Tom Nichols

Newport

Staff writer at @TheAtlantic. Curmudgeon. Cat guy. Democracy enthusiast, defender of experts. Legacy blue check who'd have paid more for a better Twitter.

Featured in: Favicon

theatlantic.com (+1) Favicon

msn.com

theguardian.com Favicon

nytimes.com Favicon

washingtonpost.com Favicon

usatoday.com Favicon

yahoo.com (+3) Favicon

marketwatch.com Favicon

flipboard.com Favicon

realclearpolitics.com + 80 more

Articles

Ed Martin Has Completely Disqualified Himself

1 week ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney is a Russian-state-TV darling. 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 United States of America is still a free country, and every private citizen has the right to speak to anyone, anywhere in the world, about anything.
Trump’s Greenland Ambitions Are No Joke

2 weeks ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

The United States grabbing land from an ally sounds like the stuff of a Netflix political thriller. But every American should contemplate three realities about Donald Trump’s aggressive desire to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory. First, unlike his usual shtick, in which he floats wild ideas and then he and his aides alternate between saying he was serious and saying he might have been joking, he means it. The Danes seem to believe him, and so should Americans.
The Trump Team’s Denials Are Laughable

4 weeks ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

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 defense of the United States is a serious business. Breaches of national security are especially dangerous.
The Judiciary's Last Stand

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

President Donald Trump is at war with the rule of law in the United States. His assault is already the most hostile and sustained political attack on America’s legal and law-enforcement institutions since the Civil War. It is a war he declared before he began his first term, and one he pursued with tenacity once in office. It even had its own call to arms on January 6, 2021, or so many of his supporters believed.
Shutting Down Voice of America Is a Gift to Dictators

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

Russia and China are surely thrilled by the president’s decision to close Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Marti, and Radio Free Asia. “This is an awesome decision by Trump.”What did Donald Trump just do, and who is this happy about it? Is this a Republican politician supporting the president’s plans for a tax cut, or perhaps a MAGA cheerleader applauding deportations?
The Pentagon’s DEI Panic

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

I loved the 1980s, when I was a college student, and I especially loved the music. Lately, I’ve been thinking of a classic ’80s anti-war song by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, a British new-wave band, whose lyrics were an angry ode to the airplane that dropped the first nuclear weapon on Japan:Enola Gay It shouldn’t ever have to end this way Enola Gay It shouldn’t fade in our dreams awayThe Enola Gay was named for the mother of its pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets.
The Pentagon’s DEI Panic

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Tom Nichols

I loved the 1980s, when I was a college student, and I especially loved the music. Lately, I’ve been thinking of a classic ’80s anti-war song by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, a British new-wave band, whose lyrics were an angry ode to the airplane that dropped the first nuclear weapon on Japan:Enola GayIt shouldn’t ever have to end this wayEnola GayIt shouldn’t fade in our dreams awayThe Enola Gay was named for the mother of its pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets.
Democrats Are Acting Too Normal

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

American politicians of both parties have always known that giving the response to a presidential address is one of the worst jobs in Washington. Presidents have the gravitas and grandeur of a joint session in the House chamber; the respondent gets a few minutes of video filmed in a studio or in front of a fake fireplace somewhere. If the president’s speech was good, a response can seem churlish or anti-climactic.
One of the Grimmest Days in American Diplomacy

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

Leave aside, if only for a moment, the utter boorishness with which President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House today. Also leave aside the spectacle of American leaders publicly pummeling a friend as if he were an enemy.
Trump’s Titushky

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Tom Nichols

Once a government becomes a dictatorship, the regime has a full range of repressive instruments at its disposal, including the police, the courts, the military, and domestic intelligence services, among others. All of these institutions act in the name of the state and its leaders, and ordinary citizens resist them at their peril.