Brad Pitt’s “War Machine” Offers an Absurd and Scathing Critique of America’s Generals

The Intercept
June 17, 2017

How do military leaders persuade their soldiers to fight an insane war?

Here’s one way. The setting is a bitter outpost of the American war in Afghanistan. The years-long nightmare has no prospect of ending so long as American troops stay in a country that has a nearly unblemished ...  (Read more)

Donald Trump’s War on Journalism Has Begun. But Journalists Are Not His Main Target.

The Intercept
May 28, 2017

Wars are rarely announced in advance, but President Trump provided an abundance of warning about his intention to wage an assault on journalism. During the election campaign, he called journalists an “enemy of the people” and described media organizations he didn’t like ...  (Read more)

White Fear in the White House: Young Bannon Disciple Julia Hahn Is a Case Study in Extremism

The Intercept
May 7, 2017

Steve Bannon, who is no stranger to controversy, faced a torrent of reproval when it was revealed not long ago that he had praised a detestable novel envisioning France invaded by an armada of brown-skinned migrants from India. The French novel is called “The Camp of the ...  (Read more)

Trump Official Obsessed Over Nuclear Apocalypse, Men’s Style in 40,000 Posts on Fashion Site

The Intercept
February 16, 2017

A senior official on President Trump’s embattled National Security Council warned in previously unreported comments that it is “inevitable” an Islamic terrorist group will carry out a successful nuclear attack against the United States, and that in its aftermath, ...  (Read more)

Dark Essays By White House Staffer Are the Intellectual Source Code of Trumpism

The Intercept
February 12, 2017

Let’s say you are a top official on the National Security Council and Donald Trump requests a memo explaining the purpose of his chaotic presidency. What are the odds you would draft a 4,000-word essay arguing that America is like a doomed aircraft that’s been hijacked ...  (Read more)

In Just 10 Days, President Trump Has Split the Government Into Warring Factions

The Intercept
January 31, 2017

War has broken out, not on foreign territory or on our streets, but in the offices and hallways of the departments and agencies that create and execute the laws, policies, and regulations of the United States. Its sights and sounds are those of a bureaucracy in crisis: ...  (Read more)

Obama’s Pardon of Gen. James Cartwright Is a New Twist in the War on Leaks

The Intercept
Jan. 18, 2017

The celebrations over President Barack Obama’s commutation of Chelsea Manning’s 35-year prison sentence have overshadowed what might be a more consequential development in the government’s long-running war against leakers and whistleblowers: Obama’s pardon of Marine ...  (Read more)