At the crossroads of artistic insight and intellectual curiosity we find the edge of reason

dive into the heart of artistic inspiration rooted in Enlightenment thinking and discover how contemporary creators are holding a mirror up to society to reflect who we are, where we've been, and where we're headed.

Join me, Jeff Chang, at the Edge of Reason, a new limited podcast from Atlantic

Rethink, the branded content studio at the Atlantic, and Howzer and Worth.

We are going to build a wall, don't worry about it.

And wait a minute, and wait a minute, and who's going to pay for the wall?

Who's going to pay for the wall?

Who's going to pay for the wall?

I've never done that before that's actually cute.

Two years into office President Donald Trump has not convinced Mexico to pay for the

wall. He hasn't convinced Congress to pay for it either. And after that

became clear last week, Trump was faced with a choice. Shut down the government to try and

push one more time for that wall funding

or sign a budget without money for that wall.

Neither option was good.

The shutdown was terrible politically

for Trump and his party,

and reneging on his signature campaign promise was also terrible, politically.

So the President devised a third option, a nuclear one, if you will.

Sign the budget deal, but declare a national emergency. That move

theoretically gives the president unilateral power to move money around, but it

has been immediately challenged.

...