Opinion Today: America’s China-shocked towns
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Opinion Today
April 20, 2026
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Notable

Americans are standing up to our corporate Goliaths. “Corporations may choose to behave differently, knowing that everyday citizens, rather than specialized elites, may judge their conduct.”

— Lina M. Khan, an associate law professor at Columbia Law School, and Doha Mekki, a senior fellow at the Center for Law and the Economy at Columbia Law School

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What happened to the bipartisan consensus on birth control? “Not satisfied with the end of legal abortion in America, the anti-abortion movement seems poised to end the era of affordable contraception.”

— Jill Filipovic, a journalist and lawyer

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The economic cost of constant chaos. “Trump’s constant policy swings are offsetting whatever benefits his business-friendly instincts might bring.”

— Amit Seru, a finance professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business

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Spotlight

Aaron Canipe for The New York Times

The Unlikely Recovery of America’s China-Shocked Towns

The jobs are coming back, despite President Trump’s tariffs and harsh immigration enforcement.

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ICYMI

You can’t game your way to a real education. “Perhaps the most insidious aspect of ed tech’s invasion is the widespread adoption of video-game-style apps to teach, assess and entertain students.”

— Molly Worthen, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina

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More in Opinion

An illustration of a movie theater style popcorn box filed with clock faces.

Put the Movies on Ozempic

“Project Hail Mary” is just the latest bloated blockbuster.

By Frank Bruni

A drawing of a gigantic David Zaslav looming over the Hollywood sign, nibbling on the O like it is a doughnut.

Guest Essay

The Man Who Ate Hollywood

As the sale of Warner Bros. Discovery to Paramount Skydance hurtles toward board approval, David Zaslav is about to be more than an accidental mogul.

By Sharon Waxman

A group of supporters lays hands on a man in a suit with a flag pin in his lapel.

David French

I Missed the Part About the Divine Right of Presidents

It didn’t work out too well for kings, either.

By David French

A portrait of George Washington refracted through a mirror.

Guest Essay

The Founding Father Has Issues With the Office of the Presidency

He couldn’t get out of political office fast enough.

By H.W. Brands

A bust rests, sideways, on a slab of rock. Atop the bust is a cap with a gold eagle pinned to it, while fastened to the slab of rock are many pins.

Guest Essay

The Warmongers Are Getting History All Wrong

As in Thucydides’ time, the Trump administration’s war posture promises short-term gains but long-run disaster.

By Stewart Patrick

A photo collage shows hands holding each other across wooden tables; both the hands — which are connected to arms, mostly with sleeves worn — and the tables intersect oddly, as if in a dream not bound by the laws of reality.

Guest Essay

The Mind-Altering Power of Lucid Dreaming

Few people experience lucid dreams, yet those who do are able to appreciate as much asleep as the rest of us do awake.

By Cody Delistraty

In Your Words

Re: “We Disagree on a Lot. But We Know This Law Must Change

Aggregating and selling personal data on American citizens should be illegal, no matter who is doing it.— A comment posted by Paul H. from Way Upstate

Read more comments on the story here and check out our Letters to the Editor.

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