Times Opinion is using today's newsletter to stay on top of President Trump's moves, putting a spotlight on areas that Americans can't afford to turn away from. Crossing the Rubicon: What to make of the Trump administration's defiance of a court order to help return an immigrant it wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador? My colleague Jamelle Bouie calls this "a profound assault on American freedom as understood for the whole of this nation's history" but also finds historical precedent in antebellum America. My colleague Nick Kristof calls it a "great test" of the American system and its citizens, comparing Trump's behavior to that of foreign autocrats. In his newsletter my colleague David French argues that the courts need to boldly and faithfully defend the Constitution but that Americans should think of the courts as "a rear guard, capable of delaying constitutional collapse" but not safeguarding against it; preservation of the Republic comes down to its citizens. On his podcast "Interesting Times," my colleague Ross Douthat speaks with Jack Goldsmith, who ran the Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush, about how Trump's attempts to expand executive power will fare in court. If Trump continues to defy the courts, impeachment is the only constitutional remedy, Asha Rangappa, a lawyer and senior lecturer at Yale, tells my colleague Ezra Klein on his podcast.
The winners and losers of Trump's trade war: My colleague David Wallace-Wells writes that though China has problems of its own, it's easy to see how Trump has cleared the path for Chinese economic hegemony. His trade war is as ill conceived as it is poorly executed, argues Robert Wu, a Chinese businessman, damaging America's reputation while burnishing China's image. But it's also destroying America's core strengths, my colleague Tom Friedman argues, and slowing down the investments that power the economy, Eric Van Nostrand, an investor who was the chief economist at the Treasury Department, warns. In a guest essay, Moira Weigel, a Harvard professor, draws on her reporting on American and Chinese e-commerce and concludes that the tariffs have only strengthened China's hand. The editorial board argues that while there is a case to be made for carefully designed tariffs, Trump's indiscriminate tariffs are long-term pain for no gain and calls for Congress to step in to curb the president's power to levy them. On "The Opinions," Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary and a Harvard economics professor, also argues for a more focused tariff agenda that creates less uncertainty in the economy. And in a guest essay Kyla Scanlon outlines an alternative plan to reindustrialize America.
A link for levity: I enjoyed this exploration of why the heroes of Shinichiro Watanabe anime shows look so cool when they fight. A second front in the war on higher education: My colleague M. Gessen explains how America's colleges can avoid Trump's trap by refocusing on their core mission and praises Harvard for its refusal to capitulate to the Trump administration's demands. Matthew Connelly, a professor of history at Columbia University, laments that instead of lending their support to the embattled school, his fellow academics are attacking it.
What else I'm reading to understand the world today: "Compliance Is the New American Dream" by Kyla Scanlon, "The President of Brooklyn" by Nawal Arjini and Willa Glickman for The New York Review of Books, "The Symbolic Capitalist Paradox" by Nicholas Smyth for The Hedgehog Review. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Games Here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle and Spelling Bee. If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here. Forward this newsletter to friends to share ideas and perspectives that will help inform their lives. They can sign up here. Do you have feedback? Email us at opiniontoday@nytimes.com. If you have questions about your Times account, delivery problems or other issues, visit our Help Page or contact The Times.
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