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Today:
Trump Thinks His Administration Is ‘Like Pirates’
NEWS | 05 June 2026
“We’re like pirates.”Perhaps a man as enthralled by gold as Trump was bound to find a natural affinity with pirates. In fact, the Trump administration is taking a buccaneering attitude around the globe—not just in the actions in the Middle East that Trump described. The Trump administration claims that those targeted are drug smugglers but has presented no evidence for this. As Lawfare’s Todd Huntley writes, a full blockade would be a violation of international law, though that’s not actually what the U.S. is doing. (Complicating the matter is the fact that Iran closed the strait after Trump launched a war that is dubious under international law and unauthorized by Congress.)

Top Stories:
The World Cup of Ugh
NEWS | 05 June 2026
The New York City area, which will be home to the World Cup Final next month, is far more focused on the Knicks. The only other time the World Cup was held in the United States, in 1994, it was treated as a bit of a novelty. So naturally enough, it was picked to host the World Cup final. Last summer, it hosted the finals of the FIFA Club World Cup, a new tournament of elite clubs meant to stir interest in the real World Cup a year later. South Korea, hardly a soccer powerhouse, went all the way to the semifinals when the World Cup was on its turf.

World:
California Democrats’ Pyrrhic Victory
NEWS | 05 June 2026
As with pretty much everything involving California governance, discerning the state’s election results can devolve into a big, unruly mess. California elections are consolidated via a “jungle primary” system, in which the top-two finishers, regardless of party, advance to November. Even worse, California in 2026 could portend a larger and more destructive performance from the party in 2028. Come 2028, the Democrats (and Republicans) will have another free-for-all on their hands, and with higher stakes. God willing, the candidate field will be more appealing than it has been in the California primary.

Current Events:
Trump’s Name Is Disappearing From More Than Just the Kennedy Center
NEWS | 05 June 2026
When a board packed with Donald Trump’s allies voted in December to add the president’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the transformation happened almost immediately. In a memo obtained by The Atlantic, the Kennedy Center’s lawyers today directed employees to remove references to the center being named for anyone other than President John F. Kennedy. “This includes email signatures, email communications, letterhead, website, brochures, promotional materials, press releases, signs, references in contracts, MOUs, and other agreements, and every other reference to the ‘Trump Kennedy Center,’ the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, or similar name,” read the email, which I obtained. Less than a week ago, a federal judge ordered the institution to remove all references suggesting the center had been renamed for Trump within 14 days, restoring its formal title as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “The Court ruled that the Board acted beyond its authority in adding President Trump’s name to the Center and gave the Center 14 days from May 29 to remove all references to the Center being named for anyone other than John F. Kennedy,” lawyers informed staff.

News Flash:
What It Would Take to Finally Slay the Gerrymander
NEWS | 05 June 2026
Not long after the original gerrymander took its monstrous shape in 1812, The United States Gazette issued a harsh prophecy. Last year, at the direction of President Trump, the Texas state legislature gerrymandered its districts to give Republicans an edge in the House elections. In some states, independent districting commissions helped limit extreme gerrymandering, and the Voting Rights Act curtailed efforts to dilute Black political representation in the South. Add to that polarization, the dismantling of some fair districting commissions, and more Supreme Court decisions allowing gerrymandered maps to stand, and we’ve reached a new breaking point. Perhaps we should stop trying to solve the problem of districting with districting.

Sponsored:
Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 05 June 2026
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Latest:
Maine Has a Graham Platner Problem
NEWS | 05 June 2026
We don’t know what Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, wrote in his sexually explicit texts with women other than his wife—six, according to his campaign; a dozen, according to an ex-aide—but do we need to? Now, faced with the choice between Platner and Governor Janet Mills, Maine Democrats have largely backed the populist themselves. The governor’s tough choices paid off, and Maine emerged with some of the most successful health and economic metrics in the country. Platner’s campaign events have attracted swarms of Maine voters, and he’s won endorsements from a cadre of Democratic Party leaders drawn to his charisma and candor, who seem to have mistaken him for the next John F. Kennedy. And so Maine voters still have a chance to send a message to the party brass continuing to coalesce around candidates who are not merely imperfect but entitled or unfit.

