1. I’ve spent the past several years trying to solve a riddle: Why has America ceased to be a land of opportunity for so many of its people? The answer, I’ve come to believe, is that we’re STUCK:

With Tajzadeh in the news, a good time to revisit this great profile from @arash_tehran from July.

My new piece: The legal basis for the government shutdown is a 45-year-old, Jimmy Carter-era interpretation of a 19th century law. Trump could just change it if he wants:

Self-cancellation is a really strange tactic https://t.co/IOZXhK9yHG

NEW: Baseball is thriving. Now please, MLB, don’t blow it A classic World Series shows again that the sport is back. But a long work stoppage looms after next year - and risks enraging fans and undoing all of the game’s momentum Make a deal. My latest:

“A curtain of darkness is settling over our nation. And it’s getting ever harder to avoid connecting the authoritarian dots,” @Peter_Wehner argues:

Trump's latest deal with China does little more than extricate himself from crises of his own making. Worse, he could sacrifice American security in pursuit of more deals. My latest in @TheAtlantic

The baseball season is coming to a spectacular end, with fans filling stadiums and the sport riding high. But @JonLemire has a warning for MLB: It better not blow this https://t.co/JtvBdqfBBo

@elonmusk This string of words is completely false. The Atlantic does not have donors. We’re profitable and entirely self-sustaining. We have a subscription and advertising model – and both are at record highs and growing.

Wise words from @raffi: "When validation is purchased rather than earned, we lose something vital."

Rahm Emanuel is running to the be president, in the honey-badger lane. My favorite tale of his relentlessness — below. https://t.co/XkLwj7uv9e

Rahm Emanuel is almost certainly running for president in 2028, and I spent the past few months with him. My profile on the impish, maddening, relentless Kiehl's lotion devotee, hoping to equal parts charm and bulldoze his way to the Oval Office:

I think @DKThomp description of Trump's economic philosophy stands strong again today given China news. "The president creates pain, then demands tribute, at which point he removes the pain."

If you care who becomes president in 2028, make time to read @AshleyRParker 's wild ride profile of Rahm Emanuel, the "pile-driver" candidate in waiting. https://t.co/kti9TZtPMu

Top Trump Officials Are Moving Onto Military Bases

Rahm Emanuel has been a key player in nearly every major victory, defeat, negotiation, controversy, and innovation of the modern Democratic Party. In 2028, is he what Democrats need—or exactly whom they want to leave behind? @AshleyRParker reports:

After a monthslong trade war, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet Thursday in Korea. “What’s at stake is America’s ability to keep innovating and leading in the industries of the future,” @ericschmidt and @selinaxuxinyue argue:

Trump's biggest first-term faceplant came because he tried to take away health care. Why is he doing it again?

For the first time since the Great Depression, America might have zero net migration. Lots of past experience suggests this won't be as good for native workers as advertised. And the welfare state would be driven to the breaking point relatively quickly. https://t.co/P09e6VmAUs

NEW: The government is closed. The President is MIA Believing Democrats would splinter, Trump deliberately ignored the shutdown. But his polls have tumbled. And more Americans will hurt in the days ahead Now even some in GOP think Trump needs to act

“In less than a year, Trump has drained many of the most important sources of American power. He is unwinding the country’s alliances, degrading its principles, walling off its economy, and subverting international institutions that serve its interests”