The Opinions
Episodes
David Brooks, E.J. Dionne and Robert Siegel Take Stock of 2025
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Conversation convenes this week with the Opinion columnist David Brooks, the contributing Opinion writer E.J. Dionne Jr. and the former host of NP...
America's Next Story: Bret Stephens
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Republican Party’s wholesale embrace of Donald Trump has left traditional conservatives like the Times Opinion columnist Bret Stephens without a...
Republican Women vs. the G.O.P.
13 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Republican Party has a misogyny problem. Congressional members like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace have been pushing past t...
Tom Friedman Says We’re in a New Epoch. David Brooks Has Questions.
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re living in a strange moment. According to the columnist Thomas L. Friedman, it’s a completely new era, called the Polycene — one in which e...
M. Gessen and Michelle Goldberg on How to Resist
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So you disagree with the direction in which your country is headed. What’s a moral person to do? That’s the question the columnists M. Gessen and ...
Republicans Are Quietly Pushing Back Against Trump
06 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s popularity appears to be slipping in the Republican Party and with the American people. This week Republicans eked out a victory i...
A Lame Duck Trump and What Comes Next
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Opinion columnist Bret Stephens and the contributing Opinion writer Frank Bruni return for another edition of The Conversation. This week, they ar...
The Aesthetic That Explains American Identity Now
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rural aesthetics are in — from cowboy boots, to country albums by popstars, to pastoral idealism peddled by influencers. New York Times Opinion edit...
America's Next Story: Senator Cory Booker
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Democrats can tackle affordability and confront the damage President Trump is doing to American democracy — but only if they get the leadership righ...
Epstein and the #MeToo of It All
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Much of the national discussion around the Epstein case has focused on the political drama. But as the Opinion columnist Lydia Polgreen and the contri...
The Democrat Who Split MAGA Over the Epstein Files
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, was instrumental in pressuring President Trump to reverse course on a bill he sponsored, with the Re...
America's Next Story: Sarah Isgur
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Now that Donald Trump will never be on a ballot again, some conservatives are starting to imagine a future beyond him. In the latest installment of Am...
In the Epstein Saga, Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The release of thousands of pages of emails from Jeffrey Epstein has cast a spotlight back on President Trump and his relationship with Epstein. This ...
Africa Is Rising. The World Shouldn’t Turn Its Back.
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Africa is expected to see a massive population boom in the next several decades. At the same time, the United States, China and European nations are p...
America's Next Story: Cecilia Muñoz
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Immigration has always been central to the American story, yet many Americans remain dissatisfied with the Trump administration’s aggressive approac...
Are Post-Trump Politics Emerging?
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tuesday’s election results have big implications for Democrats — and also for Republicans who have yoked their fortunes to President Trump. The Op...
How Should Trump Approach China? A Debate.
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s recent meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, led to a de-escalation of the tense trade war between the superpowers. Bu...
America's Next Story: Senator Bernie Sanders
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bernie Sanders is not a fan of billionaires. His laser focus on economic inequality has made him one of the most influential politicians in the countr...
Congress Is Dying in Real Time
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The legislative branch of the government is in crisis. The shutdown is entering a second month. Millions of Americans were given a reprieve on Friday ...
We Need to Rethink How We Think About the Holocaust
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters, “This is the savagery that we only remember fr...
People Still Want to Get Married. Why Aren't They?
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the problem with marriage? That depends on whom you ask. The Times Opinion editor Meher Ahmad is joined by the Opinion writer Jessica Grose a...
America's Next Story: Jill Lepore
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Harvard historian Jill Lepore worries that citizens have become too passive, waiting for change to happen to them. She is on a mission to revive w...
Trump Has a Religion. What Do Democrats Have?
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Conversation convenes this week with the Opinion columnist David Brooks, the contributing Opinion writer E.J. Dionne Jr. and the former host of NP...
America's Next Story: Senator Ruben Gallego
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Senator Ruben Gallego won election in Arizona in 2024 by emphasizing prosperity over equity. Now, he wants the rest of the Democratic Party to follow ...
How Southern Politics Shaped Trumpism
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The South isn’t just a wellspring for American culture; it offers a blueprint for America’s future. For this week’s round table on “The Opinio...
What Trump’s Peace Deal Really Means for Gaza
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does President Trump’s peace deal between Israel and Hamas mean for Palestinians in the region? On this episode, the Opinion editor Dan Wakin i...