Breaking:
The Alligator Alcatraz Boondoggle
NEWS | 05 June 2026
During his tour, Trump vowed that Alligator Alcatraz would lock up “some of the most vicious people on the planet.”In truth, perhaps three-quarters of the immigrants detained at Alligator Alcatraz have never been convicted of a crime. Uthmeier’s office defended the use of the fund for Alligator Alcatraz: “We are dealing with a storm, and the storm’s name is immigration.”At the opening of Alligator Alcatraz, Trump inspected its cages, which resemble large kennels, the sides and ceiling made from steel mesh. Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of homeland security, has thus far dismissed reports that Alligator Alcatraz will soon close. Florida’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund has dwindled to $200 million—not enough to keep Alligator Alcatraz running until the end of the year. Every Sunday, an interfaith prayer vigil is held on the shoulder of Highway 41, across the road from the entrance to Alligator Alcatraz.

Trending:
How to Save Marriage
NEWS | 05 June 2026
Coontz is concerned, though, that many people who might benefit from marriage can’t see themselves making a go of it. Have so many young women turned against marriage itself, or only against a persistent 1950s vision of it, one that is no longer viable or desirable? In 2015, Coontz’s Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage, was cited in the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. It’s notable that the major decline in marriage expectations in the survey of high-school seniors occurred only among the girls. This article appears in the July 2026 print edition with the headline “The Surprising, Liberating History of Marriage.”

This Just In:
July 2026 Issue
NEWS | 05 June 2026
The Atlantic DailyGet our guide to the day’s biggest news and ideas, delivered to your inbox every weekday and Sunday mornings. See more newslettersEmail Address Sign UpYour newsletter subscriptions are subject to The Atlantic's Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

Today:
Is the GOP Starting to Defy Trump?
NEWS | 05 June 2026
Berman: And the most recent reason for that, of course, is that President Trump endorsed against two of their incumbents, which is pretty unheard of. News reporter (from WJCL): And we begin with breaking news at four: South Carolina lawmakers are shutting down a major redistricting plan backed by President Trump. It’s a setback for President Trump after Republican senators made clear that they did not have the votes. Trump put tremendous pressure on state senators to approve a new map that would have added two Republican seats. We’re hearing less and less talk of President Trump running for a third time.

Top Stories:
Why Reading Is Now Restless
NEWS | 05 June 2026
But in its milder versions, the bond with an author leads from admiration of the author’s style to curiosity about their life. Read: This literary AI scandal changes everythingClaude has a proper name, and the line is always open. The consistency of a literary style over time may also be replicable. So even if reading a novel by Claude and one by Virginia Woolf are, in some narrow sense, the same activity, reading as a practice has changed. Read: AI-writing scandals are getting very confusingIn the absence of the author, or of the certainty that one exists, we may default to a style of reading that is self-conscious, hyperaware, restless, and anxiety-driven.

World:
What to Read to Really Understand Music
NEWS | 05 June 2026
As a longtime music lover who is neither a gifted musician nor a music critic, I found myself in exactly this position when I began drafting my novel. The seven titles that follow make up a syllabus on how to think about music. Music can be used to alleviate symptoms of many neurological conditions, he shows, such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and Williams syndrome. Many of us have long felt that music is medicine; this book grounds that belief in concrete examples. And because this is an annal of punk music, it features a cast who would describe themselves in a similar way.

Current Events:
Atlantic Trivia: High-Flying Women
NEWS | 05 June 2026
From a story (opens in new tab) by Ellen CushingCornelia Fort, a flight instructor, was flying over what body of water on December 7, 1941, when emergency conditions forced her to land?

News Flash:
We’re About to Hear a Lot More About Iowa
NEWS | 05 June 2026
In last night’s primaries, though, Iowa Democrats nominated the kind of candidates the national party has struggled to find. It’s because he was perceived by Iowa Democrats as more electable. And the perception of electability is everything to Iowa Democrats right now, as they sense victory like sharks smell blood in the water. Turek was the Senate candidate that Iowa Republicans did not want, which is, of course, exactly why Democrats had to have him. Going forward, not much is certain except for this: We’re about to hear a lot more about Iowa.