The Atlantic

The Nihilism of MAGA World

The president said something frightening and true.
Source: Ed Jones / AFP / Getty

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Joe Biden’s “Soul of the Nation” address got at a cold and disquieting truth: The MAGA movement cannot be placated, reasoned with, or politically accommodated in any way. There is nothing its adherents want—and nothing anyone can give them—beyond chaos and political destruction.

But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.


Soul Sickness

Joe Biden’s address to the American people last week was, , necessary and right. The staging was bizarre, and the speech had some of the hallmarks of a group product that hadn’t been subjected to a final spackle-and-smooth by a. The president outed them as anti-American nihilists:

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