America’s Next Story: Pete Buttigieg
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pete Buttigieg has a clear vision of where his party lost its way. Now Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, wants to use those lessons to s...
Who Can Stop a President Deploying Troops?
11 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has deployed the National Guard to Memphis and Chicago and has his sights on Portland, Ore. It’s his latest effort to punish his ene...
Tom Friedman on the Only Way to Solve the Israel-Hamas War
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two years after Hamas’s attack on Israel, delegates from Hamas, Israel and the United States are in Egypt this week to see if President Trump’s ce...
America’s Next Story: Trumpism After Trump
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What and who comes after President Trump? That’s the question behind America’s Next Story, a limited series from “The Opinions.” In this episo...
‘If You Don’t Want This Consequence, Don’t Vote for Republicans’
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Day 4 of the current government shutdown, and the Trump administration is threatening to use the moment to fire federal workers. In this episod...
The ‘Thursday Murder Club’ Author Wants Us to Rethink Aging
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Aging isn’t easy, and topics like dementia and medically assisted dying can be hard to talk about. The British mystery writer Richard Osman is tryin...
America’s Next Story: Ken Burns
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s threats to democracy have prompted a number of experts to warn that the United States is in the midst of a constitutional crisis. ...
What a Book of Excuses Reveals About the Democrats’ Future
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kamala Harris’s new memoir, “107 Days,” reads like a book of excuses. In this episode, the Opinion national politics writer Michelle Cottle and ...
Trump Is America’s First Meme President
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s way of communicating has wormed itself deep into American culture. His speeches, interactions with the press and social media post...
America's Next Story: Elizabeth Warren
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Senator Elizabeth Warren arrived on the political scene during the 2008 financial crisis with a very specific story about the economy — that it’s ...
‘We’re in the Most Dangerous Point for Free Speech in America’
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jimmy Kimmel’s removal is the latest example of a wave of firings following the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. On this episode o...
Kennedy’s Vaccine Panel Is a Calamity
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of “The Opinions,” the Opinion writer David Wallace-Wells sits down with Paul A. Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Cent...
America Was Defined by a Story. It’s Time for a New One.
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump rose to power on a dark vision of American life: stagnation, lost greatness, unfairness. But he’ll eventually leave office — really, ...
The ‘Fork in the Road’ After Charlie Kirk’s Death
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Following the killing of the conservative political organizer Charlie Kirk, the Opinion national politics writer Michelle Cottle talks to the Opinion ...
When Authoritarianism Looms, Old Friends Reunite
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Opinion columnist David Brooks, the contributing Opinion writer E.J. Dionne Jr. and the former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered” Robert ...
Trump vs. Truth: The Fight for America’s History
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s attacks on the Smithsonian Museum for being too “woke” in its exhibits are part of a broader effort to control America’s sto...
Three Opinion Writers on Whether Congress Can Rein in Trump
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Congress is back in session and there’s a lot on the agenda — from a potential government shutdown to the ongoing battle over the Epstein files. O...
Tom Friedman’s A.I. Nightmare and What the U.S. Can Do to Avoid It
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Opinion columnist Thomas L. Friedman has been spending time in China studying the country’s A.I. ambitions and what they mean for the world. His...
Replay: This Jail in Rural Maine Is a Model for Treating Opioid Addiction
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Maine has one of the highest rates of opioid use disorder in the nation. But a program at a rural Maine jail initiated by an addiction medicine specia...
Replay: Kristi Noem and the MAGA Beauty Aesthetic
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From done-up hair to heavily applied makeup, conservative women — particularly those in President Trump’s orbit — deploy a specific aesthetic to...
Trump’s Political Theater Won’t Save D.C.
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump deployed the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and is threatening to do so in other American cities. On this episode of “The Opini...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Impact So Far: ‘The Worst Possible Case’
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policy changes aren’t making America healthy again, the Opinion writer David Wallace-Wells and the economist Emily...
A.I. Is Fueling a ‘Poverty of Imagination.’ Here’s How We Can Fix It.
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence is already showing up in the classroom, so how are colleges, professors and students adapting to it? The New York Times Opinio...
Trump Is a Totem For Wealth. What Happens If the Economy Crashes?
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Three Opinion writers on Trump’s most recent power grabs.
This Pastor Thought Being Gay Was a Sin. Then His 15-Year-Old Came Out.
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was the worst thing that ever happened to Bill White — and then it became the best.Changing your mind can be a difficult thing to do, especially ...
