Today's Liberal News

Heads, Trump Wins

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.
Yesterday, the Department of Justice announced plans to settle Donald Trump’s personal lawsuit against the IRS over allegations that it had mishandled his tax information.

A Star Wars Movie to Fall Asleep To

What if I told you that a new Star Wars movie is in theaters this week? One directed by Jon Favreau, the steady hand at the tiller who helped launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man and the current stretch of Disney live-action remakes with The Jungle Book?

It’s Maddeningly Difficult to Ban Smoking

Since tobacco first arrived on the shores of England in the late 16th century, some Brits have wanted to eradicate it. Back in 1604, King James I was so alarmed about his country’s new smoking habit that he imposed a 4,000 percent tariff on the crop. That year, he wrote one of the world’s first anti-tobacco essays, declaring smoking “lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs.

Photos: Cuba Runs out of Fuel

Ramon Espinosa / AP
People illuminate themselves with their phones while playing dominoes as a fire, set up by residents protesting against prolonged power outages, burns on a street in Havana, Cuba, on May 14, 2026. A Cuban energy official said recently that the nation had completely run out of diesel and fuel oil.

Why Does Donald Trump Refuse to Defend America?

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Some of Donald Trump’s favorite world leaders have been scoundrels, bullies, and dictators. He keeps a picture of himself with the Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin on the wall of the White House. He claims to have fallen “in love” with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Minnesota Officials Charge ICE Agent Who Shot Venezuelan Immigrant & Falsely Reported What Happened

State prosecutors in Minnesota have filed criminal charges against an ICE officer who allegedly shot a Venezuelan immigrant in north Minneapolis in January, then lied about what happened. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced Monday that federal agent Christian Castro will face four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime when he allegedly shot Julio Sosa-Celis through a door.

“Ask E. Jean” Film Profiles the Woman Who Twice Sued Trump & Won, for Sexual Assault & Defamation

President Donald Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to toss two verdicts against him resulting from civil litigation brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. In 2019, the famous advice columnist published a memoir describing an encounter in the 1990s when she says Trump sexually assaulted her in a department store. When Trump denied the account, Carroll sued him and won $5 million in damages, with a unanimous New York jury finding Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

3 Killed in Devastating San Diego Mosque Shooting: Linda Sarsour on Rising Anti-Muslim Hate & More

Two teenage gunmen in California fatally shot three people on Monday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the city. Among the dead was a security guard — Amin Abdullah, a father of eight — whom police credit with preventing more casualties. The 17- and 18-year-old suspects were found dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a car near the scene. Police are investigating the attack as a hate crime.

“Israel: What Went Wrong?”: Holocaust Scholar Omer Bartov & Haaretz’s Gideon Levy Debate Zionism

We speak to two prominent Israeli thinkers, historian Omer Bartov and journalist Gideon Levy, about the founding beliefs of Zionism. Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, is the author of the new book Israel: What Went Wrong? Bartov says the early Zionist movement had liberatory intentions, aiming to emancipate the persecuted Jewish minority in Europe and modeling itself after other contemporary ethnonationalist movements.

Elon Musk Gets a Reality Check

Sam Altman did not seem to be having a good time. During the many days that he spent inside an Oakland courtroom, the normally cheery CEO of OpenAI—a guy who tends to be chipper even when declaring AI’s existential risks to humanity—appeared anxious, even distraught.

Granting Tina Peters Clemency Is a Big Mistake

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.
Local election officials are the lifeblood of American democracy. They, and not the president or Congress, are most important for functional elections, and that’s what made Tina Peters’s crimes especially egregious.
Peters was the county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado, during the 2020 election.

Donald Trump’s Nixon Moment That Wasn’t

In 1971, Richard Nixon announced his plan to visit Beijing—marking a geopolitical turning point, as the trip would be the first for a U.S. president in 25 years. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield offered an observation that has since become a Washington commonplace. “Only a Republican, perhaps only a Nixon,” he told U.S. News & World Report, “could have made this break and gotten away with it.

The Most Interesting Part of Trump’s Prayer Rally

By 10 a.m. yesterday, the line of people wishing to dedicate America to God was more than three hours long. They came ready with prayer flags to wave the Holy Spirit into action, and shofars to scatter demonic forces. They wore T-shirts declaring the sort of Christians they were. A muscular man wore one that read Prayer Warrior. A woman in cargo shorts announced that she was an Intercessor for America. An elderly woman wore one that read I Am the Weapon.