


How is Donald Trump putting America first by bashing Brazil?
He isn’t
On July 17th the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, dispatched a memorandum to America’s diplomats stepping back from a decades-old priority, promoting democracy abroad. Henceforth, he wrote, diplomats should simply congratulate the winning candidate in any country’s election and refrain from “opining” on the fairness of the process, or even on “the democratic values of the country in question”. The change, he wrote, was in keeping with “the administration’s emphasis on national sovereignty”.
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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The interventionalist”

Alligator Alcatraz is an exercise in performative cruelty
Many Republican voters don’t like it

MAGA’s disenchantment with Israel
Democrats have long been split over the Jewish state. Cracks are appearing among Republicans, too

Democrats are likely to lose the redistricting war
If both sides abandon principle, a draw is possible, but Republicans face fewer obstacles
Donald Trump escalates his war on numbers
Another shocking assault on a non-partisan institution
Deadheads hope to “make America grateful again”
The band’s 60th anniversary concerts show how much San Francisco has changed
The National Park Service is in disarray
The Trump administration is cutting thousands of staff at America’s favourite agency