The White House in Washington, seen in reflection of a broken mirror, on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (Will Matsuda/The New York Times) By ROSS DOUTHAT For those of us with a sincere, nonpartisan interest (I swear) in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, it was a good week: First the Democrats, with an eye to hammering Donald Trump, released a few redacted Epstein emails in which the president’s name featured prominently; then Republicans, presumably with an eye to burying the Democratic

Capital Area Food Bank volunteers provide food to federal workers during the government shutdown in Beltsville, Md., Oct. 25, 2025. (Lawren Simmons/The New York Times) By JESS BIDGOOD The longest government shutdown in American history is over, but there are two sets of images from these past few weeks that could endure well beyond it. The first shows the lines snaking out of food pantries after the Trump administration chose not to use available funds to keep full food stamp

Tucker Carlson, the internet personality and former Fox News host, speaks at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 27, 2024. “Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes, the Hitler fanboy with a sizable social-media following, [...] has at last forced conservatives to reckon with the sewer pipe of antisemitism bursting through their walls,” columnist Bret Stephens writes. (Hiroko Masu

Bad Bunny on stage during his residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Aug. 9, 2025. Is Bad Bunny’s comparison of Puerto Rico and Hawaii in his song “Hawaii” an apt one? Contributing columnist Gregorio Igartúa has his doubts. (Amy Lombard/The New York Times) By GREGORIO IGARTÚA Special to The STAR In his song “Hawaii,” singer Bad Bunny presents a misleading narrative about the historical relationship between Hawaii and the United States. He als

Nicholas Fuentes, the notorious white nationalist social media personality, in his streaming studio on Sept. 8, 2025. An increasing number of conservatives fear that their movement has been and is being completely redefined -- not just in President Donald Trump’s image, but in Fuentes’ and right-wing podcaster and former TV host Tucker Carlson’s as well. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times) By DAVID FRENCH Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, must be co

A youth is fed a supplemental meal at a nutrition center in Damasak, Nigeria on Nov. 20, 2024. USAID was for decades the lynchpin of a global supply chain that has made and distributed ready-to-use therapeutic food. The Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the agency has left thousands of malnourished children at risk of dying. (Taiwo Aina/The New York Times) By NICHOLAS KRISTOF I have great news for President Donald Trump! He has expressed such outrage at attacks on

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, at a campaign event where she was joined by former President Barack Obama in Newark, on Nov. 1, 2025. (Damon Winter/The New York Times) By JAMELLE BOUIE As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump is a phenomenally effective vote-winner, capable of turning out millions of otherwise infrequent voters to deliver the White House and Congress to the Republican Party. But as president, Trump has been an

A photo provided by the National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congress shows from left, Rep. Willis Hawley (R-Ore.) and Sen. Reed Smoot (R-Utah. (National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congress via The New York Times) By BRET STEPHENS In one of the great scenes of one of the great gangster movies, Mike Newell’s “Donnie Brasco,” an aging Mafioso named Lefty Ruggiero paces a hospital corridor while his son fights for his life following a drug overdose. “Twenty-eigh