Shoutout to The Atlantic reporters for publishing these massive scoops instead of waiting years to put them in a book.

"Nice book you got here, McQuade . . . be a shame if anything happened to it."
- Robert De Niro, on "The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government"

My forthcoming book, “The Fix,” dissects the mob-like tactics of the Trump regime and proposes ideas to reclaim our democracy. Available now for pre-order here.
www.barbaramcquade.com

We’re defending Western Civilization by kicking Plato and Shakespeare out of university classes.

Articles about Jared Kushner's diplomatic role with Iran that mention Kushner has received billions from the Saudi government (2/28-4/19):

NYT: 5 of 58
WashPost: 1 of 43
WSJ: 0 of 40
AP: 0 of 26
CNN Wire: 0 of 18
NY Post: 0 of 17
Chicago Tribune: 0 of 4
LA Times: 0 of 4
Boston Globe: 0 of 2

happy reading!

❗️Warriors from #Ukrainian Defense Intelligence launched strikes on 2 Russian large landing ships&a radar system in Russian-occupied Crimea on April 19.

These are Yamal (about $80 million) &Nikolay Flichenkov (about $70 million)

The destroyed Podlet-k1 radar is about $5 million.

Glory!

Imagine if this Orbán-loyal figure were treated in Brussels the way EU officials have been treated in Orbán’s Hungary: constant attacks, crude rhetoric, and open hostility. Instead, colleagues assess his performance professionally and with restraint. That contrast says everything.

The FBI Director Is MIA Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

No previous American president, in any era, of any party, would have tolerated a drunken, erratic, absent FBI chief
www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Syrian Billionaires Needed a Favor in Washington. They Invoked the Trump Name.

Is US foreign policy still meant to benefit Americans? Or peace? Or international prosperity? Those were the questions I asked after reading this article
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/u...

What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows.

"Top staffers were figures with connections to GOP politics who hadn’t worked in the arts, including one spouse of a Republican party leader whose longest professional experience was working as a marketing and events manager at a Toyota dealership in Ireland..."

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

I don't know if you saw, but JD Vance was in Georgia this week.

It’s a mark of how completely normalised the corruption & depravity have become that we barely bat an eyelid at the thought of two *property developers*, one Trump’s nepo baby son-in-law, being sent to represent the USA in peace negotiations with Iran. Sometimes it all hits you afresh.

The original argument was that some people who showed up on J6 didn’t really know what they were doing, so shouldn’t be punished harshly. But these guys - a jury found that they absolutely knew what they wanted to do, which was overthrow the Constitution. Yet he pardons them.

A bombshell new report reveals that top military officials have kept Trump out of the room during Iran war operations because they fear his erratic behavior will put troops in harm’s way.

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education It’s not just about cuts to research. It’s about power.

Deliberate destruction of culture was the subject of an episode of my podcast, Autocracy in America
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...

What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows.

Heartbreaking description of the pointless, thoughtless damage being done to the Kennedy Center. It was such an important part of life in Washington, and is now being destroyed for no reason

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Auguries from Hungary Orbán’s election defeat is a blow to Trump and Maga

"Putin, Xi and Trump all liked Orbán for the same reason: his hostility to liberal democracy and his willingness to play the role of spoiler within the EU. Orbán also played a useful ideological role"

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education It’s not just about cuts to research. It’s about power.

Deliberate destruction of culture was the subject of an episode of my podcast, Autocracy in America
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...

That's exactly what the far right are arguing

Hungarian communism also ended peacefully. So did the Brazilian military regime. And the Chilean dictatorship. That doesn't meant that the autocrats were democrats.

and everyone laughs

same in Hungary

Orbán’s Ouster Doesn’t Prove His Critics Wrong Many dictatorships have ended peacefully, so the end of Orbán’s rule in Hungary isn’t proof he was never really taking the country in an authoritarian direction, writes James Kirchick.

Polish communism was also defeated, in the end, by an election.
www.thefp.com/p/orbans-ous...

Pete Hegseth is now opening with Quentin Tarantino Where a hitman reciting a prayer before he kills an unarmed man in "righteous" vengeance will influence the war in Iran.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted a violent and fictional Bible passage nearly word-for-word from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in his Wednesday night worship service at the Pentagon.

What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center I spent 10 months working at the institution because I thought I could help protect it. What I observed there is far worse than the public knows.

Heartbreaking description of the pointless, thoughtless damage being done to the Kennedy Center. It was such an important part of life in Washington, and is now being destroyed for no reason

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Pope James David Vance the First The vice president has decided he’s a more accomplished theologian than Leo XIV.

"Vance wasn’t really interested in arguing with his spiritual father; he was instructing him"

from @radiofreetom.bsky.social

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

While Russia strikes Ukrainian civilians, Ukraine continues decreasing Russia's economic potential to wage a war.

This is an oil refinery in Russian Tuapse.

Oh sorry, so religion and politics should be separate? Is that what you're saying? bsky.app/profile/atru...

Iran used Chinese spy satellite to target US bases Leaked documents show IRGC secretly acquired system and used it to guide strikes during war in March

Russia and China are helping Iran but Trump is angry at... Europe

Iran used Chinese spy satellite to target US bases - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT