Today's Liberal News

Iran’s Influence Operation Pays Off

When news comes out that someone has suffered an email breach, my first instinct is to pity them and practice extreme charity. I don’t remember any emails I wrote a decade ago, but I’m sure there’s something in there appalling enough to sour my relationships with every friend, ex, or co-worker I ever had. Give me your email password, and I will ruin your career.

The 24-Year-Old Who Outsold Oprah This Week

This past Sunday, Keila Shaheen woke up to find that, once again, she was the best-selling author across all of Amazon. To get there, she’d outsold every other book on the platform—including Walter Isaacson’s buzzy biography of Elon Musk and the Fox News host Mark Levin’s screed The Democrat Party Hates America. She’d even beat out Oprah.At just 24, she is a bona fide publishing juggernaut. And yet few outside of TikTok have even bothered to notice.

David Dayen: Amazon & Google Antitrust Cases Highlight “Newfound Vigor” in D.C. to Fight Monopolies

On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, but the details of the suit remain unclear as much of it is redacted to the public. We speak with David Dayen, author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power, about the significance of this lawsuit, which comes just two weeks after the opening of a landmark antitrust trial against Google.

“Donald Duck” & “Missing in Action”: GOP Rivals Criticize Trump for Skipping Another Debate

Donald Trump skipped the second Republican presidential debate of the 2024 race on Wednesday, declining once again to share a stage with competitors for the nomination whom he leads in the polls by double digits. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie criticized Trump for his absence, but most of the seven candidates avoided direct attacks on the front-runner. Instead, they largely aimed their fire at President Joe Biden — and each other.

A Food Fight at the Kids’ Table

Suddenly, it just tumbled out: “Honestly, every time I hear you I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”That was former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s rebuke of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, easily the best line of Wednesday night’s messy and awkward GOP primary debate. Ramaswamy, for his part, produced his own meme-worthy quote during a heated exchange with Senator Tim Scott: “Thank you for speaking while I’m interrupting.

A Court Ruling That Targets Trump’s Persona

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.In ruling that Donald Trump committed fraud, a New York judge opened up yet another messy legal saga for the former president—and this one could have profound implications for both his holdings and his persona.

The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last

My daughter needs a purple wig for school, and she needs it by this Friday. When I got the news Monday night, I had just one reliable option—Amazon—and the rancid-tapioca feeling that comes with using it. The problem isn’t just the company’s rough track record with worker safety, or its devastating effect on brick-and-mortar stores, or knowing that I was about to toss more data into its insatiable maw. Despite all that, I’m still a Prime subscriber.

The Weirdos Living Inside Our Phones

We’ve just lived through what Vulture has labeled “Silly Song Summer,” during which onomatopoeias (Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam”), farcical film ballads (Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken,” The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s “Peaches”), and a Eurodance satire (Kyle Gordon a.k.a. D.J. Crazy Times’s “Planet of the Bass”) went viral.

Making History, Biden Joins UAW Picket Line & Calls on Big 3 to Give Autoworkers “Significant Raise”

In a historic show of support for striking autoworkers, President Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to join a picket line Tuesday when he joined UAW members outside a General Motors facility in Wayne, Michigan. The American Prospect’s executive editor David Dayen says the Biden administration’s support for the union is a big shift from how the Democratic Party has treated organized labor in recent decades.

“Breaking Point”: Cities Struggle with Rise in Asylum Seekers; U.S. Foreign Policy Linked to Increase

A sharp increase in the number of people attempting to cross into the United States is straining resources in border communities, as thousands of asylum seekers arrive at the southern U.S. border each day seeking safety from violence, conflict, extreme poverty and the impacts of the climate crisis. Congressmember Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois says decades of U.S.