Donald Trump: The World's First TV President

When the president gets his primary information from talking heads on cable TV rather than intelligence briefings, we have a problem.

Until now, the relationship of the President of the United States to the TV had been predictable. The President made news, and satirists made fun of the President. The President did not watch the satirists because he had, um, more important things to do. Well, life comes at you fast. Today, perhaps the most reliable way to communicate with the President is to appear on a cable news show. The poor quality of these programs — especially their habit of featuring unqualified opinion in the interest of balanced reporting — has made maintaining an informed national conversation very difficult. And that was before the President was citing Joe Schmucko from Illinois! Adam Mansbach's most recent book (co-authored with Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel) is For This We Left Egypt?.

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Videos

The Planetary Society Has a Few Tips for the President

Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, offers an important 5-point plan for President Trump on space exploration and NASA's budget.

 

Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society

As the CEO of The Planetary Society, Bill Nye has written an open letter to President Trump, highlighting the need for prioritizing space research, and for supporting NASA's space exploration efforts in particular. Bill Nye offers the president a comprehensive five-point plan for steering NASA's objectives and orientation during his tenure: 

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Surprising Science

Hey Bill Nye! What If the World Were Run by Scientists and Engineers?

What if the vision wasn't just to have politicians who are science literate, but actual scientists running the joint – would it be any better than it is now?

Politicians aren’t too popular, and yet we keep voting them into the top offices. Would the world be a better place if it were run by scientists and engineers? As an engineer himself, having spent his career in the company of rocket scientists and Nobel laureates, Bill Nye has a firm answer to this week’s question. Nye's most recent book is Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.

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Technology & Innovation

Does the U.S. Need to Choose Between Being Moral or Militaristic?

America has a split personality, and the country it wants to be is constantly being foiled by the country that it is. In an ideal world, says Jelani Cobb, there is a way of using power that does not entail the oppression and exploitation of other people. But how do we get there?

America operates on two kinds of power: moral authority – through which citizens and members of the international community invest in the United States’ message of a better future – and military might – the stark opposite of morality, whereby presidents overreach their authority and breach sovereign territory to meet their own objectives. Barack Obama represented the tension between these ideals, espousing morality in speech while engaging the US’s military might in action. The country America wants to be is constantly being foiled by the country that America is. Journalist Jelani Cobbs asks: can America have it both ways? Is it noble to try, or merely hypocritical? Jelani Cobb is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His latest book is The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress.

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Videos

Elon Musk Reveals a Mystery Tunneling Project

Elon Musk's cryptic messages about a mysterious tunneling project in California are getting more substantive.

Already an enterpreneurial legend, creating revolutionary companies in several industries, Elon Musk wants to transform transportation by tunneling under cities. Maybe. 

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Surprising Science