Welcome to Did You See This? — The SUNN Post’s biweekly column spotlighting news that students like you (and me!) need to know about. Buckle in for today’s headlines.
The Headline
Despite disagreements at this week’s NATO conference in Turkey, Trump came out claiming “tremendous unity” among allied nations.
The Rundown
This Tuesday and Wednesday, leaders of the 32 countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization gathered for a two-day summit in Ankara, Turkey. President Trump drew attention for criticizing members of the group and reaffirming his intention to claim Greenland as U.S. territory. Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederickson, emphasized Denmark’s control of the land, saying “Greenland is of course not for sale.”
Despite the rocky start, leaders left a closed-door meeting near the end of the event with a sunny outlook on the future of the alliance — good news for the six in 10 American Gen Zers and millennials who view NATO as beneficial. Trump’s day two speech skipped Greenland or Spain, another recent target of the president’s ire. Other attendees reinforced Trump’s claim that “there was tremendous unity in that room”: Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said the closing meeting was “more optimistic than maybe many were afraid of.”
Where to Find More:
Politico’s coverage charts the dramatic changes in Trump’s rhetoric over the course of the conference, and foreign leaders’ reactions. Find more on those reactions in overseas news sources like Le Monde and El Pais.
The Headline
Graham Platner has withdrawn from the race for one of Maine’s seats in the Senate following allegations of sexual assault.
The Rundown
This Monday, Politico reported a credible accusation of sexual assault against Democratic candidate for Senate Graham Platner. Jenny Racicot, a Maine resident and former girlfriend of Platner’s, alleges that Platner “forced her to have sex with him…despite her repeated objections” in 2021. Platner denied the allegation, but announced Wednesday that he would be withdrawing from the race, leaving the Democratic candidacy open for potential replacements.
This is not the first controversy to threaten Platner’s campaign: In its early days, reports emerged that Platner had unknowingly had a Nazi symbol resembling a skull and crossbones tattooed on his chest during his time in the Marines. He had the tattoo covered in Oct. 2025, saying he opted for a cover-up rather than laser removal for the sake of speed: “I wanted this thing off my body.” While Platner denied awareness of the symbol’s origins, reports from personal contacts contradicted these claims.
Platner’s leftist priorities and “blue-collar aura,” as the New Republic put it, helped him appeal to young people: He led incumbent Republican candidate Susan Collins 59%-32% among likely Maine voters in an early-July survey by the New York Times. But after the rape allegations and before he dropped out, some young Maine voters said decisively that he needed to leave the race.
Where to Find More:
In “Perhaps the Nazi Tattoo Was a Clue,” Atlantic columnist Mike Nelson wonders why it took so long for Platner’s campaign to fall apart — the opinion article alleges that the Democratic party has made concerning moral compromises as it scrambles to regain ground in a polarized national landscape.
The Headline
During last weekend’s heat waves, young people found creative ways to stay cool.
The Rundown
Over the long weekend, temperatures across the East Coast rose into the triple digits, leaving communities roasting and putting underprepared Americans in real danger. Staying safe and comfortable in the heat required creative thinking, and Gen Z delivered: Videos on TikTok show users staying inside, keeping their skin wet, and even conserving energy by using the sun’s heat to cook eggs.
In New York City, one of the places hit hardest, Mayor Zohran Mamdani rolled out a brand-new Heat Emergency Plan. The city’s response included mobile COOL vans that roamed New York’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, and cooling stations popped up across the city’s five boroughs. Mamdani also asked citizens to help ease the heat’s burden on the city’s central power grid: Setting your air conditioning to a slightly higher room temperature, Mamdani said on X, could help prevent widescale outages.
Where to Find More:
For tips on staying safe when the heat soars into dangerous territory, check out these instructions from the American Red Cross. And if you’re interested in how media discourse on heat waves can influence Americans’ feelings about global warming, take a look at this article from Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication.
The Bonuses:
A few longer stories to dive into over the weekend!
- From Harper’s: “Happy Fucking Birthday”
- From the New York Times: “The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors”
- From Reason: “How a 700-Year-Old Work of Art Warns America”
