menu_open Columnists
Abdallah Fayyad

Abdallah Fayyad

The Atlantic

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

What Democrats can learn from Mamdani’s big night

Even for supporters who disagreed with some aspects of his worldview, his candor and bold stances showed them that he was willing to fight.

06.11.2025 9

Boston Globe

Abdallah Fayyad

Why progressives still find Graham Platner appealing

Since 2016, Democrats have fretted over their loss of white working-class voters. And Platner, a scruffy oysterman who served in the US military,...

29.10.2025 2

Boston Globe

Abdallah Fayyad

Why voters keep shrugging off Trump’s corruption

Tom Homan, the White House border czar, allegedly accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives during a sting...

25.09.2025 5

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The growing consensus that Israel is committing genocide

A United Nations commission published a 72-page report on Tuesday that concluded Israel has committed a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.  “It...

19.09.2025 20

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Donald Trump is lying about political violence

Charlie Kirk, the influential right-wing activist, was shot and killed Wednesday on a college campus in Utah. The shooter is still at large, and as of...

12.09.2025 70

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump’s presidency is a cash grab

According to Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president is a very generous man. “I am proud to be the only President (with the possible exception of...

09.09.2025 20

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump’s sinister America rebrand

You may have seen that President Donald Trump has been doing some remodeling around the White House, including a new Rose Garden patio and so, so much...

08.09.2025 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump isn’t just remodeling the White House. He’s rebranding America.

In 1990, Playboy published an interview with Donald Trump in which the future president offered his thoughts on foreign affairs, the death penalty,...

28.08.2025 5

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Why Trump thinks DC can’t govern itself

Just a few years ago, the movement for Washington, DC, statehood was gaining steam. In 2020 and 2021, Democrats in the House passed bills to make DC...

15.08.2025 5

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What recognizing a Palestinian state actually achieves

On Monday, Australia joined a growing number of Western countries that say they will soon recognize a Palestinian state. That list includes France,...

14.08.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What makes Israel’s starvation of Gaza stand apart

“We are imposing a complete siege on [Gaza]. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel — everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and...

07.08.2025 8

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Democratic voters have turned against Israel. Why won’t their leaders?

Since former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic Party has been in a panic over how it can win back more...

31.07.2025 20

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The crimes Trump doesn’t care about

When the topic is immigrants or Democratic cities, President Donald Trump loves to talk about crime. But when it comes to Wall Street bankers and...

17.07.2025 30

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Student loans are about to get worse

University tuition in the United States is notoriously expensive — so much so that Americans currently have over $1.6 trillion in student loan debt....

09.07.2025 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The astonishing racism in NYC’s mayoral race

Throughout Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York City mayor, he’s faced a barrage of attacks that have only gotten worse since he handily won the...

08.07.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Zohran Mamdani’s not-so-radical agenda

Last week, New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani sent shockwaves through the political establishment after he clinched the Democratic...

03.07.2025 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump deploying the National Guard is part of a bigger plan

After protests erupted in response to federal agents raiding businesses around Los Angeles to arrest immigrants, President Donald Trump quickly...

10.06.2025 50

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The big, beautiful bill is bad news for student loans

If the “big, beautiful bill,” President Donald Trump’s signature legislative priority, eventually becomes law, it would gut some social programs...

09.06.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Big government is still good, even with Trump in power

It’s easy to look at President Donald Trump’s second term and conclude that the less power and reach the federal government has, the better. After...

04.06.2025 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

There’s a better way to help underpaid workers than “no tax on tips”

On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed the No Tax on Tips Act, pushing one of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises one step closer to...

23.05.2025 3

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump and Harris agree on “no tax on tips.” They’re both wrong.

Editor’s note, May 21, 2025, at 9:50 am ET: The Senate has unanimously passed the “no tax on tips” bill. The bill will now head to the House....

21.05.2025 90

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump is still afraid of voters

It is perhaps an understatement to say that Donald Trump is obsessed with popularity. Throughout his time in the limelight, he has repeatedly made it...

21.05.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

How corrupt is Trump’s plan to accept a Qatari plane?

The Qatari royal family has proposed gifting President Donald Trump a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane to use as a temporary Air Force One during his...

13.05.2025 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump is hoping to quietly gut the social safety net

There are two things you should know about President Donald Trump’s recently released budget proposal: First, it would significantly boost funding...

