Saahil Desai

Tucker Carlson Opens the Door for Nick Fuentes The white-supremacist influencer is entering the MAGA mainstream.

We are nearing the end stage of the groyperfication project www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

A ‘Death Train’ Is Haunting South Florida The Brightline has been hailed as the future of high-speed rail in the United States, but it has one big, unignorable problem.

Haven't been able to stop thinking about this story by @kait.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Jack Posobiec Is MAGA’s Most Important Influencer Charlie Kirk’s death left a void on the right. Posobiec looks better positioned than anyone to fill it.

A decade ago, Jack Posobiec was a Game of Thrones fan blogger who then helped mainstream Pizzagate. Now he has the ear of the White House and was in a consideration for an NSC job earlier this year 👀 www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

The Worst Thing That Ever Happened to Tesla Elon Musk’s embrace of Donald Trump continues to haunt his car company.

"With Tesla’s newest cars, so many of Musk’s decisions are now catching up to him all at once." Good one by @patrickgeorge.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Are You a ‘Heritage American’? Why some on the right want to know if your ancestors were here during the Civil War

Wrote about the new attempt to reimagine America as a sort of ethnonationalist blood and soil state that's starting to catch traction www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Move Fast and Break Nothing Waymo’s robotaxis are probably safer than ChatGPT.

What's safer, Waymo's 5,000 pound robotaxis or ChatGPT's interactive text box? I wrote about how Waymo offers a lesson to the rest of the AI industry. As one expert told me: “I like to tell people that if Waymo worked as well as ChatGPT, they’d be dead." www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Chatbait Is Taking Over the Internet How chatbots keep you talking

"Forget the infinite scroll. We’re headed toward the infinite conversation." Great one by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

A Terrible Week for Pumpkin Spice Tariffs are coming for the flavor of fall.

I would say that I contributed to the pumpkin spice discourse, but there isn't one, which is sort of the point! www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

A Terrible Week for Pumpkin Spice Tariffs are coming for the flavor of fall.

"This year, among other innovations, we will be graced with pumpkin-spice-dipped waffle cones, pumpkin-spice protein shakes, and pumpkin-spice spreadable cheese. That there are still products left to pumpkin spice-ify is a testament to human ingenuity" www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Inside the USAID Fire Sale Around the world, defibrillators, motorbikes, and water towers are being donated, sold, or simply abandoned.

Quite something to see this all laid out in such stark detail. Excellent reporting from @hana-kiros.bsky.social.

Gift link here because everyone should read this: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Is There a Line That Nick Fuentes Won’t Cross? No matter how far the 27-year-old influencer pushes his bigotry, his influence continues to rise.

"Fuentes has said that Hitler was 'really fucking cool' and posited that 'we need to go back to burning women alive.'"

Nick Fuentes, who makes Laura Loomer look like a model of restraint, has 730k followers on X, acolytes at DHS, and has dined with Donald Trump
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

‘Make McCarthy Great Again’ Laura Loomer has become the Joseph McCarthy of the Trump era.

Sooo… you pretty much just have to read this, by @michaelscherer.bsky.social:
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

The American Car Industry Can’t Go On Like This Ford is taking drastic steps to compete with China’s cheap EVs. Even that might not be enough.

"The changes are so fundamental that Ford is retooling the assembly line itself—the very thing Henry Ford used to get the world motoring a century ago." Good one by @patrickgeorge.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.

When Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, and other 1970s music legends needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad, Fred Walecki, was there. My love song to him in @theatlantic.com September issue: bit.ly/45eZIfa

2025!

Where Have the Proud Boys Gone? Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown has left the extremist group with little to do.

In which the East Tennessee chapter of the Proud Boys asks @alibreland.bsky.social to send nudes www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Tomato Season Is Different This Year Come fall, Americans will once again be stuck with flavorless grocery-store tomatoes. Because of tariffs, they’ll also be more expensive.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
What's the only thing worse than out-of-season tomatoes? *Expensive* out-of-season tomatoes. Great one by @rtsugar.bsky.social

ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”

On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists. Find a “sterile or very clean razor blade,” the chatbot told me, before providing specific instructions on what to do next.

My latest for @theatlantic.com:

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship OpenAI’s chatbot also said “Hail Satan.”

"On Tuesday afternoon, ChatGPT encouraged me to cut my wrists." Such a disturbing story by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Make Coca-Cola Great Again Trump says Coke has agreed to make its soda with real sugar. Why is MAHA celebrating?

"Trump is essentially claiming that he got Coke to agree to switch its sugar … for sugar." Good one by @nicholasflorko.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

"Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it"
@hana-kiros.bsky.social, on spending $130,000 to burn food worth $800,000
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

An absolutely bonkers story by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

The Race-Science Blogger Cited by The New York Times Jordan Lasker, known online as ‘Crémieux,’ is taking a victory lap.

"Jordan Lasker, according to The New York Times, is 'an academic who opposes affirmative action and writes often about I.Q. and race.' He is also one of the internet’s most prominent boosters of race science" – @alibreland.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

The AI Birthday Letter That Blew Me Away Google is ushering in an era of custom chatbots.

"If OpenAI introduced us to the Hallmark-card version of AI writing, Google is ushering in a new chapter where chatbots are capable of drafting the sort of intimate letters you might write to your best friend." Such a good one by @lilashroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

The Christian Rocker at the Center of MAGA Sean Feucht is bringing Christian nationalism to the masses.

"He is a big reason Christian nationalism has more purchase now than at any other point in recent history." Good one by @alibreland.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

New York Is Hungry for a Big Grocery Experiment Small towns have tried public grocery stores. How would they fare in a major city?

For all the criticism—and praise—of Zohran Mamdani's public-grocery plan, it's never been attempted in a major US city. It would be a total experiment.

Experimentation is risky. But given NYC's food affordability crisis, so is doing nothing.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Brace Yourself for Watery Mayo and Spiky Ice Cream MAHA is coming for emulsifiers.

MAHA's crackdown on food additives has another target—one you've probably never heard of. Prepare to hear a lot more about emulsifiers.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Protein Madness Is Just Getting Started Americans are taking their obsession with supplements to new extremes.

I ate the equivalent of 31 eggs' worth of protein for this story:

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Tesla Brain Drain The future of the struggling car company rests on Elon Musk more than ever before.

"Just since April, Tesla has lost its head of software engineering, head of battery technology, and head of humanoid robotics." Good one by @patrickgeorge.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

MAHA Has a Pizza Problem Functionally banning school pizza is a tough sell.

"If school cafeterias can be thought of as classrooms where kids learn about food, giving them Domino’s would be akin to teaching driver’s-ed students how to drive by letting them play Grand Theft Auto." lmaooo www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...