The next Trump presidency will be worse.

A special issue of The Atlantic, launching today, warns of the grave and extreme consequences if former President Trump were to win in 2024––building an overwhelming case, across two dozen essays by Atlantic writers, that both Trump and Trumpism pose an existential threat to America and to the ideas that animate it. With each writer focusing on their subject area of expertise, the issue argues that assuming a second term would mirror the first is a mistake: The threats to democracy will be greater, as will the danger of authoritarianism and corruption. A second Trump presidency, the opening essay states, would mark the turn onto a dark path, one of those rips between “before” and “after” that a society can never reverse.

The Atlantic has made covering persistent threats to democracy its top editorial priority. Editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg explains this focus in an editor’s note to lead the issue: “Our concern with Trump is not that he is a Republican, or that he embraces—when convenient—certain conservative ideas. We believe that a democracy needs, among other things, a strong liberal party and a strong conservative party in order to flourish. Our concern is that the Republican Party has mortgaged itself to an antidemocratic demagogue, one who is completely devoid of decency.” Goldberg recounts a meeting at the White House with Jared Kushner, who said of his father-in-law: “No one can go as low as the president. You shouldn’t even try.”

In the lead essay, “The Revenge Presidency,” David Frum writes that a restored Trump would lead the United States into a landscape of unthinkable scenarios. “In his first term, Trump’s corruption and brutality were mitigated by his ignorance and laziness. In a second, Trump would arrive with a much better understanding of the system’s vulnerabilities, more willing enablers in tow, and a much more focused agenda of retaliation against his adversaries and impunity for himself. When people wonder what another Trump term might hold, their minds underestimate the chaos that would lie ahead.

“By Election Day 2024, Donald Trump will be in the thick of multiple criminal trials. It’s not impossible that he may already have been convicted in at least one of them. If he wins the election, Trump will commit the first crime of his second term at noon on Inauguration Day: His oath to defend the Constitution of the United States will be a perjury. A second Trump term would instantly plunge the country into a constitutional crisis more terrible than anything seen since the Civil War.”

Frum’s is one of the first eight pieces from the issue publishing today, along with those by staff writers Anne Applebaum on NATO, McKay Coppins on Trump’s loyalists, Caitlin Dickerson on immigration, Barton Gellman on the Justice Department, Sophie Gilbert on misogyny, Zoë Schlanger on climate, and George Packer on journalism.

Today’s pieces are:

David Frum: “The Revenge Presidency”

Anne Applebaum: “America Will Abandon NATO”

McKay Coppins: “Loyalists, Lapdogs, and Cronies”

Caitlin Dickerson: “The Specter of Family Separation”

Barton Gellman: “Trump Will Get Away with It”

Sophie Gilbert: “Women Will Be Targets”

Zoë Schlanger: “Climate Denial Will Flourish”

George Packer: “Is Journalism Ready?”

More essays will publish across the week from more Atlantic writers, each exposing the dangers a second Trump term poses to all aspects of American life. Megan Garber, an expert in disinformation, writes about how Trump’s falsehoods will challenge the public’s willingness to accept a shared reality. Clint Smith describes how Trump will suppress American history, including January 6, to align with a MAGA version of events. Helen Lewis writes that the American left can ill afford to be simply oppositional to Trump, that bad government demands persuasion and the seeking of converts rather than the hunting of heretics. Jennifer Senior writes about the daily psychic toll that another Trump term would entail. Adam Serwer writes that Trump will be better-positioned to fill the judiciary with judges who are not just ideologically conservative but who are dedicated right-wing zealots more committed to Trump than to the Constitution.

Coming Tuesday, December 5:

Sarah Zhang: “When Science Becomes a Slogan”

Franklin Foer: “Corruption Unbound”

Michael Schuman: “China Will Get Stronger”

Adam Serwer: “A MAGA Judiciary”

Coming Wednesday, December 6

Juliette Kayyem: “Extremists Emboldened”

Elaine Godfrey: “A Plan to Outlaw Abortion Everywhere”

Megan Garber: “The Truth Won’t Matter”

Clint Smith: “Trump Will Suppress American History”

Coming Thursday, December 7

Ronald Brownstein: “A War on Blue America”

David A. Graham: “Trump Isn’t Bluffing”

Vann R. Newkirk II: “Civil Rights Undone”

Spencer Kornhaber: “Trump Will Stoke a Gender Panic”

Coming Friday, December 8

Tom Nichols: “A Military Loyal to Trump”

Helen Lewis: “The Left Can’t Afford to Go Mad”

Jennifer Senior: “The Psychic Toll”

Mark Leibovich: “This Is Who We Are”

Please reach out with any questions or requests to interview the issue’s contributors.

Press Contacts:
Anna Bross and Paul Jackson | The Atlantic
press@theatlantic.com