‘You don’t have the cards’

Recently, in The Signal: Why are younger men increasingly voting for the populist right and younger women, the environmental left? Rosie Campbell on a new gender divide in the Western world.

Today: Why do boys keep falling so far behind girls in school? Ioakim Boutakidis on a half-century, still-elusive global achievement gap.

+ Why does the Trump administration seem to be moving further from Russia and closer to Ukraine? What we’re tracking for this week’s member’s despatch. & New music from Erika de Casier …

Feature

Lost men

Why do boys keep falling further behind girls in school? Ioakim Boutakidis on a half-century, still-elusive global achievement gap.

The SignalAllison Braden

Connections / from the member’s despatch

Fallout. It was a spectacular, public argument. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to the White House on February 28, hoping to shore up support from the new U.S. administration for Kyiv in its war with Russia—and maybe sign a minerals deal with Washington, too.

But the Oval Office meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and other top U.S. officials turned into a stunning disaster. Vance berated Zelenskyy for not expressing gratitude to the U.S., and Trump told him that in peace negotiations, “You don’t have the cards.”

It all happened live, on camera. Afterward, the White House told Zelenskyy to go home; the formal meeting between the heads of state was canceled. 

The public falling-out confirmed for many that the Trump administration would side with Moscow over Kyiv, and that Trump’s friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during Trump’s first term would determine his second term, as well.

But since then, something’s changed …

Developments / what we’re tracking

Election Sunday in Europe. Romania, Poland, and Portugal all held national elections on Sunday. In each, the centrist, pro-EU candidate or party got the most votes—and the populist right finished second.

• Romania: Nicuşor Dan, the centrist mayor of Bucharest, defeated George Simion, a far-right, pro-Russian candidate, for the presidency, even though Simion won the first round. Dan got about 54 percent of the vote, giving him a relatively—and unexpectedly—big victory. Turnout was very high, at almost 65 percent.
• Poland: Rafał Trzaskowski, the centrist mayor of Warsaw, defeated Karol Nawrocki, a relatively unknown historian backed by the populist Law and Justice Party, in the first round of presidential elections. Trzaskowski got 31 percent; Nawrocki, 30 percent. Far-right candidates combined for more than 21 percent. The runoff between Trzaskowski and Nawrocki will be on June 1.
• Portugal: The center-right Democratic Alliance of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro won snap elections with a little more than 32 percent, but votes were so fragmented that it looks tough for the party to form a stable government. The populist-right Chega party, led by André Ventura, tied for the second-most seats in Parliament—Chega’s best showing ever, though they finished a few thousand votes behind the Socialist party.

The pattern is striking, but the implications are still uncertain: Are all these centrist victories showing the electoral limits of the populist right, or are the overall vote totals a sign that the populist right is still getting stronger?

Coming soon: Ioakim Boutakidis on why boys are falling so far behind girls at every level of school …

Music

‘Delusional’