Trump’s thirst for Venezuela.

January 8, 2026

When President Trump announced the U.S. military’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the cartoonist Barry Blitt decided that his image for the cover of the January 19, 2026, issue could hark back to Gilded Age political cartoons that skewered the oil barons and petty tyrants of the era. “After years of depicting Donald Trump, I did not need any photo reference to draw this,” Blitt said. “His features are chiselled into my visual memory, and I’m not particularly thrilled about it.”

For more covers by Barry Blitt, see below:

Find Barry Blitt’s covers, cartoons, and more at the Condé Nast Store.

• After a London teen-ager plummeted into the Thames, his parents discovered that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son.

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The Front Row

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“Dead Man’s Wire” Is a Tangle of Loose Threads

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In dramatizing a real-life hostage crisis from 1977, Gus Van Sant teases out enticing themes that remain undeveloped.

The Lede

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An ICE Killing Puts Minneapolis on the Brink

](https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/an-ice-killing-puts-minneapolis-on-the-brink#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

The city where George Floyd was murdered finds itself again at the epicenter of a national crisis.

The New Yorker Radio Hour

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Does Every Marriage Need a Prenup?

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The staff writer Jennifer Wilson explores why prenuptial agreements have boomed in popularity among millennial and Gen Z couples.

The Political Scene Podcast

[

Donald Trump’s New Brand of Imperialism

](https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/donald-trumps-new-brand-of-imperialism#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

The historian Daniel Immerwahr says that Trump’s embrace of imperialist adventuring is not just about business interests—it’s an appeal to masculinity which “seems to sell.”

Persons of Interest

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The Gospel According to Emily Henry

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-gospel-according-to-emily-henry#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

How the best-selling author of “People We Meet on Vacation” channelled her love of rom-coms—and her religious upbringing—into a new kind of romance novel.

Humor

[

Daily Cartoon: Friday, January 9th

](https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/friday-january-9th-no-more-holiday-parties#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

A drawing that riffs on the latest news and happenings.

The Lede

[

What “The Pitt” Taught Me About Being a Doctor

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-lede/what-the-pitt-taught-me-about-being-a-doctor#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

It’s as if the show’s creators absorbed every important conversation in health care today—and somehow transfigured it into good television.

Shuffalo

[

Shuffalo: Friday, January 9, 2026

](https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/shuffalo/2026/01/09#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

Can you make a longer word with each new letter?

Crossword

[

The Mini Crossword: Friday, January 9, 2026

](https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/mini-crossword/2026/01/09#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

Pixar movie whose title robot’s name is an acronym: five letters.

The Current Cinema

[

The Zealous Voyagers of “Magellan” and “The Testament of Ann Lee”

](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/magellan-movie-review-the-testament-of-ann-lee#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

In two historical bio-pics, the directors Lav Diaz and Mona Fastvold employ bold formal devices to hold their protagonists at a compelling remove.

Open Questions

[

Is Life a Game?

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/is-life-a-game#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

In “The Score,” the philosopher C. Thi Nguyen argues that play is the meaning of life.

Goings On

[

Dances of the Georgian Court and Countryside

](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/goings-on/dances-of-the-georgian-court-and-countryside#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_98f9b564-23a6-4850-a034-706077865590_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)

Also: Bang on a Can and St. Vincent in Richard Foreman’s “What to Wear,” the celestial folk of Cassandra Jenkins, Jennifer Wilson and Richard Brody on comfort in the cold weather, and more.