News Updates

We’ll try not to be grim

MARCH 21, 2025
“Drain the Swamp” Takes on a New Life
Trump’s Order Dismantling the Education Department Continues His Attacks on the Agency →
Donald Trump has given his infamous vow to “drain the swamp” new meaning as he rampages through the federal government. In addition to the DHS deportations that have shaken college campuses over the past couple of weeks, the president has been on a tear: waging war on public lands, dismantling the Department of Education, and more generally destroying the economy as we know it.

“Leaving aside the buckets called ‘culture wars’ and ‘foreign policy,’ we may distinguish eight distinct forces at work in Trump’s economics,” James Galbraith explains this week. Among Galbraith’s list—which includes everything from “the targeted destruction of specific regulatory agencies” to Reaganism and tariffs—is general “uncertainty and chaos.” In this landscape, Galbraith writes, “those in position to move quickly…could be the biggest winners.” In other words, “the apex financial and tech predators, already at Trump’s feeding trough, could end up in control of the whole economy.” And that, he says, just “may be their goal.”

 

-Alana Pockros

Engagement Editor, The Nation

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Trump’s War on Public Lands Moves to its Second Phase
The Great Firing continues—and the next round of layoffs will reveal how much power over public lands the Trump administration will cede to corporations.
LAZO GITCHOS
 
Trump’s Order Dismantling the Education Department Continues His Attacks on the Agency
The president plans to sign an executive order directing officials to take all “necessary steps” to shut down the department, but a complete closure would require an act of Congress.
OWEN DAHLKAMP
 
Trump Sets His Sights on “Eliminating” Public Education
Yesterday’s executive order would dismantle the Department of Education, shutting down programs American families rely on.
CHRIS LEHMANN
 
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Trump’s Economics—and America’s Economy
You can’t make America great again by wrecking the government.
JAMES K. GALBRAITH
 
The Not-So-Golden Age of MAGA Troll Comedy
In a blind rush to appease a phantom Trump demographic, media executives and billionaire owners are granting influential platforms to bigots, hacks, and panderers.
BEN SCHWARTZ
 
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KRISTEN MARTIN
Trans Kids Are Facing a Terrifying New Reality
The nationwide drive to eliminate gender-affirming care has trans youth and their families contemplating a series of agonizing choices.
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Israel’s Renewed Assault on Gaza Is a Prelude to Mass Expulsion
With Trump’s green light for ethnic cleansing, Israel’s return to war threatens to become an all-out effort to empty the enclave of Palestinians.
BEN REIFF
How a Case From 1803 Explains John Roberts’s Approach to Donald Trump
Roberts wasn’t “rebuking” Trump when he issued his statement against impeaching judges. He was bending the knee.
ELIE MYSTAL
Our April 2025 Issue: Are Men OK?

 

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