Donald Trump’s election last year exposed an insidious politics of celebrity, one in which a redemptive personality is projected high above the slow toil of political parties and movements. This may be hard to admit but the path to such a presidency of spectacle and vicarious participation was paved by the previous occupant of the White House. By Pankaj Mishra.

Literary theory, avalanches and a frosty encounter on a beach – it’s time to get up close and personal with the challengers for the Literary Review’s 2017 Bad sex in fiction prize.

Jonathan Pie

The overture follows an intense and secretive lobbying push involving Michael Flynn, Tom Barrack, Rick Gates and even Iran-Contra figure Robert McFarlane. By Isaac Arnsdorf.

It took all of five minutes for Tom Perez to quote Hamilton. By Jacob Silverman.

Reflections on Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin from the writer Masha Gessen, whose new book about Russia won the 2017 National Book Award for nonfiction. By Adrienne LaFrance.

Meredith Corporation, the publisher of Family Circle and Better Homes and Gardens, clinches a deal in an cash transaction valued at nearly $3 billion. By Sydney Ember and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Young people are identifying as socialists, the right has nothing to offer beyond grievance and hate, and the left is actually putting forward serious ideas. By Nathan J. Robinson.

Americans who support net neutrality find that their voices don’t count for much. By Jon Brodkin.

I confess to being troubled rather than elated by the daily rumble of idols falling to accusations of “sexual misconduct,” the morbid masscult fixation that conceals private titillation, knowing smirks, and sadistic lip-smacking behind a public mask of solemn reproof… By William Kaufman.

In the dying days of the battle of Mosul, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad followed Iraqi soldiers during the last push against Isis. But following their victory, a new wave of savagery was unleashed.

Donald Trump's supporters now have what they want: a president who embodies the rage they feel, while reassuring them that hatred is justifiable. By Adam Serwer.

An Equifax-inspired reform somehow led to big giveaways for banks. There's a reason that bipartisanship is fetishized in Washington. By David Dayen.

“What if we tell House Republicans and Democrats that North Korea wanted to close schools, take our healthcare away and pump CO2 into our air—we could suddenly, magically find $700 billion dollars for all of it.” By Jake Johnson.

Declaring it all so ghastly isn’t going to halt these trends or remove the reprobate from the White House, writes Thomas Frank.

In a dramatic interview, the Guardian’s Gary Younge speaks to white supremacist Richard Spencer about why he wants to create an ‘ethno-state’ for white people, and why he believes that Africans have ‘benefited from white supremacy.’

Brett J. Talley, President Trump’s nominee to be a federal judge in Alabama, has never tried a case, was unanimously rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Assn.’s judicial rating committee, has practiced law for only three years and, as a blogger last year, displayed a degree of partisanship unusual for a judicial nominee. By David G. Savage.

Wisconsin became the 28th state to back a constitutional convention. By Charles P. Pierce.

Men, get ready to be uncomfortable for a while. While forgiveness may come one day, it won’t be soon. By Laurie Penny.

DNC chair Donna Brazile’s much-anticipated tell-all book about the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, ‘Hacks,’ looks at the rigged primary. By Matt Taibbi.