What Was The Hottest Take This Year?
Rating the spiciness and truthiness of the hottest takes we heard in 2025.
Today's Liberal News
Money Talks: Saving Lives Without USAID
Mary Childs learned about how places like ALIMA and Givewell are moving forward now that USAID is done.
Nuclear Fusion Powered by Memestock
Trump Media & Technology Group has merged with a nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies.
Can Disney Save Mickey from GenAI?
Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI so you can’t use Sora to make Darth Vader porn among other concerns.
The ultraprocessed food makers have an answer for RFK Jr.
The companies behind Doritos, Oscar Mayer wieners, and Kraft Mac & Cheese are warning state regulation promoted by the health secretary is driving up your food bill.
Why RFK Jr.’s plan to follow Europe on vaccines is getting panned
In some cases, Europe has better contained disease, in others it’s let them spread to keep costs down.
States see possible warning signs amid steady Obamacare sign-ups
While sign-ups are above 2024, some states are concerned about higher terminations, fewer new enrollees and more consumer calls for help. If Congress fails again to extend enhanced subsidies in January, they say enrollment could drop.
RFK Jr. wanted to endorse the Danish vaccine schedule. He was forced to pull back.
Legal and political concerns prompted the health department to cancel a planned announcement on Friday, officials said.
When Church Was a Queer Space
Outward’s hosts sit down with the host and co-creator of When We All Get to Heaven.
Remembering, with the People of MCC San Francisco, AIDS Still Isn’t Over.
The neighborhood changes, the church moves, people forget and remember “the AIDS years,” but AIDS isn’t over.
What Happens When You Organize Church Around AIDS – and AIDS Changes?
The AIDS cocktail opens new possibilities. And MCC San Francisco tries to use the experience of AIDS to make bigger social change.
The Church’s Pastor Gets Diagnosed with AIDS. And the Church Wonders How Much They Might Lose.
The church’s minister gets sick and everyone knows it.
A Church Romance Between a Hula Dancer and a Lumbersexual Blossoms in a Dangerous Time.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
Vance tries to thread affordability needle in Rust Belt
The vice president fine-tunes Trump’s economic message, but he’s only got so much wiggle room.
Ex-Trump voters swung hard to Democrats over costs in NJ & VA, new research shows
Voters who backed Donald Trump in 2024 and swung to Democrats in this year’s Virginia and New Jersey elections did so over economic concerns, according to focus groups conducted by a Democratic pollster and obtained by POLITICO.
Democrats think they’ve found their 2026 message — and Miami just backed it up
In races across the country, Democrats focused on promises to make life more affordable — even as they offered contrasting approaches.
Voters sour on Trump’s handling of the economy in new poll
The White House plans to make affordability a key selling point for Republicans across the board as the 2026 midterm elections come into focus.
Trump will again test ‘blame Democrats’ message on the economy — this time at a casino
President Donald Trump will give a speech in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the first stop in a ‘tour’ where he will talk about affordability concerns, among others.
Remembering Bill Moyers: PBS Icon on Corruption of Corporate Media and Power of Public Broadcasting
The legendary journalist Bill Moyers died in June at the age of 91. Moyers, whose long career included helping found the Peace Corps and serving as press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson, was an award-winning champion of public television and independent media. We feature one of his numerous interviews on Democracy Now!, where we discussed the history of public broadcasting in the United States and the powerful role of money in corporate media.
Arundhati Roy on New Memoir “Mother Mary Comes to Me,” Gaza & Authoritarianism from India to U.S.
In this holiday special, we speak to the acclaimed Indian writer Arundhati Roy on her new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me. The book focuses on her mother Mary Roy and how Arundhati was shaped by her, both as a source of terror and of inspiration. We also talk to Arundhati about Gaza and the rise of authoritarianism from India to the United States.
A Tribute to Blacklisted Lyricist Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz
His name might not be familiar to many, but his songs are sung by millions around the world. Today, we take a journey through the life and work of Yip Harburg, the Broadway lyricist who wrote such hits as “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” and who put the music into The Wizard of Oz, the movie that inspired the hit Broadway musical and now Hollywood blockbuster, Wicked.
Free Leqaa Kordia: Palestinian Woman Who Joined Columbia U. Protest Has Been Detained Since March
Calls are growing to release Palestinian protester Leqaa Kordia, who was arrested at a 2024 Columbia University Gaza solidarity protest. The charges were dismissed, but when she went to her ICE check-in this past March, she was arrested and immediately sent to the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where she has been held ever since.
“Never Stop”: Freed After 9 Months in ICE Jail, Immigrant Activist Jeanette Vizguerra Keeps Fighting
Democracy Now! speaks with longtime immigrant rights activist Jeanette Vizguerra, who was just released Monday from ICE jail after nearly 10 months in a Colorado detention center. Vizguerra was ambushed by ICE agents during her work break in March. A judge ordered her detention was unconstitutional, and she was released on bond Monday.
The miracle cure for sickle cell is now 2 years old. Most are still waiting.
Despite a Trump administration push, there are few facilities offering the complex treatment in the rural areas where many patients live.
The Sad Dads of Hollywood
If you went to the movies this fall, you probably met him: the Sad Art Dad. You’ll have known him by his miserableness; despite the flash of the cameras and the cheers of the groundlings, he’s most often found moping alone. His vocation may vary—movie star (in Jay Kelly), art-house director (Sentimental Value), blockbuster Tudor playwright (Hamnet)—but his problem tends to be the same. He has chosen great art over good parenting, utterly failing as a father, and he knows it.
North Road, Fall 2020
The vandals came at night
Tarring the asphalt with the coward’s color.
Their message—candidate and date—
Reading both ways, at the bend in our road.
The town’s crew tried twice to cover it,
But the words bled through, defiant.
We troubled ourselves and argued for a response:
To stomp on it, to jump over, or go around.
We went around—in every season,
For five years,
The yellow fading, the outrage permanent,
The scar invading each day’s promise.
The Slow, Inevitable Death of the Bowl Game
It’s been a hard month for the once-prestigious college bowl. Just hours after Notre Dame learned that it would not be included in this season’s College Football Playoff—the mega-popular, multibillion-dollar, 12-team invitational that crowns an NCAA Division I champion—the team announced that it would not play in any bowl whatsoever this year. Nine other programs, including Florida State, Auburn, and Baylor, soon followed Notre Dame’s lead, declining bowl bids.
Some of Our Most-Read Stories of 2025
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
The stories that resonated most with our readers this year include reporting that led the political conversation, analysis that unraveled deep mysteries, and meditations on our evolving culture. Spend time with some of our most popular stories of the year.
The Santa Presidency
President Donald Trump can hardly conceal his disgust for the word affordability, referring to its ascendance in America’s political lexicon as a “hoax,” a “con job,” and a “fake narrative” perpetuated by Democrats. But there’s one sign that he’s treating it like a very real political vulnerability: The former reality-television host is trying to give people cash.