The president seems to think “the shutdown gives him more power,” Jamelle Bouie says at the round table on “The Opinions” with Michelle Cottle and David French. But what Trump doesn’t seem to understand, he argues, are the practical implications of keeping this going.

In this episode of “The Opinions,” David French breaks down why parts of the original Constitution lend themselves to abuse — and which three amendments could stop another shutdown like this one. “But first,” he says, “we have to get through this moment.”

Bernie Sanders has been on a country-wide tour called Fighting Oligarchy. In this episode of “The Opinions” with David Leonhardt, he explains why that’s so important right now and reveals what question he wishes more reporters would ask him.

In this episode of “The Opinions,” Senator Bernie Sanders tells David Leonhardt that the party and its leadership need to make big changes to start winning election.

The Vermont senator on how to take the country back from elites on both sides of the aisle.

This is what happens when no one wants to govern.

What’s the smart move for Democrats in this political moment? On “The Opinions,” the columnist David Brooks says he thinks the party should channel Michelle Obama and “go high.”

The Opinion columnist David Brooks, a center-right thinker, feels as if there’s room for him in the “No Kings” movement. “It’s pro-American. It’s basically in line with the cultural DNA of this country, and so I’m very impressed by it,” he says. And yet, he argues, the movement is still missing something essential.

Mamdani might be working in Democrats’ favor. But what about “No Kings”?

“The troquita — the truck — it’s symbolic,” Senator Ruben Gallego tells David Leonhardt on “The Opinions.” “It really is a status symbol that you have succeeded in this country.”

Jamelle Bouie says the South’s appeal isn’t just cheaper living; it’s the power to use wealth to control others. Tressie McMillan Cottom calls it “the ‘Yellowstone’-ification of the country.” But that kind of dominance also means giving up something: the diversity and cultural egalitarianism of cosmopolitan life.

Tressie McMillan Cottom argues that our obsession with Southern culture isn’t just about charm or nostalgia. It’s about reassurance. We romanticize its music, verandas and magnolias, yet, despite the political drift in other states, insist that “at least we’re not the South.”