“Corruption is the Achilles’ heel of autocrats. It’s not a bug in the system. It’s the model,” the New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer says.
April 17, 2026
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The Washington Roundtable discusses how the anti-corruption candidate Péter Magyar brought down Hungary’s autocratic Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, and what implications that victory holds for the far-right movements that Orbán helped embolden around the world. The panel is joined by Kim Lane Scheppele, a Princeton professor who has lived in Hungary and studied its democratic backsliding. Together, they unpack how Magyar’s campaign succeeded by connecting Orbán’s corruption to the everyday struggles of Hungarians, and how that approach might inform Democratic strategy in the 2028 Presidential election.
This week’s reading:
“America’s Orange Jesus,” by Susan B. Glasser
“TMZ Gets Political,” by Paula Mejía
Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.
A professor claimed to be Native American. Did she know she wasn’t?
Why so many people are going “no contact” with their parents.
The Lede
This Easter, an American Pope Confronts an American War
Last week, when asked if he had a message about the war in Iran for President Trump, Leo XIV said, “Hopefully, he’s looking for an off-ramp.”
By Paul Elie
The Lede
The Return of Staten Island’s Secession Movement
For more than a hundred years, the city’s most isolated borough has threatened to leave. After the election of Zohran Mamdani, some on the island think it’s time.
By Naaman Zhou
Comment
Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth’s Warped Vision of the Iran War
The two men might wish that they lived in a world where whoever dropped the most bombs got whatever he wanted. But the war has shown that this isn’t true.
By Benjamin Wallace-Wells
The Lede
The Strange (Partial) End to the (Partial) Government Shutdown
Democrats are claiming victory. But what did they really gain?
By Jon Allsop
Letter from Trump’s Washington
Donald Trump’s Case for War Fails to Mention How to Win It
The President poses an existential question: Can everything be going according to the plan with Iran if there is no plan?
By Susan B. Glasser
The Political Scene Podcast
Will J. D. Vance Inherit MAGA?
The Vice-President reportedly opposed the Iran War. Now he’s tasked with leading American negotiations to end it.
Annals of Immigration
The Return of Family Detention
Under the Trump Administration, thousands of immigrant children have been detained, and many have suffered from medical neglect.
By Sarah Stillman
Letter from the Southwest
How the Trump Administration Has Turned Left-Wing Activism Into Terrorism
The trial of supposed Antifa members after a shooting at an ICE facility is part of a disturbing strategy.
By Rachel Monroe
The Political Scene Podcast
Pam Bondi Fails to Make Her Case
Bondi’s tenure at the Justice Department was marked by incompetence. But her effort to remake it in Donald Trump’s image was “a tragic success,” the contributing writer Ruth Marcus says.
New York Journal
The Woman Who Made the Machine That Made Zohran Mamdani
Tascha Van Auken helped turn the D.S.A. into an electoral force. What will she do inside City Hall?
By Molly Fischer
The Lede
Pam Bondi’s Legacy of Flattery and Destruction
No Attorney General has done more damage to the Justice Department. Her successor could be even more dangerous.
By Ruth Marcus
Letter from Trump’s Washington
America’s Orange Jesus
Reflections on a week in which Donald Trump decided to feud with the Pope while comparing himself to the Saviour.
By Susan B. Glasser