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January 30, 2026

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Notable

This moment is showing us who we are. “The clash in Minneapolis has revealed a cleavage over the meaning of citizenship and constitutional rights perhaps as profound as the one that split the nation in 1861. The fight, now as it was then, is over that simple question: What kind of America are we?”

— Lydia Polgreen, Opinion columnist

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Tucker Carlson needs his hatreds. “He wanted to channel the currents that brought Trump to power, and the most expedient way to do that was to cultivate an all-consuming hatred of Trump’s foes.”

— Michelle Goldberg, Opinion columnist

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The world used to end wars. Why did we stop? “Peace cannot be improvised. It needs to be designed, carefully and deliberately.”

— Thant Myint-U, a historian

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Spotlight

Maisie Cowell

Students Are Skipping the Hardest Part of Growing Up

Artificial intelligence is replacing young people’s social intuitions, Clay Shirky writes.

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ICYMI

No child deserves to die like my daughter. “Hearing my daughter trapped, begging for my help, was a kind of pain no mother should experience.”

— Wesam Hamada, a mother and advocate from Gaza

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Listen (or Watch)

The New York Times The Ezra Klein Show How the World Sees America, With Adam Tooze The historian Adam Tooze discusses Davos, China and the fading of an old world order. 1 HR 4 MIN LISTEN

More in Opinion

Guest Essay The Case Against the Department of Homeland Security Since its founding in 2002, DHS has evolved into the unaccountable domestic security apparatus we have today, one that views the very people it is supposed to protect as threats not humans. By Ben Rhodes

David Brooks Time to Say Goodbye After 22 wonderful years, I’ve decided to take the exciting and terrifying step of leaving in order to try to build something new. By David Brooks

W.J. Hennigan Let the Arms Race Begin Once the New START treaty ends, we will have returned to an era without limits, when arsenals can reach unconstrained heights. By W.J. Hennigan

Guest Essay The Polls Are Clear. Americans Don’t Want This. There is rising anxiety among Americans that the presence of an armed federal force in cities is actively making life less safe for people who live there. By Kristen Soltis Anderson

Guest Essay The Death of the Indie Film FOMO used to rule the Sundance Film Festival, but now it’s mostly fear. By Sharon Waxman

letters Philip Glass’s Protest at the Kennedy Center Readers discuss Philip Glass’s refusal to allow the performance of his symphony at the Kennedy Center. Also: Real leaders at a time of crisis.

In Your Words

Re: “Trump’s Greenland Envoy: We Need ‘Total, Unfettered Access’”

I think they have fallen for the oldest real estate ruse on the planet: Greenland isn’t green and it’s not an island suitable for a golf resort or a luxury high-rise condo. — JillA from Baltimore

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