The Conspiracy Theorist Advising Trump
The chaos inside the White House national-security team persists.
Tom Nichols
Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a contributor to the Atlantic Daily newsletter. He is a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. He has served as a legislative aide in the Massachusetts House and the U.S. Senate. He writes about international security, nuclear weapons, Russia, and the challenges to democracy in the United States and around the world—along with occasional contrarian views on popular culture. His books include The Death of Expertise and Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy. He is also a five-time undefeated Jeopardy champion.
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Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty; Mark Peterson / Redux The Trump Team’s Denials Are Laughable
The president’s officials must know that what they did in the Signal group chat was wrong—and dangerous.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Annabelle Gordon / Getty; Mandel Ngan / Getty. The Judiciary’s Last Stand
Trump’s campaign against the rule of law has ratcheted up dramatically.
Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty They’re Cheering for Trump in Moscow—Again
Russia, among other autocratic states, is surely thrilled by the president’s decision to close Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Martí, and Radio Free Asia.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. The Pentagon’s DEI Panic
What are the nation’s warfighters so afraid of?
Illustration by Akshita Chandra / The Atlantic. Sources: Photo12 / Universal Images Group / Getty; J. David Ake / Getty. Democrats Are Acting Too Normal
In her response to Trump’s address, Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin failed to capture the hallucinatory nature of our national politics.
Paul Sancya / Getty It Was an Ambush
Friday marked one of the grimmest days in the history of American diplomacy.
Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA / Getty Trump’s Titushky
Freelance thuggery is now part of American politics.
Mark Peterson / Redux Don’t Blame Zelensky
The Ukrainian president isn’t the problem.
Evgeniy Maloletka / AP A Friday-Night Massacre at the Pentagon
Trump’s purge started with his firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top Navy officer, and the vice chief of the Air Force.
Andrew Harnik / Getty
