Deadline Poet / February 11, 2025

Presidential Leadership

Calvin Trillin
Marines
(Sgt. John Jackson, CC BY 2.0)

A horrible crash lit up the sky.
Trump’s job was then to unify.
That calls for grace he can’t supply.
He cast the blame on DEI
And presidents of days gone by.
For four years more we’ll have this guy.
Sigh.

Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation’s “deadline poet.”

More from The Nation

Activists and members of different tribes from the region protest in Keystone, South Dakota, on July 3, 2020, as they demonstrate around the Mount Rushmore National Monument and the visit of President Donald Trump.

Trump Can’t Strip Natives of Our US Citizenship, but He Will Try to Take Our Lands Trump Can’t Strip Natives of Our US Citizenship, but He Will Try to Take Our Lands

The Department of Justice recently argued that birthright citizenship does not apply to Native Americans. The administration will likely take aim at Native sovereignty next.

Simon Moya-Smith

It’s Time for the Democrats to Throw Off the Dead Hand of Clintonism

It’s Time for the Democrats to Throw Off the Dead Hand of Clintonism It’s Time for the Democrats to Throw Off the Dead Hand of Clintonism

More than 20 years after Bill Clinton left office, Democrats remain in the grips of his New Democrat politics. That’s a serious problem.

Feature / Lily Geismer

How Trump Could Remake the Supreme Court for a Generation

How Trump Could Remake the Supreme Court for a Generation How Trump Could Remake the Supreme Court for a Generation

Donald Trump is poised to become the first president since FDR to have appointed the majority of high-court justices. His potential picks are terrifying.

Feature / Elie Mystal

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk walks on stage to speak during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025.

Nazis and Racists and “Big Balls,” Oh My! Nazis and Racists and “Big Balls,” Oh My!

Elon Musk’s DOGE-boys are hacking our government. The misogynist bros of the 2014 Gamergate travesty have won. For now.

Joan Walsh

Demonstrators protest federal layoffs and demand the termination of Elon Musk from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025.

The Democrats’ Choice: Fight Trump’s Oligarchy or Keep Groveling to Billionaire Donors The Democrats’ Choice: Fight Trump’s Oligarchy or Keep Groveling to Billionaire Donors

Elon Musk’s power grab is finally energizing a resistance. But it’s already being undermined by the party elite’s dependency on Silicon Valley.

Jeet Heer

RFK Junior, Bad Bobby

RFK Junior, Bad Bobby RFK Junior, Bad Bobby

A reminder of what was, and what is.

OppArt / Eric Orner