Nathan J. Robinson

New Orleans

Editor-in-Chief at Current Affairs

Editor of @CurAffairs, former political columnist for the @guardian https://t.co/mIadf5dgrH

Articles

Only a Dope Would Like DOGE

1 week ago | currentaffairs.org | Nathan J. Robinson

The popular podcaster Lex Fridman, whose political worldview I have critiqued before, recently said that everyone should be supporting Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). Friedman had watched an interview that Musk and his DOGE team gave on Fox News, in which they defended the agency’s work. Fridman found it “eye-opening” and said that “All Americans should be cheering them on and hoping they succeed in their mission to make government more efficient.
China Knows How to Deal with its Billionaires

2 weeks ago | currentaffairs.org | Alex Skopic |Nathan J. Robinson

In the United States, wealthy individuals like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are allowed to dominate the country’s politics and economy. But there is another way. In the United States today, it’s pretty obvious that billionaires run the show. There are 13 of them in Donald Trump’s administration right now, the most in American history.
Lucy Letby Should Be Released Immediately

2 weeks ago | currentaffairs.org | Nathan J. Robinson

The nurse branded Britain’s most notorious serial killer is clearly not “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” And it looks like she may even have taken the blame for neoliberalism’s gutting of the public health system. [content warning: discussions of infant death]There are no witnesses who ever saw nurse Lucy Letby harm a baby. There is that Lucy Letby ever harmed a baby. Lucy Letby never had any history of harming babies nor any apparent motive to harm them.
Teaching in a 'Sanctuary City' Under Siege

3 weeks ago | currentaffairs.org | Jennifer N. Dines |Nathan J. Robinson |Kyle Kulinski

My high school students are targets in Trump’s cruel deportation spree. It can’t be allowed to continue. I am a high school teacher in the Boston Public Schools. I teach English to new immigrant students. I have done this work for nearly two decades. This year, my students come from Cameroon, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Jeffrey Goldberg Betrayed Journalism

4 weeks ago | currentaffairs.org | Stephen Prager |John Ross |Nathan J. Robinson |Kyle Kulinski

Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to show us how the powerful act when nobody is watching. Instead, he left the room. On Monday, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that a member of the Trump administration unexpectedly added him to a group text chain in which top national security officials were discussing immediate plans to carry out airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah).
“MAGA Lefty” Is Not A Thing

1 month ago | currentaffairs.org | Kyle Kulinski |Nathan J. Robinson |Tom Williams |Stephen Prager

Trump did not “steal the Democrats’ economic platform.” He’s not “anti-war.” He’s an plutocratic imperialist waging war on social welfare, consumer protection, and civil liberties. Look at what he does, not what he says. [This article is adapted from the video “‘MAGA Lefty’ Makes Kyle Want to Put His Nuts In a Waffle Iron.”]Recently, political commentator Batya Ungar-Sargon made what is possibly one of the least true statements ever made about American politics.
How Crypto Bought Washington

1 month ago | currentaffairs.org | Tom Williams |Stephen Prager |Alex Skopic |Nathan J. Robinson

Originally published in our magazine’s hallowed print edition 2025 Jan/Feb Details The crypto industry uses vast sums of money to create majorities in Congress to champion their unpopular cause. The last few years have been disastrous for the cryptocurrency industry—at least in terms of public reputation.
The Right Doesn’t Actually Care About Antisemitism

1 month ago | currentaffairs.org | Stephen Prager |Alex Skopic |Nathan J. Robinson |John Ross

Donald Trump is cynically using the idea of Jewish safety to launch a regime of political persecution. But he and his allies barely disguise their own antisemitism. [Content warning: Antisemitism, misogyny]The Trump administration has begun arresting political prisoners, and it’s using a supposed crackdown on antisemitism as a pretext to do it. Last week, ICE detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate of Columbia University who is in the United States as a lawful permanent resident.
Let’s Not Kill 450,000 Owls

1 month ago | currentaffairs.org | Alex Skopic |Nathan J. Robinson |John Ross

It’s a testament to human arrogance and cruelty that this is even being considered. Can you imagine what it would be like to kill an owl? To look down the barrel of a rifle or shotgun, pull the trigger, and watch a feathery body fall to the ground with a dull thud? Probably not. Owls are fascinating, beautiful creatures, and they’ve done nothing to harm humans, so the thought of murdering one in cold blood is repellent. But not, apparently, to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Violence Prerogative

1 month ago | bostonreview.net | Noam Chomsky |Nathan J. Robinson

Every ruling power tells itself stories to justify its rule. Nobody is the villain in their own history. Professed good intentions and humane principles are a constant.