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Showing posts from May, 2025

Trump’s war on Harvard is bizarre — and incredibly damaging

Opinion Fareed Zakaria Trump’s war on Harvard is bizarre — and incredibly damaging He is wrecking American competitiveness. May 30, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDTToday at 6:00 a.m. EDT When historians write about the challenges to America’s global hegemony, they will point to the rise of China, the first full-fledged peer competitor to the United States in decades. They will also note the return of Russia and its efforts to disrupt the American-led security order in Europe. These are familiar patterns in the rise and fall of world powers. What is new and surprising is that these challenges, far from uniting America, have turned it on itself, with its government tearing down many of the crucial elements of its extraordinary success. Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter Consider the Nature Index, perhaps the most comprehensive guide to high-quality research in the sciences. It tracks contributions to the world’s leading academic journals. Its newest rankings sho...

Trump’s flip-flop on how easy it would be to end the Russia-Ukraine war

Trump’s flip-flop on how easy it would be to end the Russia-Ukraine war The president has gone from a “24-hour” deal to “back away” in just a few months May 22, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDTToday at 6:00 a.m. EDT 15 min President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Feb 28. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Analysis by Glenn Kessler “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we all together win the presidency, we will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled. It will be settled. The war is going to be settled. I’ll get them both. I know Zelensky, I know Putin. It’ll be done within 24 hours, you watch.” — Donald Trump, remarks at a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, July 29, 2023 “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know detai...

The Curse of the Plane Qatar Is Giving Trump The 747-8 is an exquisite machine with a catch.

aviation The Curse of the Plane Qatar Is Giving Trump The 747-8 is an exquisite machine with a catch. By Clive Irving, is a journalist and author of Wide-body: The Triumph of the 747. 11:10 A.M. A Qatari Boeing 747-8 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International Airport after President Donald Trump toured it in February. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images As catnip for a high-end mendicant like Donald Trump, the Boeing 747-8 is unbeatable. It’s an exquisite machine, a perfect consummation of form and function and last in a line of one of the greatest airplanes ever built. It’s also a haunting specter for Boeing of a supremacy it achieved and then lost. The Qatari donors were obviously well aware of the jet’s allure to Trump as a $400 million freebie. But now the president, Boeing, and the 747-8 are locked in a storm of rebuke that needs unpacking and, when it is, the Qataris appear in a very different light. To begin with, Trump has no grasp of or patience for the technology ...

Trump needs that Qatari 747 — for all his evasive maneuvers

Opinion Dana Milbank Trump needs that Qatari 747 — for all his evasive maneuvers Trump said Monday that he invented a new word that is very old. But it is the best word for him. May 12, 2025 at 7:02 p.m. EDTToday at 7:02 p.m. EDT 5 min President Donald Trump with Mehmet Oz, left, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the White House on Monday. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) Is there no end to the talents of the very stable genius? As he rolled out his executive order on Monday decreeing lower prices for prescription drugs, President Donald Trump announced that he had also achieved a lexicographical breakthrough. Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter “There’s a new word that I came up with, which I think is probably the best word,” he announced from the Roosevelt Room. “We’re going to ‘equalize,’ where we’re all going to pay the same.” He has the best words. ...

America’s least American president

Opinion Philip Bump America’s least American president Donald Trump isn’t making America great again. He’s making it into something else entirely. Today at 7:00 a.m. EDT 7 min 912 Donald Trump stands behind an American flag at a campaign event last year. (Tom Brenner for The Washington Post) The facts of the case of Kilmar Abrego García are uncomplicated. An immigrant to the United States, he successfully convinced a court that he should not be returned to his home country of El Salvador because of threats he and his family faced from gangs in that country. He was sent to a prison there anyway, in what the Trump administration described as a mistake. The Supreme Court determined nearly a month ago that the administration had to do everything possible to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return; every indicator, however, is that neither the president nor his administration has done much of anything at all. Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter Instead, Pres...

The 2020 election was neither stolen nor rigged: A primer

The 2020 election was neither stolen nor rigged: A primer September 15, 2022 12 min 60 A person in a “Stop the Steal” cowboy hat at the “Protect Our Elections Rally” at the Arizona Federal Theater in Phoenix. (Cassidy Araiza/The Washington Post) Analysis by Philip Bump A professor at a university in Utah issued an appeal this week: Is there a resource that he can present to students to dispel them of the idea that the 2020 election was stolen? Why people believe that the presidential contest was tainted by fraud is often complex and fundamentally detached from the available evidence. It must necessarily be; there is no good evidence that anything more than a scattered handful of fraudulent votes were cast. But the point is well-taken. As someone who has tracked scores of claims over the past 22 months, I am not aware of any compendium explaining that lack of evidence. Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter. So allow this article to serve as one. ...

Hey, Oklahoma students. Here’s your real ‘election fraud’ primer.

Opinion Philip Bump Hey, Oklahoma students. Here’s your real ‘election fraud’ primer. The state’s curriculum now teaches kids to be skeptical about the results of the 2020 election. May 2, 2025 at 4:37 p.m. EDTToday at 4:37 p.m. EDT 6 min 149 A woman wears 'Trump Won' stickers at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix in September 2021. (Caitlin O'Hara/For The Washington Post) Greetings, Oklahoma high school class of 2026 and beyond! You have arrived here because your state moved to enact a curriculum this year that includes instruction centered on elevating doubts about the results of the 2020 election. Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter Because there is no actual doubt about those results (save for those raised by allies of President Donald Trump), I wanted to provide a one-stop shop for understanding what actually happened — and why no such skepticism is warranted. Skip to end of carousel Sign up for the How to Read This Chart newsle...