The Opinions

The divide between Iran and America is, the Opinion columnist Thomas L. Friedman argues, ultimately about the difference between “Kushnerism” (named for the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner) and “Khomeiniism” (named for the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran). In conversation with the Opinion editor Dan Wakin, Friedman explains what he means and discusses what he sees as President Trump’...

What does it say about President Trump — and America — that the soon-to-be octogenarian plans to celebrate his 80th birthday with a series of U.F.C. matches on the White House lawn? On “The Opinions,” the Times contributor Robert Siegel and fellow contributors E.J. Dionne Jr. and Peter Wehner debate this form of “human cockfighting,” and take stock of the state of the nation ahead of America&rsqu...

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and A.I. company, is about to go public at a record-breaking $1.77 trillion. This summer, Anthropic and Open A.I. will follow suit, also with sky-high valuations. Are they worth it? The Opinion writer David Wallace-Wells and the contributing writer Natasha Sarin, an economist and law professor, tackle that question and discuss what these I.P.O.s mean for the American economy in the near f...

On Tuesday, Graham Platner could become the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine. That has many in his party worried. This week on “The Opinions,” the political writer Michelle Cottle and the columnists David French and Jamelle Bouie discuss the controversial Platner, what his rise can tell us about the role of morality and authenticity in American politics today and how President Trump’s terrible poll numbers are m...

The American dream is dying — or dead — and many Americans, especially young people, are struggling to imagine what comes next. Between political instability, wars, inflation and artificial intelligence disrupting the job market, there’s a lot that is uncertain about the future. In this episode, the Times Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman speaks with the Opinion columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom and the New ...

This week, the YOLO Republican caucus takes center stage — YOLO, of course, standing for “you only live once.” On “The Opinions,” the Times contributor Robert Siegel argues that senators like Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy, freed from certain electoral pressures, can now vote in accordance with their principles rather than whatever President Trump dictates.

He is joined by the Times contributor E.J. Dion...

Young men are in crisis. While the left tells men to stay in their lane, members of the manosphere and the far right are welcoming them with open arms. In a conversation about masculinity in a post-#MeToo world, the Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman talks to the authors Ruth Whippman and Frederick Joseph about what a healthier version of manhood could look like — and how we can get there.

Thoughts? Email us at theopinio...

President Trump’s proposed political slush fund is getting pushback — including from his own party. This week on “The Opinions,” the national politics writer Michelle Cottle and the columnists Jamelle Bouie and David French discuss how the president’s “reparations for rioters” settlement fund may be his biggest miscalculation yet ahead of the November midterms.

Thoughts? Email us at theopin...

Is the MAHA movement’s political influence waning? On “The Opinions,” the Times Opinion science editor Alexandra Sifferlin, the columnist and sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom and the Opinion science writer David Wallace-Wells explored this question in a live event at the Brooklyn Public Library. They discussed the impact of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as secretary of health and human services and what ...

Silicon Valley wants to be the best tastemaker in town. Artificial intelligence is changing how we decide what to wear and read and how we interact with pop culture. The Times Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman talks to the New Yorker writer Kyle Chayka and the journalist and critic Sophie Haigney about the rise of “taste slop” and what happens to culture if the internet collapses into just a few chatbots that serv...

The Supreme Court’s recent decision on the Voting Rights Act has supercharged a redistricting frenzy in states across the country. The Times Opinion contributors Robert Siegel and E.J. Dionne and the SCOTUSblog editor Sarah Isgur discuss the ruling’s implications for future elections. Ms. Isgur makes the case that voters are over reality TV politics and warns Democrats against embracing Trump-style candidates.

Thoughts?...

The columnist M. Gessen has spent most of their career reporting on and writing about authoritarianism in Russia. They now cover President Trump and the MAGA movement in the United States. In this conversation with Rachel Louise Snyder, a Times Opinion contributing writer and an expert on domestic violence, M. Gessen draws parallels between interpersonal violence and the way authoritarians coerce and control their subjects. The two...

On this episode of “The Opinions,” the Opinion writers David Wallace-Wells and Michelle Cottle join the columnist David French to discuss why this “especially messy” war of choice could reshape the global economy and why the biggest effects may still be ahead. “I don’t think that anyone in the Trump administration adequately game-planned for that, which is a huge indictment of them,” argues...

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the columnist David French sits down with a fellow originalist, the Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch. The two discuss the radical nature of the country’s founding, its continuing influence on the court and why David sees the justice’s jurisprudence as “a combination of originalist and anti-bully.”

Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com.

This epi...

As a new flood season approaches, many Americans remain haunted by the last. Families across the country are still in mourning months after the waters receded from places like the Texas Hill Country, where a flash flood on the Guadalupe River in July left at least 135 people dead, many of them children.

There is a way for communities to prepare for future floods and try to limit their damage. The producer Jillian Weinberger went to...

President Trump, the self-proclaimed master of deal making, is struggling to end his war with Iran. This week, the contributing Opinion writers E.J. Dionne Jr. and Robert Siegel reunite with the Opinion columnist Carlos Lozada to discuss the confusion caused by Trump’s foreign and domestic policies, the power of political memoirs, and whether a bill in Virginia could upend the Electoral College.

Thoughts? Email us at theopini...

When does shoplifting become an act of political protest? The Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman is calling this microlooting, and it describes the phenomenon of people stealing small things from big corporations like Whole Foods. The New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino and the political commentator Hasan Piker join Spiegelman for a lively discussion on what’s behind this trend and where it might lead.

Thoughts? Email us at ...

Despite Vice President JD Vance’s best efforts, Hungary ousted the illiberal authoritarian Viktor Orban this week. As the columnist David French argues, Orbanism was “intellectual Trumpism,” and the prime minister’s defeat could signal trouble for the MAGA movement in the United States. In this episode, French discusses what Orban’s demise means for Trump with the columnist Michelle Goldberg, who just ...