Vox Politics

The Trump administration may have just signed an agreement so controversial that President Donald Trump himself is opposed to it.  On Wednesday, the US and Saudi Arabia signed a 30-year, multibillion-dollar nuclear energy cooperation agreement. The terms of the deal signed by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart have not been released, […]

Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump has seemingly called off a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia after his energy secretary already formally signed it. What happened? On Wednesday, the Trump administration formally concluded what’s called a “123 Agreement” to work with Saudi Arabia on the development of its civilian nuclear power infrastructure. This kind […]

Last week, House Democrats voted on an amendment that would have cut $3.3 billion in annual US military aid to Israel from a State Department funding bill. The amendment was brought to the floor by Rep. Thomas Massie, an outgoing Republican from Kentucky. It failed 314-104, but 103 Democrats — nearly half of the House […]

There was an unintentionally revealing moment in acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing last week. After Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) asked Blanche whether he and President Donald Trump are friends, the leader of the United States Department of Justice replied, “I’m his lawyer,” before correcting himself and saying he “was his lawyer.” Blanche previously […]

This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here. President Donald Trump seemed visibly irked when asked about his plans for Iran on Tuesday. “You don’t know anything,” he snapped at a reporter who said Iran showed no signs of deescalating.  You have […]

Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump announced giant new tariffs on Canada, which are scheduled to start in 30 days. Now negotiators from both countries are scrambling to see if they can be avoided. What happened? Late on Monday, the White House announced 50 percent tariffs on a slew of Canadian goods — including […]

This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here. The first thing you need to know about the UK’s new prime minister is that he’s previously moonlighted as a DJ.  Okay: probably not the first thing you needed to know. And sure: That […]

Fermented food is the hottest new trend in the halls of the White House. Members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet are reportedly walking about with jars of sauerkraut in the hopes that it will give them glowing skin and tiny waists.  Wall Street Journal’s Liz Essley Whyte told Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram that “Health […]

AI was supposed to make our lives better. Instead, it’s made many of us scared and angry. Communities are protesting against the building of new data centers — the warehouses of IT equipment powering the AI buildout — across the country, and increasingly they’re winning. And polling shows most Americans think AI is moving too fast. […]

Last week presented a stark contrast in the trajectories of the Trump administration’s two riskiest foreign policy ventures. On July 13, the President Donald Trump formally declared a return to military action in Iran, making clear that a war that he had anticipated would last just four or five weeks will stretch past the five […]

The premise of the Republican Party’s lawsuit in Watson v. Republican National Committee is that three 19th-century federal laws require thousands of lawfully cast ballots to be tossed in the trash — and somehow no one noticed this fact for the better part of two centuries. In a nonpartisan judiciary, the case would have never […]

After two successive women lost the race for president — and with the GOP increasingly claiming the testosterone-fueled “manosphere” — a lot of Democratic insiders are starting to worry the party is a bit too low-T. Even its successful new faces, like Jon Ossoff and James Talarico, might still be too soft. (This might explain […]

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is putting itself in charge of rolling out a new ChatGPT model.  What’s happening? On Friday, ChatGPT maker OpenAI announced plans to […]

One of President Donald Trump’s core political positions has always been that US allies should pay more for the benefits they receive from US military power. This has included demanding that South Korea and Japan pay more for the presence of US troops on their soil, and suggesting that the US would only honor its […]

The political world is in a frenzy over left-wing challengers’ wins in New York City’s primaries Tuesday. Leftists are overjoyed, and think they’re beating back the Democratic establishment. Many on the right and center are horrified, arguing extremists are taking over the party. And yet if you look past deep blue urban areas — and […]

The Supreme Court held on Thursday that the Trump administration may ignore procedural rules governing the “temporary protected status” (TPS) program, which allows foreign nationals from war torn or otherwise unsafe countries to temporarily remain in the United States until their home nation stabilizes. The decision in Mullin v. Doe was handed down along party […]

On Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down a Hawaii gun law, claiming that it violates the Second Amendment. As is almost always the case in the Court’s Second Amendment decisions, Wolford v. Lopez was decided along party lines. The Republican justices agreed with the Republican Party’s position that gun regulations are bad, while the Democratic […]

Democratic socialists won big in New York’s primaries Tuesday, as two members of the Democratic Socialists of America defeated the Democratic establishment choices in congressional primaries, and several more triumphed in state legislative primaries. The victories suggested that DSA member Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City last year wasn’t a fluke. Democratic […]

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is sabotaging a rare bipartisan legislative win for a bill with no chance of passage.  What’s happening? Trump was set to sign […]

In the last few years, there has been a notable shift in the state propaganda coming out of North Korea. A young girl — maybe 13 or so — has become a fixture at most major state events. Before an intercontinental ballistic missile launch, she can be seen side by side with her father, North […]