Inside America’s Ugly Birthday Battle
The Trump administration broke an agreement to fund the bipartisan semiquincentennial celebrations, saying it will not “light taxpayer money on fire.”
Michael Scherer
Michael Scherer is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He previously worked as a national political reporter for The Washington Post, the Washington bureau chief of Time magazine, and the Washington correspondent for Salon. He started his career at The Daily Hampshire Gazette, in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Latest
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty Trump Might Already Be a Lame Duck
Victories for his candidates in GOP primaries could serve to hasten the president’s political decline.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Samuel Corum / Sipa / Bloomberg / Getty. A Perfect Show That Doesn’t Make Sense
Culture and entertainment recommendations including One Piece, writing by George Will, and more
FlixPix / Alamy Stephen Miller’s New Recusals
The top White House adviser has stepped back from AI, space, and the Paramount merger.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Sources: Kevin Dietsch / Getty; Merkuri2 / Getty. Hawaii vs. Citizens United
State lawmakers want to change the terms of personhood for corporations.
Rolf Schulten / ullstein bild / Getty Stephen Miller in Retreat
The once-powerful aide’s influence has quietly diminished.
Illustration by Lucy Naland* My Role as a ‘Complicit’ Journalist
Algorithms turn nuanced articles into rage bait that helps fuel political violence.
lllustration by Akshita Chandra / The Atlantic The YOLO Presidency
Trump is focused on becoming one of history’s “great men.”
Illustration by Anthony Gerace. Source: Brendan Smialowksi / Getty. The Pentagon May Not Be Giving Trump the Full Picture of the War
Vice President Vance is worried that the U.S. is running low on weapons.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty A Dark New Litmus Test for Power in Washington
The shooting at the Correspondents’ Dinner made clear who gets saved first.
Stefani Reynolds / Bloomberg / Getty
/media/img/mt/2026/05/2026_04_01_Scherer_The_Media_and_Cole_Allen_final1/original.gif)
