The Opinions

Hope, dread and the final stretch to Election Day.

Ahead of the midterms, Natasha Sarin and Catherine Rampell unpack the state of the economy — and how much responsibility the president bears for it.

Sex, video games and grandparents on the campaign trail.

The old world order is fraying. Who gets to shape the next one?

This week in politics: Which Democrats? And whose A.I. morals?

A Special Forces veteran joins the columnist David French to assess Pete Hegseth’s leadership.

The columnist David French argues that “we have privileged getting wasted over taking care of people.”

The world order is changing. So is the United States’ place in it.

This week in politics: Midwest realignment and what’s next for conservatives.

It’s time to give the public what it wants: A.I. regulation.

Three Opinion writers discuss the developing A.I. story and whether Trump is losing touch with reality.

What’s missing in the national conversation on mental health medication.

The $5,000 election promise shows how afraid Trump really is.

Before Donald Trump, there was the lawyer Roy Cohn. In “American Scoundrel,” the couathors Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark examine the life and legacy of Mr. Cohn, a driving force behind McCarthyism, a pop culture villain and a key influence in Mr. Trump’s approach to power and politics. The Opinion columnist Carlos Lozada, the Opinion political writer Michelle Cottle and the Vanderbilt history professor Nicole Hemmer discuss the new book and how, even though he died in the 1980s, Mr. Cohn’s influence continues to live with us in politics and pop culture today.

Thousands shared their caregiving stories. Is America listening?

Why country and cowboys have a hold on our culture and our political imagination.

What will the Republican Party become after President Trump? And how can the Democrats rehabilitate their toxic brand? On this episode of “The Opinions,” the Opinion political writer Michelle Cottle teams up with the columnists David French and Jamelle Bouie to dissect party strategy ahead of — and beyond — the midterm elections. Plus, Jamelle divulges the book that fills him with dread.

Democratic divisions, polling misses and Ocasio-Cortez’s egg freezing: the week in politics.

And what a hedge fund’s $35 billion loss reveals about the state of the industry.

Michigan presents as much a warning as it does an opportunity.

We’ve reached peak self-diagnosis culture.

Democrats have an anger problem. Republicans have a Trump problem.

People are tracking more and more of their health metrics. Are they optimizing their health, or just hunting for disease?

Three Opinion writers discuss whether the president’s Red Scare strategy will work.

Is celibacy cool now?

This week: the Todd Blanche hearing, Lindsey Graham’s legacy and progressive infighting.

David Wallace-Wells and Robinson Meyer discuss whether the gathering coalition of Americans against data centers could be the next Occupy Wall Street movement or Tea Party.

What America’s embarrassments have in common.

Influencers may be “Chinamaxxing,” but the U.S. is still the world’s economic powerhouse.

The Harvard historian on why change requires “determination and imagination.”

Three Opinion writers on Trump’s latest face-plant.

The divide between Iran and America is, the Opinion columnist Thomas L. Friedman argues, ultimately about the difference between “Kushnerism” (named for the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner) and “Khomeiniism” (named for the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran). In conversation with the Opinion editor Dan Wakin, Friedman explains what he means and discusses what he sees as President Trump’s recent string of failures.

In JD Vance’s second memoir, “Communion,” the vice president reveals himself to be a deeply anxious person searching for certainty, the Opinion national politics correspondent Michelle Cottle argues. In this conversation with the contributor E.J. Dionne Jr. and the columnist Carlos Lozada, the three discuss the ways in which Vance is courting potential constituencies and positioning himself as the next Republican presidential nominee.

What does it say about President Trump — and America — that the soon-to-be octogenarian plans to celebrate his 80th birthday with a series of U.F.C. matches on the White House lawn? On “The Opinions,” the Times contributor Robert Siegel and fellow contributors E.J. Dionne Jr. and Peter Wehner debate this form of “human cockfighting,” and take stock of the state of the nation ahead of America’s 250th birthday. Thoughts? Email us at theopinions@nytimes.com. This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Vishakha Darbha. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin and Jillian Weinberger. Mixing by Carole Sabouraud. Video editing by Steph Khoury and Kristen Williamson. The postproduction manager is Mike Puretz. Original music by Carole Sabouraud. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. The director of Opinion Video is Jonah M. Kessel. The deputy director of Opinion Shows is Alison Bruzek. The director of Opinion Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser.

David Wallace-Wells speaks with the economist and law professor Natasha Sarin about what the coming A.I. I.P.O.s could mean for your retirement account.

And what the Maine candidate reveals about politics today.

A case for mourning the American dream.

The president is acting as if the midterms no longer matter.

A much-needed, nuanced conversation about masculinity and feminism today.

The president’s $1.8 billion slush fund is causing further cracks in the Republican Party.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement has reshaped the public health debate. But if the coalition behind it begins to fracture, what comes next?

Why Silicon Valley is obsessed with taste.

The country seems to be tiring of the Trump era. Now what?

M. Gessen and Rachel Louise Snyder on the parallels between authoritarianism and domestic violence.

How the economic shock waves of Trump’s Iran war will be felt globally.

David French and the Supreme Court justice discuss how the ideals of 1776 shaped — and strain — the country today.

As the Trump administration guts weather agencies, a state’s low-cost flood tracking system offers a model for responding to more deadly inundations.

What moving deadlines — and red lines — in Iran means for America’s leverage.

Why petty theft might be the new political protest.

What recent events in Europe can tell us about the future of Trumpism.