We live in a partisan age, and our news habits can reinforce our own perspectives. Consider this an effort to broaden our collective outlook with essays beyond the range of our typical selections.

FROM THE LEFT

From “God or Trump?” by Thomas Geoghegan in Commonweal at tinyurl.com/nhexaxsm.

The context, from the author: It is a mistake to see (Donald) Trump only as a political leader. In 2024, he is also a cult for Evangelicals who no longer want to be Christians or churchgoers constrained by the Bible or a community of fellow believers. He has liberated them from the Bible, or from biblical morality, which is evidently too great a burden. Their new religion consists of participating in ritual acts where Trump tramples on that old morality in some new and shocking way, intoxicating his supporters with the thought that they, too, are now free to trample on these values.

The excerpt: In this increasingly secular culture, we still have to smuggle back in some kind of religion that is not the worship of power, or of Trump. True religion, St. James writes, is caring for widows and orphans in their distress and keeping oneself unspotted from the world. It is a self-sacrificing love, generosity, forgiveness, to check our off-the-charts individualism. Trump, and our response to him, seem to have cut the last tie with this kind of religion. And that’s why, for the first time in my life, and to my surprise, I find myself praying for our country.

From “Who Wants to Be a Trillionaire?” by Bob Lord in Mother Jones at tinyurl.com/mvvmuws8.

The context, from the author: The steep upward trajectory of the Forbes 400 is not a matter of entrepreneurs getting better or smarter — or even savvier, really. Rather, it’s a story of congressional capture and decades of policy failures.

The excerpt: The poorest members of the latest Forbes 400 are worth almost $3 billion, and the share of the nation’s wealth held by the richest 0.01% of households has more than tripled since 1982. This disruptive, excessive wealth flows easily from one generation to the next, thanks to an estate tax so easily circumvented that, as one of then-President Donald Trump’s economic advisers famously put it, “only morons” pay it.

From “Donald Trump’s Amnesia Advantage,” by Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker at tinyurl.com/yu7upwfw.

The context, from the author: Forgetting — (Donald) Trump’s own memory lapses, and those of the broader electorate — is one of the former president’s political superpowers.

The excerpt: Remarkably, the same Gallup poll that showed Americans losing confidence in (President Joe) Biden’s leadership qualities in the past four years also found its respondents more favorably inclined toward Trump on a variety of indicators, including his likability, good judgment in a crisis, ability to manage the government effectively, and capacity to be a strong and decisive leader. Apparently, the country is suffering from collective memory loss on an epic scale. Call it Trump’s amnesia advantage.

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FROM THE RIGHT

From “Bueller? How School Absenteeism Went From Silly Movie Plot To Sinister Epidemic,” by Jeremy S. Adams in The Federalist at tinyurl.com/394tkt5j.

The context, from the author: Parents have decided school isn’t the pressing priority it once was and that bargain family vacations, running errands or just taking random days off are paramount to the demands of the traditional school schedule.

The excerpt: The dirty little secret in the AP and Honors world where I teach is that our most involved students miss instruction time with utter alacrity and usually without a scintilla of shame. They have this game, that field trip, or any number of extracurriculars tyrannically tugging at their blasé commitments to the classroom. I am an admitted curmudgeon about absenteeism — begging and pleading with my students to tell me when they know they are going to be absent so I can plan accordingly. I am actually a little proud of the fact that missing students can’t “just get the notes” from a friend or “get the work online.” Of course, teachers should help students catch up — and I do. But class time should be unique and difficult to duplicate in isolation.

From “‘New Atheism,’ 20 Years On,” by Sumantra Maitra in The American Conservative at tinyurl.com/ta87f56x.

The context, from the author: Forgiveness is a Christian virtue, but the New Atheists make it difficult.

The excerpt: The idea that you can have “cultural Christianity” with either secular or neopagan society is so absurd that only a “scientist” can think of that. There’s a reason in every Victorian sci-fi novel, the villain is a mad scientist with no religious morals. “When you give up Christian faith, you pull the rug out from under your right to Christian morality,” as Nietzsche once wrote. Morals do not exist in a vacuum. You cannot have Michelangelo’s Pieta without the faith behind it.

From “Responding to Terror,” by Katya Sedgwick in The American Mind at tinyurl.com/mrxwryty.

The context, from the author: In 2001, the United States embarked on the War on Terror, rallying the world not just to fight terrorists but to replace autocratic and tribal societies with liberal democratic regimes, despite the lack of local interest. That approach now looks hopelessly wrongheaded.

The excerpt: We like to believe that people respond to kindness with kindness, but our failure to promote democracy in the Middle East should give us pause. At the end, all is fair in love and war. Russian bloody determination and willingness to make examples out of the wrongdoers might prove to be more effective than Israeli life-saving strategies. The world where extrajudicial prosecutions of terror suspects may prove effective and become the norm is not the world George W. Bush imagined in 2001. But that’s why we need to give serious thought to what our response will look like when another mega terror attack strikes America.