Newsweek is reporting on a range of political and policy topics in its latest edition, including a commentary piece examining what it calls President Donald Trump's $5,000 "dividend" and what the article says it reveals about corruption. It said the piece revisits a 2014 essay by author and activist Jonathan Rauch, published in The Atlantic under the headline "The Case for Corruption," which argued that American politics had become so fearful of corruption that it eliminated some legal practices that once helped government function. Newsweek said Rauch, a Brookings scholar, has since become an emphatic critic of Trump.
Newsweek also reported that Senator Jon Ossoff has emerged as a Democratic favorite for 2028, adding that the central question is whether he wants to run.
In a separate piece, Newsweek said Iran's tough talk at the United Nations gives away its secret, noting that the country's public message is resistance while its strategic need may be a negotiated off-ramp that does not look like submission.
Newsweek further reported that keeping U.S. diesel at home sounds like a direct answer to record prices, but it said a 1973 soybean embargo is a troubling precedent for Trump's diesel fix.
The outlet also said Trump has spent much of his political life complaining about television, and that this weekend he did something more efficient by becoming television.
In its editor's note, Newsweek said Editor-in-Chief Jennifer H. Cunningham told readers that good journalism needs readers, that the outlet follows facts rather than factions, and that membership offers ad-free browsing and exclusive reporting.