February 28, 2025

THE SYSTEM

Have We All Just Agreed to Live With Soul-Crushing Racism?

By Zak Cheney-Rice

Elon Musk throwing up a Nazi-style salute on Trump’s Inauguration Day. Photo: Mark Peterson/Redux, New York Magazine

Not since Woodrow Wilson screened The Birth of a Nation at the White House in 1915 has a president been the source of such openly racist propaganda as Donald Trump. Other presidents may have presided over worse racial inequality or used dog whistles to signal their sympathy with racists, but none have been so explicit in their demagogic appeals to white people’s most chauvinistic impulses.

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Today's Top Stories

Required Reading for Political Compulsives

1. Trump and Allies Pile on Zelenskyy After Oval Office Fight: Live Updates

Trump and Vance openly berated the Ukrainian president during his high-profile White House visit on Friday.

By Intelligencer Staff

Trump and Allies Pile on Zelenskyy After Oval Office Fight: Live Updates

2. Trump’s Approval Falls and Could Collapse Over Inflation

Americans are still very unhappy with the economy. It’s a matter of time until the president gets some blame.

By Ed Kilgore

Trump’s Approval Falls and Could Collapse Over Inflation

3. How the Zelenskyy Blowup Serves Trump’s Goals

Planned or not, the raucous Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy clearly reinforced a MAGA effort to undermine sympathy for Ukraine.

By Ed Kilgore

How the Zelenskyy Blowup Serves Trump’s Goals

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4. Republicans Consider Lies to Hide Cost of Trump Tax Cuts

Pretending trillions of dollars in high-end tax cuts are free may be convenient for the GOP, but it’s extremely dishonest.

By Ed Kilgore

Republicans Consider Lies to Hide Cost of Trump Tax Cuts

5. Republicans Are Sick of Their Constituents Yelling at Them

GOP leaders are advising lawmakers to cut back on town halls amid a loud voter backlash.

By Nia Prater

Republicans Are Sick of Their Constituents Yelling at Them

6. Trump’s Friendship With Jeffrey Epstein: Everything We Know

AG Pam Bondi has (sort of) released new Epstein documents. Here’s everything we know about the friendship between Trump and the late sex offender.

By Margaret Hartmann

Trump’s Friendship With Jeffrey Epstein: Everything We Know

7. All the Drama Around the Trump Movie The Apprentice

From Donald Trump’s legal threats to the Ivana rape scene, the biopic has long been mired in controversy. And now it has two Oscars nominations.

By Margaret Hartmann

All the Drama Around the Trump Movie <em>The Apprentice</em>

8. GOP May Try to Pay for Tax Cuts With Unpopular Tariffs

The fiscal arithmetic of the Trump agenda isn’t adding up. Offsetting reductions in taxes for wealthy people with regressive tariffs won’t help.

By Ed Kilgore

GOP May Try to Pay for Tax Cuts With Unpopular Tariffs

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Have We All Just Agreed to Live With Soul-Crushing Racism?

Stay informed about business, politics, technology, and where they intersect.

Today's Top Stories

Trump and Vance openly berated the Ukrainian president during his high-profile White House visit on Friday.

By Intelligencer Staff

Americans are still very unhappy with the economy. It’s a matter of time until the president gets some blame.

By Ed Kilgore

Planned or not, the raucous Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy clearly reinforced a MAGA effort to undermine sympathy for Ukraine.

By Ed Kilgore

Pretending trillions of dollars in high-end tax cuts are free may be convenient for the GOP, but it’s extremely dishonest.

By Ed Kilgore

GOP leaders are advising lawmakers to cut back on town halls amid a loud voter backlash.

By Nia Prater

AG Pam Bondi has (sort of) released new Epstein documents. Here’s everything we know about the friendship between Trump and the late sex offender.

By Margaret Hartmann

From Donald Trump’s legal threats to the Ivana rape scene, the biopic has long been mired in controversy. And now it has two Oscars nominations.

By Margaret Hartmann

The fiscal arithmetic of the Trump agenda isn’t adding up. Offsetting reductions in taxes for wealthy people with regressive tariffs won’t help.

By Ed Kilgore

My Week in New York

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