreary season." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

This is a wild ride, by @mckaycoppins.bsky.social

“'If you win, you live,' he said. 'If you lose, you die.'" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"You can only kick a dog so many times before it bites back. Trump, who is the first president since Andrew Johnson not to have a pet in the White House, is learning the truth of this proverb." www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

"Dr. Menno Oosterhoff leaned forward in his living-room chair, took a sip from his coffee mug, and told me about the first time he ended a patient’s life." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Discounting the enemy’s ability to adapt is also a trait of megalomaniacal leaders—many of whom choose advisers who tell them what they want to hear and suppress information that would make them unhappy." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"When I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split." --Raymond Chandler versus the @TheAtlantic copydesk, 1948 www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

This is absolutely the best article I've seen about the dangers of sports betting, even as more of a libertarian on the issue

"Unlikely people....are betting on sports these days. In the case of McKay Coppins, it was supposed to be just for research. In an act of genius or cruelty, this magazine gave Coppins $10,000 to try a season of sports betting." www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...

This is well done, and really well-aimed at the Atlantic’s audience

"Practically overnight, we took an ancient vice—long regarded as soul-rotting and civilizationally ruinous—put it on everyone’s phone, and made it as normal and frictionless as checking the weather. What could possibly go wrong?" www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

"In the least charitable—and probably accurate—view, the President went to war with Iran out of a delusional faith in himself. He believed that the worst-case scenarios that have deterred past presidents... wouldn’t come true for him, because he is Donald Trump." www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

"It is an obvious truth that discipline, morale, and order can be maintained in military formations only if everyone—from four-star generals to the youngest 'boot' privates—is held equally accountable for their actions." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

There is no better choice than Noem for the distinction of being the first Cabinet member to be removed from this administration. She was fired, as Trump might put it, like a dog." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"The draining of U.S. missile stockpiles poses a serious problem for national security. In choosing this conflict with Iran, the United States privileged likely ephemeral gains against an adversary that was a marginal threat over deterrence of peer adversaries" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Other wars were bad because they were led by dumb presidents, but a Trump war would be good because Donald Trump is smart. Yet after the administration’s second wave of air attacks on Iran, the president’s strategy seems more sundown than Sun Tzu." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Trump's hubris resembles that of the neocons—like them, he believes in American supremacy and is fascinated by the overwhelming power of the U.S. military—but he shares none of their idealism. His only commitment is to himself." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Trump has created a substantial moral hazard for the United States of a kind not seen since the Hungarian Revolution, in 1956." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Khamenei and his close advisers behaved, as Robert Conquest used to say, as if controlled secretly by their enemies. They made blunders, such as the decision to sit in a room together for a secret meeting, where they could conveniently be killed in one go" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Sociopaths are terrific at spotting other sociopaths. {gift link} www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

"The essence of editing is ethics; it’s the act of caring for the expression of the thoughts of another as if they were your own." www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/0...

“Oh yeah, they’re still fucking.” www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

"Beset by scandal, facing multiple defeats in America’s courts, and hitting levels of unpopularity that would make President Richard Nixon nod with empathy, Trump turned the State of the Union into a vulgar, populist carnival." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Donald Trump’s plans to throw the 2026 midterms into chaos are already under way. @dgraham.bsky.social reported on the coming election mayhem in our December issue:

"If wannabe Nazis now confidently roam the halls of power—and the streets of American cities—it is because Republican leaders have made them feel at home"--longtime (& now former) Republican @radiofreetom.bsky.social. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

History check. Hitler eyed Greenland during WWII for its North Atlantic strategic value. Fast forward. In 2019, Trump, sitting in the Oval Office, floated buying Greenland for its military positioning in the Arctic. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"Greenland appears to have been a lifelong preoccupation of Adolf Hitler’s." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"If AI quickly eliminates white-collar work, the country is going to end up in something much stranger than a downturn, and something much harder to recover from too." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

"'That man is the future of America,' Dreher wrote of JD Vance in April. If Trump represents Armageddon, Vance for Dreher may be something like the Rapture." www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

If you know anyone not vaccinating their kids, make sure they read this story. Effective and nauseating use of the second person.

"Certain critics, such as John Leonard and Elizabeth Hardwick, were usually better stylists than the writers they were reviewing." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Democrats Aren't Built for This ... ken martin has one of those resting dread faces ... (Mark Leibovich/The Atlantic) Main Link | memeorandum Permalink

“'Republicans are over here being straight-up mercenaries,” Longwell said. “Democrats give everybody Fridays off and talk about work-life balance.” She apologized for yelling into the phone. Democrats “are not built for when the fascists come.'” www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...