This week, the President was ready to teach Americans about the art of the deal.

Mitch, you chinless sack of shit, we’ve got the Democrats right where we want them on the debt ceiling. Just wait till I get that Chuck Schumer in a room.

I have absolutely no leverage, Mr. President, but I need you to do exactly what I want.

Now that business is taken care of, let me tell you all about the time I had sex in the toilet at Studio 54.

• One Republican pollster is beginning to think the GOP may be racist. Really???

• When not busy toying with Trump like a cornered rat, Vladimir Putin claims to be concerned about AI.

• Germany isn’t positioned to elect a Trump, but that doesn’t mean it’s free of xenophobic panic.

• Some notes on Identity Politics, Bernie, Peggy Noonan and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new essay.

• Despite what Libertarians believe, Burning Man is a vast bureaucracy.

• Several new pieces explore unobtrusive technologies that may soon alter our lives.

• The Los Angeles Review of Books focuses on the future of genetic engineering.

• A brief note from 1910 about the death of President Taft’s White House cow.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches: Max Valier, Robert Redford.