Viktor Orbán, the European Union’s only autocrat, has fallen. Results from Sunday’s election in Hungary show that the opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, has defeated Orbán’s Fidesz party — the first election the party has lost in 20 years. Orbán called Magyar to concede the race within hours of the polls closing. There […]

The status of American democracy feels paradoxical: somehow both damaged and well-functioning at the same time. On the one hand, the United States has a president who is acting like a dictator: threatening to wipe out an entire civilization, menacing allies with threats to annex their territory, targeting domestic enemies with spurious criminal investigations, and […]

On Explain It Me, we try to give you useful information to help you navigate and understand the world around you. But lately there’s been an elephant in the room: Life feels kind of…bad.  Polling suggests that Americans are unsatisfied with their lives now, and with prospects for the future. It’s understandable why: We’re on […]

Your Mileage May Vary is an advice column offering you a unique framework for thinking through your moral dilemmas. It’s based on value pluralism — the idea that each of us has multiple values that are equally valid but that often conflict with each other. To submit a question, fill out this anonymous form. Here’s this week’s question from […]

The only people with worse poll numbers than President Donald Trump are the political media that cover him. We, the journalists, are in a crisis: of trust, relevance, and being swamped by an attention economy that will either replace us with Claude or an influencer. The skills of traditional reporting: storytelling, man-on-the-street interviews, even the […]