Is There a Smart Way to Cede Power to Donald Trump?
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Three Opinion writers debate whether universities should make a deal with the administration.In this episode of The Opinions, David Leonhardt, an edit...
Why Starvation in Gaza Has Reached a Tipping Point
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
And what it could mean for the future of the conflict in the Middle East.As Gazans starve, some of Israel’s supporters and global allies, including ...
Thin, White and Right: The Ideal Christian Woman
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Conservative Christian influencers are reshaping beauty standards and promoting diet culture — and their messages are resonating with women. In this...
‘African American’ Is Awkward. It’s Time to Use ‘Black.’
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The linguist John McWhorter on how language around racial identity is evolving.Trump urged the Washington Commanders to revert to their former name. T...
What the Democratic Party Still Doesn’t Get About Deportations
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on “The Opinions,” the national politics correspondent Michelle Cottle and the columnists Jamelle Bouie and Michelle Goldberg discuss th...
I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Omer Bartov grew up in Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces. He went on to study the Holocaust and genocide as a historian. In this conversa...
There Is Hope for Democrats. Look to Kansas.
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
David Leonhardt, an editorial director for Opinion, talks to the Opinion correspondent Michelle Cottle about her recent reporting trip to Kansas. Cott...
Trump, Epstein and a Stinging SCOTUS Dissent
19 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the “Opinions” round table, the national politics correspondent Michelle Cottle and the columnists David French and Jamelle Bouie dis...
‘Jeopardy!’ Is a Reminder that Facts Are Fun — and Essential
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Jennings, the “Jeopardy!” host, doesn’t think trivia is trivial. In this episode, he makes the case that shows like “Jeopardy!” aren’t...
Are the Courts Checking Trump — or Enabling Him?
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the editorial director David Leonhardt talks to a conservative former federal judge, Michael McConnell, about the role of the courts ...
Elon Musk’s Revenge Campaign
12 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The New York Times columnists Michelle Cottle and David French discuss whether the moment might be right for a third party. And French tells the story...
The World’s Best and Brightest Are Moving, but Not to America
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Trump’s immigration policy has closed America’s doors and could change the way Americans think about citizenship and belonging. The Opinion column...
The G.O.P. Fought for This Bill. When Trump’s Cuts Came? Silence.
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Congress passed the most substantial bipartisan legislation around guns in dec...
U.S.A.I.D. Might Be Dead, but the Waste Is Alive and Well
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The United States Agency for International Development no longer exists. As of July 1, what’s left of it has been absorbed into the State Department...
Trump May Get His ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ but the G.O.P. Will Pay a Price
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There will be many short- and long-term consequences if Republicans succeed in passing President Trump’s signature policy bill, as they aim to do be...
Trump, Iran and the Slow Creep of Presidential Power
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
War. Did President Trump get America into one? On this episode of “The Opinions,” the columnists Carlos Lozada, Jamelle Bouie and David French dis...
Is Iran Really a Threat to the United States? A Debate.
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Will Trump’s Iran strikes make the country’s regime “see the light”? In this episode of “The Opinions,” the director of the editorial boar...
Are We Headed For Another Endless Middle Eastern War?
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Times Opinion columnist Nick Kristof weighs in on the uncertainties following the United States’ surprise bombing of Iran and Tehran’s retalia...
Trump Is Vulnerable. Democrats Still Need a Strategy.
21 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Given the recent protests against ICE raids, is President Trump alienating some of his supporters? In this episode, the Opinion national politics writ...
Tom Friedman: ‘This Is One of the Most Remarkable Dramas in the Middle East’
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As tensions between Iran and Israel escalate, questions are mounting about America’s role in the conflict and how President Trump should navigate th...
It’s Not Just Trump Voters. Both Parties Are in Denial.
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the editorial board director David Leonhardt talks to Arlie Russell Hochschild about why voters in Appalachia continue to support the...
Three Opinion Writers on the L.A. Protests and Trump’s Spectacle of Control
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, President Trump ordered the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles to confront protesters. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., he is pus...
The Israeli Hostage Who Refused to Embrace Revenge
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Liat Beinin Atzili was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 54 days. When she returned to Israel, she learned her husband was murdered on Oct. 7. In this...
The Beautiful Danger of Normal Life During an Autocratic Rise
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the editorial director David Leonhardt and the Opinion columnist M. Gessen discuss the very human inclination to try to return to nor...
