As Donald Trump prepares to take office again, the country is still coming to terms with what happened on January 6, 2021. But perhaps the best way to move forward is to neither forgive nor forget the past—but obliterate it. 

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The MAGA alliance that helped elect Donald Trump is starting to show signs of fracturing. It recently came to a head after an important argument broke out over H-1B visas between Silicon Valley and the nativist wing. We talk with Atlantic staff writer Ali Breland, who writes about the internet, technology, and politics, about the public infighting, and staff writer Rogé Karma takes us beyond the politics by discussing what the research shows about the relationship between immigrant labor and the American worker.

Extra listening: Rogé Karma on Good on Paper.

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Hanna talks to the creators of an AI project called Future You. She also has a conversation with a future version of herself. But the person she meets is not who she expected.

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Why should a teenager bother to read a book, when there are so many other demands on their time? We hear from Atlantic staffers about the books they read in high school that have stuck with them. Books you read in high school are your oldest friends, made during a moment in life when so many versions of yourself seem possible, and overidentifying with an author or character is a safe way to try one out. Later in life, they are a place you return—to be embarrassed by your younger, more pretentious self or to be nostalgic for your naive, adventurous self or just to marvel at what you used to think was cool.

Books mentioned:

• Spencer Kornhaber: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
• Jessica Salamanca: A Separate Peace by John Knowles
• Helen Lewis: Mort by Terry Pratchett
• David Getz: Chips Off the Old Benchley by Robert Benchley
• Shan Wang: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• Sophia Kanaouti: Ypsikaminos by Andreas Embirikos
• Ann Hulbert: The Pupil by Henry James
• Shane Harris: Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
• Katherine Abraham: Sand and Foam by Kahlil Gibran
• Eleanor Barkhorn: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• Robert Seidler: On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

​​When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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Recently, professors at elite colleges told Atlantic writer Rose Horowitch that their students don’t read whole books anymore. They blamed cell phones, standardized tests, and extracurriculars, and they mostly agreed that the shift began in high school. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, we make the case for reading books, one memory at a time.

We talk to Horowitch, and we hear from several Atlantic writers about the books they read in high school that stuck with them, and how their views of these books and the characters in them changed over time. 

Read Horowitch’s reporting here: “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books”

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As Donald Trump returns to the White House, his desire to recast January 6 as a day of “love and peace,” as he called it during his campaign, seems as strong as ever. Earlier this week, he told the NBC reporter Kristen Welker that he would “most likely” pardon Capitol rioters on day one.

This week’s Radio Atlantic shares the first episode of our series about January 6 published just before the 2024 election, called We Live Here Now. 

Hanna Rosin and co-host Lauren Ober enter a universe of alternative facts, speaking with J6 prisoners and their families, and following a J6 case on which Ober was a juror. Mostly, though, the series is about their neighbor, who they discovered one day is a crucial character in the retelling of January 6.

Subscribe to We Live Here Now wherever you get podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | PocketCasts | YouTube

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Anti-vaccine sentiment is, more or less, as old as vaccines. When Cotton Mather promoted inoculations against smallpox in the 1720s, someone threw a firebomb through his window with a message attached: “Mather, you dog, Damn you, I’ll inoculate you with this.” Today's vaccines are as safe and effective as ever. So why, suddenly, is the anti-vax movement at the height of its power and influence?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is “the king of the anti-vaxxers,” says Atlantic senior editor Daniel Engber. But RFK Jr. isn’t alone. An array of nominees across the fringe-science belief spectrum appears ready to take the reins in Trump’s new administration.

In this episode, we discuss this disorienting moment, when anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists may soon be in charge of the agencies that fund, recommend, and research vaccines, with Engber and Arthur Allen, author of Vaccines: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver. What levers could the anti-vaxxers in charge pull to disrupt vaccine distribution? How could they affect vaccine recommendations and research? And what happens if there is an outbreak? Ultimately, how fragile is the nation’s vaccine infrastructure?

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We warned you last month to “Throw Out Your Black Plastic Spatula.” In a recent study conducted about consumer products, researchers concluded kitchen utensils had some of the highest levels of flame retardants, which you do not want anywhere near your hot food. After the article was published, its author received reports, possibly exaggerated, of people in Burlington, Vermont, throwing their black plastic spatulas out en masse. You should too. 

That article was just the appetizer. This episode of Radio Atlantic is the entire meal, coming to you in time for Thanksgiving. We talk to its author, staff writer Zoë Schlanger, about every other plastic thing in your kitchen: cutting boards, nonstick pans, plastic wrap, slow cookers, sippy cups. Read it before you cook. And prepare to hassle your plastic-loving hosts. Politely. 

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With all the noise around Donald Trump’s nominees, it’s easy to lose sight of his administration’s bigger plan: placing people who are unfailingly loyal to Trump in key positions, so that the real power lies with the White House. The Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols explains why Trump’s picks to oversee the military and intelligence community could be two of the most consequential—and dangerous.

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We hash out the “Democrats are too woke” theory with New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who tweeted the day after the election: “The far left is a gift to Donald Trump.” Torres, who represents a district that is over 50 percent Latino, explains why he believes Democrats need to shift their position on immigration if they don’t want urban working class neighborhoods to keep shifting to the right. 

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In the last few months of his campaign, Trump was free and open with his dictatorial impulses, as he talked about punishing “enemies from within.” Now that he’s won, have we crossed the line into a different kind of country? 

Staff writers Anne Applebaum and McKay Coppins help us learn how to find the line. Does this resounding win mean the electorate gave Trump a mandate to act on all his impulses? Will he make good on his campaign threats? And how will we know? 

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