When President Donald Trump roared to victory in 2024, conservatives told themselves a number of just-so stories. Biden-era profligacy had driven the Democratic Party into its grave, leaving MAGA Republicans to plot America’s future alone. Former President Barack Obama’s “coalition of the ascendant” had permanently splintered. Most importantly, wokeness was spent as a cultural force. […]

After years of Scandinavian and Bauhaus-inflected minimalism, no-frills graphic design, and the Marie Kondo-inspired culling of closets, clutter is suddenly back in style. According to the New York Times, a Ralph Lauren Christmas was the trend of the holiday season, although you don’t need to shop at Ralph Lauren to get the look. Cost-conscious consumers […]

The American republic is tottering toward its 250th birthday like a character in a Jimmy Buffett song: debauched and in debt, but with its Stanley cup half full and its flip-flops still flapping. Meanwhile, American English remains forever young, a furnace of deregulated creativity. The French language is regulated by the “immortals” of the Académie […]