The Atlantic
The talk-radio host, who died this week, hurt the conservative movement.
February 18, 2021
Updated at 12:07 p.m. ET on February 19, 2021.
As a radio broadcaster, Rush Limbaugh, who died yesterday, was a great success: He pioneered his genre, attracted millions of listeners for several decades, and grew fantastically wealthy. Many good people were used to his daily company, something unimaginable to critics who heard only the most odious excerpts from his broadcasts, never the more typical segments. If you’re a Limbaugh fan who feels like you’ve lost a friend, my condolences, and best to stop reading here.
As a proponent of conservatism in America, Limbaugh was a failure who in his later years abandoned the project of advancing a positive agenda, culminating in his alignment with the vulgar style and populist anti-leftism of Donald Trump. Character no longer mattered. Budget deficits no longer mattered. Free trade no longer mattered. Nepotism no longer mattered.
The Atlantic
The case against despair
Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET on February 8, 2021.
In 2020, President Donald Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to blackmail its president into fabricating dirt on Joe Biden. The House of Representatives impeached Trump for this act. The Senate acquitted him.
In 2021, Trump incited a mob of his supporters to attack the Congress, in hopes of overturning his defeat in the presidential election. This act of incitement immediately followed Trump’s attempts to mobilize election officials in Republican states to find votes to reverse in his favor the certified election outcome.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump for this act, too. The Senate seems certain to acquit him again.
The Atlantic
Female Athletes Need to See Puberty as a Power, Not a Weakness
I had the opportunity to safely and naturally grow a body durable enough to compete not only in college, but also beyond.
January 10, 2021
When I was growing up, my natural ability was a big factor in my athletic prowess. With a wiry body and unusually long limbs, I managed to become one of the top young runners in California. I finished fourth in the state in my sophomore year of high school. At the same time, I was also developing an interest in other activities student government, theater, competitive soccer, and a social life. But being a well-rounded teenager was not what my private high school’s athletic leadership wanted.
The Atlantic
The Whole Story in a Single Photo
An image from the Capitol captures the distance between who we purport to be and who we have actually been.
January 8, 2021
Updated at 5:57 p.m. ET on January 8, 2021.
On Wednesday afternoon, as insurrectionists assaulted the Capitol, a man wearing a brown vest over a black sweatshirt walked through the halls of Congress with the Confederate battle flag hanging over his shoulder. One widely circulated photo, taken by Mike Theiler of Reuters, captured him mid-stride, part of the flag almost glowing with the light coming from the hallway to his left. Just above and behind him is a painting of Charles Sumner, the ardent abolitionist senator from Massachusetts.