Editor's Note: A Warning
America survived the first Trump term, though not without sustaining serious damage. A second term, if there is one, will be much worse.
January/February 2024
In This Issue
If Trump wins: 24 writers consider what could happen in his second term. Plus Tim Alberta on the church of America, George Packer on what the working class wants, the IBM way, Camille Claudel’s “revolt against nature,” SNL’s Please Don’t Destroy, a poem by Dong Li, and more.
If Trump Wins
If Trump Wins
The staff of The Atlantic on the threat a second term poses to American democracy
The Danger Ahead
If Donald Trump returns to the White House, he’d bring a better understanding of the system’s vulnerabilities, more willing enablers, and a more focused agenda of retaliation against his adversaries.
Trump Will Abandon NATO
If reelected, he would end our commitment to the European alliance, reshaping the international order and hobbling American influence in the world.
Loyalists, Lapdogs, and Cronies
In a second Trump term, there would be no adults in the room.
The Specter of Family Separation
Donald Trump and his allies have promised to restore their draconian zero-tolerance immigration policy.
How Trump Gets Away With It
If reelected, he could use the powers of the presidency to evade justice and punish his enemies.
Four More Years of Unchecked Misogyny
In a second Trump term, women would once again be targets.
The Climate Can’t Afford Another Trump Presidency
His approach to the environment: ignore it.
Is Journalism Ready?
The press has repeatedly fallen into Donald Trump’s traps. A second term could render it irrelevant.
Trump’s Polarization of Science Is Bad for Everyone
A reelected Donald Trump would continue to attack studies that stand in the way of his agenda—and to make support for scientific inquiry a tribal belief.
Corruption Unbound
Donald Trump and his cronies left his first administration with a playbook for self-enrichment in a second term.
Why Xi Wants Trump to Win
A second Trump term would allow China to cement its grip on the developing world.
A MAGA Judiciary
In a second term, Donald Trump would appoint more judges who don’t care about the law.
The Proud Boys Love a Winner
A second Trump term would validate the violent ideologies of far-right extremists—and allow them to escape legal jeopardy.
A Plan to Outlaw Abortion Everywhere
Activists hope a Trump Justice Department would criminalize the procedure, with or without a federal ban.
The Truth Won’t Matter
If reelected, Donald Trump will once again churn out absurdity and outrage with factory efficiency.
Donald Trump vs. American History
He has promised to impose his harmful, erroneous claims on school curricula in a second term.
A War on Blue America
In a second term, Trump would punish the cities and states that don’t support him.
Trump Isn’t Bluffing
We’ve become inured to his rhetoric, but his message has grown darker.
Civil Rights Undone
How Trump could unwind generations of progress
Trump’s Plan to Police Gender
His campaign is promising a more repressive and dangerous America.
A Military Loyal to Trump
In 2020, the armed forces were a bulwark against Donald Trump’s antidemocratic designs. Changing that would be a high priority in a second term.
The Left Can’t Afford to Go Mad
A second Trump term would require an opposition that focuses on his abuses of power—and seeks converts rather than hunting heretics.
What Will Happen to the American Psyche If Trump Is Reelected?
Our bodies are not designed to handle chronic stress.
Trump Voters Are America Too
If he wins a second term, perhaps we’ll finally dispense with the myth that “this is not who we are.”
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Pablo Delcan My Father, My Faith, and Donald Trump
Here, in our house of worship, people were taunting me about politics as I tried to mourn.
Culture & Critics
Illustration by Gabriela Pesqueira. Sources: "Saturday Night Live" / NBC Universal; Dudzenich / Shutterstock. SNL’s New Kings of Bizarro Buddy Comedy
The Gen Z zaniness of Please Don’t Destroy
Illustration by Mike McQuade. Sources: Brooks Kraft / Corbis / Getty; Leif Skoogfors / Getty; Cynthia Johnson / Getty; Bettmann / Getty. What Does the Working Class Really Want?
Vying for its crucial support, neither Democrats nor Republicans are focusing on the essential question.
Nicole Rifkin Zombie History Stalks Ukraine
In a haunted novel, memories of a brutal past transform bodies as well as psyches.
Illustration by Paul Spella. Sources: Hulton Archive / Getty; Gamma-Keystone / Getty. The Rise and Fall of the ‘IBM Way’
What the tech pioneer can, and can’t, teach us
Musée Camille Claudel / Marco Illuminati Camille Claudel’s ‘Revolt Against Nature’
In a new exhibition, the sculptor escapes the shadow of her mentor Rodin, and claims a place as one of the finest artists of her era.
Departments
The Atlantic The Commons: ‘If Trump Is Reelected, There Will Be No Mark Milley to Stop Him’
Readers respond to our November 2023 cover story and more.
The Atlantic Caleb's Inferno: January/February 2024
A devilish crossword puzzle
Poetry
Illustration by Gabriela Pesqueira / The Atlantic. Sources: Scott T. Smith / Getty; kool99 / Getty.