Is the Ukraine War the Next Afghanistan?
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Donald President Trump says Moscow plans to retaliate against Ukraine for the count...
A Punk Survival Guide for Gen Z
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The writer and performer John Cameron Mitchell has a message for members of Generation Z: Stop playing it safe and embrace punk. Mitchell, who wrote “...
Why Politics Feels So Cruel Right Now
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the Times Opinion politics correspondent Michelle Cottle speaks to the columnists Jamelle Bouie and David French about the rise of “...
Tom Friedman: Will Israel’s War Ever End?
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has spent decades covering Israel and the Middle East. For this episode of “The Opinions,” the deputy...
How to Turn the Middle Against Trump
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, David Leonhardt, an Opinion editorial director, asks Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan why the Democratic Party has lost so many vot...
The Good News About a Bad G.P.A.
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Opinion contributing writer Megan Stack has a gift for high school graduates who struggled academically or who feel like life is passing them by. ...
Are We in a New Era of Presidential Regalism?
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who knew what when? Two new books paint a damning portrait of the Democratic Party and what some of its members knew about President Joe Biden’s det...
Michelle Goldberg: ‘More Democrats Need to Be Doing This’
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, David Leonhardt, the editorial director of the editorial board, asks the Opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg what Democrats are doing...
Trump’s Era of International Bullying
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With President Trump meeting with heads of state in the Middle East this week, the Times Opinion senior international editor Krista Mahr sat down with...
Four Legal Immigrants Offer a Warning for America
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration is leading to unexpected scrutiny for those who came to the United States through legal ...
Are Trump’s Tariffs Trying to Solve a Problem That Doesn’t Exist?
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Furman, an economist who was an adviser to President Barack Obama, believes that trade is an unmitigated good — a rarely heard opinion on the ...
How Three Democrats Who Saved the Party Before Would Do It Again
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 1980s, the Democratic Party was trying to figure out how to how to remake itself after having lost four of the five previous presidential ...
Kristi Noem and the MAGA Beauty Aesthetic
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From done-up hair to heavily applied makeup, conservative women — particularly those in President Trump’s orbit — deploy a specific aesthetic to...
Why a Good Political Argument Is Like Good Sex
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Conversation has been a staple of The Times’s Opinion pages since 2017. But after eight years, the weekly dialogue between the liberal columnist...
‘Donald Trump Will Not Be President Four Years Hence’
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a live event recorded at the Brooklyn Public Library on Tuesday, Opinion’s deputy editor, Patrick Healy, was joined by the columnists Michelle Go...
Maureen Dowd and Carlos Lozada on 100 Days of Trump’s ‘Fake Reality’
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the Opinion deputy editor Patrick Healy is joined by the columnists Maureen Dowd and Carlos Lozada to dissect the first 100 days of P...
Tariffs Could Ruin My Small Business
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump’s back and forth on tariffs is causing instability and uncertainty across industries, and some of the hardest hit have been small bu...
Lydia Polgreen on What’s Missing in Our Conversation About Immigration
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the deputy Opinion editor Patrick Healy talks to the columnist Lydia Polgreen about the global panic around migration, and what Presi...
After Pope Francis: A Round Table With David French
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the Opinion columnist David French speaks with the writers and Catholics David Gibson and Leah Libresco Sargeant about the legacy of ...
Welcome to Trump’s Mafia State
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the columnist M. Gessen argues that when it comes to America’s institutions, President Trump is taking a page out of a Soviet-style...
The Trump Administration Is Disappearing People Like the Soviet Union
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deporte...
Bret Stephens on What Trump Gets Right, Wrong and Really, Really Wrong
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this First 100 Days episode, the deputy Opinion editor, Patrick Healy, and the columnist Bret Stephens discuss the nuance of being a conservative a...
Larry Summers on Trump: ‘The First Rule of Holes Is Stop Digging’
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode, the former president of Harvard University and former U.S. Treasury secretary explains the dangers of President Trump’s economic po...
‘They're Coming After All of Us. So You Might As Well Tell the Truth.’
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the New York Times Opinion columnist Lydia Polgreen speaks to the author and activist Sarah Schulman on resistance and solidarity dur...
‘We’re Playing With Fire’: The Risks of Trump’s Tariffs on China
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, the deputy Opinion editor, Patrick Healy, talks to Binyamin Appelbaum about the goals of President Trump’s tariffs and the risks th...