12.05.2025 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Unions’ awkward tariff dilemma

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have drawn a lot of opposition — from economists, businesses, Wall Street, and the majority of Americans. Yet...

28.04.2025 3

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump is punishing immigrants for following the rules

Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, went into a US Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Vermont on Monday for his...

18.04.2025 9

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The far-reaching effects of Trump’s tariffs on low-income people, explained

President Donald Trump’s tariff plan has rattled Wall Street, alarmed the United States’ trading partners, and made Americans afraid of checking...

13.04.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump’s power to declare national emergencies is a national emergency

When President Donald Trump announced his tariffs last week, he also declared a national emergency. According to the White House, the emergency in...

10.04.2025 40

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What would a good tariff policy look like?

Today is “Liberation Day,” according to President Donald Trump — the day he announces a slate of new tariffs. This is just the latest update to...

02.04.2025 9

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The assault on pro-Palestinian speech has a long and shameful history

On Wednesday, masked plainclothes immigration officers arrested Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen on a student visa, outside Tufts University, where...

27.03.2025 2

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The Social Security crisis, briefly explained

The Social Security Administration — which distributes benefits to tens of millions of retired workers, people with disabilities, and their families...

25.03.2025 2

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The real lesson of the JFK files

For half a century, conspiracy theories about the assassination of John F. Kennedy have flourished. President Donald Trump himself has dabbled in...

20.03.2025 30

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What does Israel’s “right to self-defense” actually mean?

From the start, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been extremely fragile. Since the agreement took effect in January, Israel has only...

14.03.2025 20

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump and Musk have huge conflicts of interest. Who’s policing them?

In the past week, Donald Trump announced that he would buy a Tesla and advertised the company’s vehicles at an event that turned the White House...

14.03.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Is wealth inequality leading to a class war?

A Vox reader asks: What is wealth inequality and class warfare and why is it extra bad at this point in time? “Wealth” is someone’s net worth...

09.03.2025 20

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What should a prison look like?

In almost all ways, the Liberty Hotel in Boston is like any other swanky hotel. It hosts galas, weddings, and New Year’s Eve parties. It has weekly...

07.03.2025 6

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Congestion pricing is good for low-income residents

In January, New York City finally launched congestion pricing, charging drivers a $9 toll to use the busiest streets in Manhattan during peak hours....

02.03.2025 20

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Three reasons why American democracy will likely withstand Trump

Since his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump has posed a serious threat to American democracy. From the start, he refused to commit to accepting...

26.02.2025 50

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What comes after the DEI backlash?

In recent months, the attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies have been unrelenting. Since Donald Trump’s win in November, several...

18.02.2025 50

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The attack on USAID portends a war on the welfare state

One of the first casualties of the second Trump administration has been the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  The agency,...

16.02.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The real lesson of the DOGE racist tweets scandal

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a staffer at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) resigned after the paper inquired about...

08.02.2025 40

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

One reason it’s harder to escape poverty in America

The classic promise of the American dream is that no matter where you grew up, no matter how poor you were as a kid, you can still have a path to...

02.02.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

Trump’s January 6 pardons were democratically legitimate — and dangerous

On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump signed executive orders that ranged from addressing petty grievances to radical...

22.01.2025 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

How we measure poverty matters — and we can do better

How many people are living in poverty in America? It depends on whom you ask. If it’s the US Census, the answer would be somewhere around 37 million...

19.01.2025 30

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What happens when the California fires go out? More gentrification.

It is often said that climate disasters are great equalizers. They rip through neighborhoods, rich and poor, devastating communities and upending...

17.01.2025 20

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

NYC’s congestion pricing is unpopular — for now

After a last-minute about-face, pushback, and compromise, congestion pricing officially went into effect this week in New York City.  The...

11.01.2025 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

What if everyone qualified for welfare benefits?

In an ideal world, everyone who qualifies for an aid program ought to receive its benefits. But the reality is that this is often not the case....

05.01.2025 5

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

2024 cemented the tough-on-crime comeback

The spike in crime rates prompted by the pandemic in 2020 cemented the backlash to progressive criminal justice reform. In the years that followed,...

30.12.2024 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

A public housing success story

In the last issue of this newsletter, I wrote about what went wrong with public housing in the United States — how it didn’t necessarily fail, but...

22.12.2024 10

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad

The president’s pardon power is a double-edged sword. Here’s how to reform it for good.

On Thursday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden is commuting sentences for roughly 1,500 people who had been released from prison...

12.12.2024 4

Vox

Abdallah Fayyad