We’re fast approaching the point where a subscription to The Atlantic is a risk factor for suicide. “January 6 Was Practice,” announces the cover of the current issue, flagging a story by Barton Gellman headlined, “Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun.” The cover is yellow lettering against a pitch-black background, a design scheme that would appear at first glance to announce the assassination of an American president.
It was the fourth pitch-black Atlantic cover in two years. The previous one (“We Mourn for All We Do Not Know,” March 2021) flagged, among other stories, one whose headline announced that American democracy was “hanging by a thread.” An earlier pitch-black Atlantic cover (“How to Destroy a Government,” April 2020) flagged a George Packer doom-’n’-gloomer headlined, “The President Is Winning His War on American Institutions.” (Packer meant Donald Trump.)
Read Full Article »