The Sunday Read: ‘What Alice Munro Knew’

Last night, President Trump achieved a major victory: persuading both chambers of Congress to cancel billions of dollars in spending that they had already approved. In the process, the Republican-led Congress is giving President Trump the power that it, and it alone, is supposed to have.

During an Oval Office meeting with congressional Republicans a few days ago, President Trump showed off the draft of a letter to fire Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. It’s the latest chapter in a dysfunctional relationship that has major implications for the global economy.

During a congressional hearing yesterday, Republican lawmakers accused university leaders of failing to do enough to combat antisemitism on their campuses. That’s a claim that the university officials strongly rejected. The hearing was the latest attempt by Republicans to use what they see as the growing threat against Jews to their political advantage. And it reflects a plan that was first laid out by the Heritage Foundation, the same conservative think tank that produced Project 2025. That plan, known as Project Esther, may have once seemed far-fetched. Katie J.M. Baker explains how it has become a reality.

A little over a week after the devastating floods in Central Texas, the death toll has reached more than 130 people — and the search for the missing continues. In the aftermath of the disaster, there have been mounting questions about how local officials handled the critical hours before and after the storm. Today, we look at the missed opportunities that may have contributed to the growing tragedy — and whether anything more could have been done to save lives.

When Republicans passed their big domestic policy bill just over a week ago, they kept making the same argument about sweeping changes to Medicaid: that the measures, including new work requirements, would encourage able-bodied adults to earn their health care, ultimately creating a fairer system for everyone. Critics said the opposite: they have predicted that millions of working people who need health care will lose it. The truth will emerge in rural and often Republican-voting where cuts to Medicaid funding will be felt most deeply. Natalie Kitroeff spoke to a family doctor in one of those places, western North Carolina, about what she thinks will happen to her patients.