United States
The Blue Wave and the Blame Game
Historian Lily Geismer and New Lines’ Danny Postel join Faisal Al Yafai to unpack the Democrats’ midterm sweep, the impact of Iran and the race to inherit MAGA.
A New Desi Left
The 2026 midterms marked a progressive turn for South Asian Americans. From Mamdani in New York to El-Sayed in Michigan, issue-driven candidates and desi progressive groups have outpaced wealthy, identity-based politicians, unseating establishment Indian-American Democrats and challenging Hindu nationalist influence.
A View From Ohio on Election Day
To many Americans, the Buckeye State, like its miles of flatlands, is an archetype of the middle ground, a kind of baseline for the ordinary. But as the midterm election frenzy comes to an end, the state’s outsize role offers enduring lessons for a country in flux.
Michigan Senate Race Tests the Power of Islamophobia
The Republican Party pulled out all the stops in the final stretch of the state’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race, flooding the zone with anti-Arab and Islamophobic attacks on Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed — but they may not have worked as intended.
Longing and Belonging in the Arab 21st Century
Zaina Arafat joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss seeing a culture as both an insider and an outsider, the revival of Arab culture in New York city, and her new book “Our Arab.”
The ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ Playbook
The sudden emergence of the label in the U.S. midterms is evidence of a rhetorical exchange between the U.S. and its autocratic allies in the Middle East, as each finds ways to delegitimize, demonize and even prosecute those who might threaten the illiberal status quo of their regimes.
Nidal Hasan’s Execution Will Not Be Livestreamed, but the Idea Has Deep Historical Roots
The livestreaming of Nidal Hasan’s execution has been canceled, but the Hegseth-Trump carnival of death has deep roots in U.S. history. America’s evolving sense of itself, its understanding of what it means to live in a democracy, has always been entwined with fierce debates about public displays of violence.