The Week Magazine October 17, 2025

During my previous travels abroad, I have encountered a variety of reactions as an American: admiration, envy, resentment, disdain—but never pity. On a recent trip to Portugal and Spain, I was surprised that no one seemed angry at me because our country is now dominated by aspiring authoritarian Donald Trump. People shook their heads sadly, as if in sympathy with someone who’d suffered a great and painful fall. They pitied me. “It’s so terrible,” a Portuguese tour guide said over lunch. “We used to look up to you.” She spoke of her own country’s four decades under fascismo and the rule of dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. “Why,” she asked, “don’t people learn from history?” Americans have long enjoyed the privilege of viewing dictatorship from a safe distance, with no…

What happened President Trump this week called for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to be jailed for “failing to protect ICE officers,” as he deployed troops to the Chicago area and federal agents there used increasingly aggressive tactics in immigration raids and in clashes with protesters. Claiming violence in Chicago is “probably worse” than in Afghanistan, Trump ordered 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and 200 members of the Texas National Guard to a facility outside the city, despite Pritzker’s objections. The Defense Department said the troops will protect federal personnel and property during Operation Midway Blitz, a month-old immigration crackdown that has resulted in the arrests of more than 1,000 undocumented migrants. Outrage is rising in Chicago over the operation, which saw federal agents…

Trump has long desired to invoke the Insurrection Act, which he sees as the “epitome of presidential power,” said Myah Ward in Politico. But “several key allies” don’t believe he needs to go that route, “at least for now.” Administration officials are highly confident the federal judge who twice blocked Trump from deploying the National Guard in Portland will be overturned by an appellate court, or by the Supreme Court. Will Chamberlain, counsel at a Trump-aligned legal group, said he’s so sure the ruling is “doomed to be reversed” that he’d offer 20-to-1 betting odds. One way or another, Trump is “determined to flex military muscle on the streets of American cities,” said Tom Nichols in The Atlantic. And in contrast to his first term, when officials around him stayed…

What happened As the war in Gaza passed the two-year mark this week, President Trump’s all-out push to end the conflict gained momentum, with negotiators from Israel and Hamas meeting with mediators in Egypt to consider his 20-point peace proposal. The plan calls for Hamas to release its remaining Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners; for the terrorist group to disarm; and for Israeli forces to pull back and allow for a temporary authority to administer the Gaza Strip. Trump leaned heavily on both sides to come to an agreement, reportedly urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in private to stop being so “f---ing negative” and “take the win,” and openly warning Hamas that it faced “complete obliteration” if it rejects the plan. He sent Middle East envoy Steve…

■ When Tom Cillo, 58 and retired with a pension, told his buddy Dave Bellomo that he regretted not going to college and playing football, Bellomo replied, “Why don’t you?” So Cillo enrolled in Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., and Bellomo, an athletic trainer, got Cillo into shape “Rocky-style.” Cillo made the college’s NCAA Division III team as a freshman nose tackle; in his first game the team won 23-16. “There are people out there holding themselves back,” Cillo said. “If you have a dream, follow through with it.” ■ Craig Campbell, 70, was used to regularly walking on a local trail near Calgary, Alberta, with his 10-year-old Doberman, named Night. But things took a turn last year when the pair encountered a grizzly sow and her two cubs in…

Could Democrats’ “big gamble” actually pay off? asked Zeeshan Aleem in MSNBC.com. For five decades, voters “have typically blamed the party not in the White House” when Congress can’t agree on a spending package and the government shuts down. But this time feels different. A new Washington Post poll shows 47% of voters blame President Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, with only 30% blaming Democrats. That poll was taken more than a week ago as the shutdown began, but Democrats have certain “unusual advantages” in the ongoing battle for public opinion. There is Trump himself, who has governed as such a “wrecking ball” since January that many voters simply assume the shutdown is part of his anti-government crusade. Then there’s the fact that Democrats’ modest demand—that any bill to…