Senator Elizabeth Warren recently shared results of a genetic analysis to back up her family’s story of Cherokee ancestry, hoping to blunt a favorite Republican attack line. The move backfired. A DNA result does not confer a Cherokee heritage. And in general, efforts to link our genetics with our ethnic or cultural identities have a long and sordid history. So what’s more revealing: the results of DNA tests like Warren’s? Or what we try to find in them?

Links

- “The First DNA Test as Political Stunt” (Sarah Zhang, October 15, 2018)
- “Trump, Warren, and America's Racial Essentialism” (Vann R. Newkirk II, October 16, 2018)
- “Your DNA Is Not Your Culture” (Sarah Zhang, September 25, 2018)
- “When White Nationalists Get DNA Tests That Reveal African Ancestry” (Sarah Zhang, August 17, 2017)
- "Radio Atlantic: Becoming White in America" (Kevin Townsend, April 13, 2018)
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The Politics of Ancestry

The Atlantic has long been known as an ideas-driven magazine. Now we’re bringing that same ethos to audio. Like the magazine, the show will “road test” the big ideas that both drive the news and shape our culture. Through conversations—and sometimes sharp debates—with the most insightful thinkers and writers on topics of the day, Radio Atlantic will complicate overly simplistic views. It will cut through the noise with clarifying, personal narratives. It will, hopefully, help listeners make up their own mind about certain ideas.
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The Stormy Daniels case may have a less serious fact pattern. But it might turn out to be the one chance to hold Donald Trump accountable for election interference. Atlantic staff writer David Graham explains the importance of the case and how Trump might actually be enjoying this new form of courtroom campaigning.

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Trump’s Courtroom Campaign

Is having a Birkin bag ... a right? Earlier this year, two California residents filed a class-action lawsuit against the French luxury design company Hermès. Their grievance was that although they could afford a coveted Birkin bag made by the company, they could not buy one.
We talk to Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull about the lawsuit and the current state of the luxury market. What do we actually want from luxury these days? Is there even such a thing anymore as a rare luxury good? And what handbag is Amanda carrying? 
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Money Can Buy You Everything, Except Maybe a Birkin Bag

Where were you for the 2017 total eclipse? Where will you be this year? And where will you be for the next one in 2045? Hanna talks to Atlantic staff writer Marina Koren about the eclipse as a peculiar event: a beautiful if not slightly unsettling moment that is also a strange marker of time.
And we hear from retired astrophysicist Fred Espenak who's seen more than 20 total eclipses in his life and wonders which eclipse might end up being his last.
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During the Eclipse, Don't Just Look Up

Atlantic political reporter John Hendrickson has had a stutter since he was a kid. Recently he heard Donald Trump make fun of Joe Biden’s stutter, and he noticed that the audience laughed.
Hendrickson’s working theory has been that disability is apolitical, and he wondered what Trump supporters actually feel about him making fun of people with disabilities. We go to a Trump rally in Dayton, Ohio and poll the crowd. 
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Do Trump Supporters Mind When He Mocks Biden’s Stutter?

Hanna talks to her child Jacob about the thing they've argued the most about: being on their phone.
Then, Hanna sits down with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. In his new book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Haidt argues there is a direct tie between the wide distribution of smartphones and a rise in depression, anxiety, and loneliness among young people.
After which, Hanna asks Jacob: Did I ruin your life?
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The Politics of Ancestry

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