Editor in chief of The Atlantic
In an October 2016 editorial, The Atlantic wrote of Donald Trump: “He is a demagogue, a xenophobe, a sexist, a know-nothing, and a liar.” We argued that Trump “expresses admiration for authoritarian rulers, and evinces authoritarian tendencies himself.” Trump, we also noted, “is easily goaded, a poor quality for someone seeking control of America’s nuclear arsenal. He is an enemy of fact-based discourse; he is ignorant of, and indifferent to, the Constitution; he appears not to read.”
In retrospect, we may be guilty of understatement.
There was a hope, in the bewildering days following the 2016 election, that the office would temper the man—that Trump, in short, would change.
He has not changed.
This week marks the midway point of Trump’s term. Like many Americans, we sometimes find the velocity of chaos unmanageable. We find it hard to believe, for example, that we are engaged in a serious debate about whether the president of the United States is a Russian-intelligence asset. So we decided to pause for a moment and analyze 50 of the most improbable, norm-bending, and destructive incidents of this presidency to date.
Our 2016 editorial was a repudiation of Donald Trump’s character as much as it was an endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president. It was not meant to be partisan. The Atlantic’s founders promised their readers that we would be “of no party or clique.” This remains a core governing principle of the magazine today. What follows is a catalog of incidents, ranked—highly subjectively!—according to both their outlandishness and their importance. In most any previous presidency, Democratic or Republican, each moment on this list would have been unthinkable.
50.
Donald Trump touches the magic orb
49.
A Cabinet officer likes private planes too much
48.
The president praises the congressman who body-slammed a reporter
47.
An overcompensating press secretary lies about crowd size
46.
Trump tells the Boy Scouts about a hot New York party
45.
A name-calling feud ends with the secretary of state’s ouster by tweet
44.
The WikiLeaks president goes silent
43.
The nation loses its consoler in chief
42.
The first president to complain about an election he won
41.
Trump waits 19 months to pick his science adviser
40.
The president’s most trusted adviser is his own gut
39.
A White House economist creates facts for the president
38.
Trump holds a top secret confab on the Mar-a-Lago dining terrace
37.
The president just wants to go home
36.
Trump threatens to strip security clearances from his critics
35.
Mueller’s “witch hunt” is good at finding witches
34.
Trump leads the country to the longest government shutdown in American history
33.
The chief justice of the United States corrects the president
32.
Trump disseminates Soviet propaganda
31.
The White House punishes a CNN reporter for asking questions
30.
29.
The president tries to kick transgender service members out of the military
28.
Trump tweets the wisdom of Mussolini
27.
Turkish agents assault protesters near the White House
26.
Trump helps the Saudis cover up a murder
25.
“We’re gonna have the cleanest air”
24.
The president can’t stop talking about carnage
23.
22.
The UN General Assembly laughs at the president
21.
Rain stops Trump from honoring the dead
20.
The president learns about separation of powers
19.
The president learns about the Justice Department
18.
17.
Trump threatens to press his “nuclear button”
16.
Public humiliation comes for everyone in the White House
15.
14.
You know you’re in a constitutional crisis when...
13.
Trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford to a cheering crowd
12.
A new term enters the presidential lexicon: “shithole countries”
11.
Trump throws paper towels at Puerto Ricans
10.
“I have the absolute right to pardon myself”
9.
8.
The president calls his porn-star ex-paramour “horseface”
7.
Trump picks the wrong countries for his travel ban
6.
Trump declares war on black athletes
5.
4.
Putin and Trump talk without chaperones
3.
The president still hasn’t released his tax returns
2.
“Very fine people on both sides”
1.
Children are taken from their parents and incarcerated
No comments:
Post a Comment