Opinion Today: Your move, Congress
Here’s what we’re focusing on.
Opinion Today
June 30, 2026
An photo illustration of the Capitol’s dome in silhouette.
Photo illustration by Aleksey Kondratyev for The New York Times

Notable

Congress can shrivel. Or it can do what it did after Nixon. “Returning to Watergate-era norms — even with a reformed Supreme Court — won’t be enough. More robust and enforceable ethics laws will be needed that apply to the president and are backed by criminal penalties.”

— Kate Shaw, a contributing Opinion writer

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I’m gay, not queer. The difference matters. “‘Queer’ carries an adversarial charge that ‘gay’ does not, and that charge has a specific intellectual lineage.”

— Matthew Vines, the executive director of the Reformation Project

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Venezuela’s tragedy is bigger than the earthquakes. “This crisis is as much a tragedy of authoritarian rule as it is a tragedy of nature.”

— Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, a human rights advocate

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Spotlight

An illustration of a robot’s foot about to step on a banana peel.
Antonio Giovanni Pinna

The Simple Reason A.I. Agents Won’t Steal All Our Jobs

Congratulations. You’re irreplaceable.

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ICYMI

Trump is winning against the celebrity resistance. “If Americans begin to accept as normal that it’s just too risky to speak up, then something fundamental has changed in our country, for the worse.”

— Molly Jong-Fast, a contributing Opinion writer

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Listen (or Watch)

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The New York Times

The Ezra Klein Show

What Has Chris Rufo Wrought?

One of MAGA’s leading activists discusses how he views the second Trump administration, as well as various factions of the right.

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2 HR 4 MIN LISTEN

More in Opinion

A woman at a demonstration holds an American flag in one hand and a sign that reads, “Hate never made America great,” in the other.

Guest Essay

Can You Really Be a Working-Class Party if There Are Very Few Workers in Your Party?

There an irony at the heart of the D.S.A.’s ascendance.

By Thomas B. Edsall

A photo illustration showing a blurry statue of an angel inside a church.

Guest Essay

Pope Leo Faces the First Crisis of His Pontificate

An impending clash between Pope Leo and ultratraditionalist Catholics threatens to end the pontiff’s honeymoon.

By David Gibson

A close-up black-and-white photo shows Haley Stevens speaking.

Michelle Goldberg

‘Moderate’ and ‘Electable’ Are Not Synonyms

The case for Haley Stevens’s candidacy rests on electability, but it’s far from clear how electable she really is.

By Michelle Goldberg

Guest Essay

What Is the Supreme Court Doing to Presidential Power?

Two legal scholars deconstruct a big court decision long in the making.

By Cass R. Sunstein and Philip Hamburger

Red, white and blue tints covering a photograph of the Supreme Court.

The Editorial Board

The Court’s Hypocrisy

The Supreme Court is bestowing new powers on a president who often behaves as an aspiring autocrat.

By The Editorial Board

In Your Words

Re: Life Is Better With Siblings

L

Laura

Queens

Another way for only children to get at the benefits of siblings is to expand the notion of what makes a family. The isolated nuclear family model is relatively recent—for most of human history, most people lived in extended kinship groups. That meant parents had more support, and kids had more role models, as well as varied opportunities for learning and playing.

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