A selection of recent and most read stories from The Atlantic to start your day

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To See How America Unraveled, Go Back Five Years

What the summer of 2020 wrought

The Quickest Route to a Plum Judicial Appointment

Emil Bove has demonstrated that total sycophancy to the president can be a fantastic career move.

The Discourse Is Broken

How did a jeans commercial with Sydney Sweeney come to this?

The Pentagon Against the Think Tanks

Pete Hegseth finds a new enemy.

Let’s Ban More Nonexistent Things

Some notes for the Clear Skies Act, which seeks to ban weather modification

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The Atlantic’s Crossword

The Atlantic’s crossword puzzle gets a little more challenging every day: Mondays are the easiest, with the biggest, most difficult puzzle on Sunday.