Section: The Atlantic (USA)
The Next Phase of Impeachment
For two weeks, Americans—somewhere between 10 and 14 million of them—were fixated on the impeachment drama unfolding before the House Intelligence Committee: Ambassador William Taylor’s revelation of another damning phone call involving President Donald Trump; EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s explicit confirmation of a quid pro quo...
How to Talk About the Truth and Trump at Thanksgiving
Between bites of ham, he is always liable to say it.“The New York Knicks will never ever win the NBA championship!” my uncle jabs seemingly every year, mouth full at the Thanksgiving table. The last time the Knicks were professional basketball champions was 1973, nine years before my birth. I am a resolute Knicks fan and a vegan. Unc despises...
Why Trump (Probably) Won’t Ditch Rudy
Over the past week, I asked multiple GOP officials when, if ever, they thought President Donald Trump would publicly distance himself from his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who is at the center of the House impeachment inquiry. Their responses were eerily similar: “Can it be two years ago?” asked one White House official who, like others,...
The Atlantic Politics Daily: Jerry Nadler Returns to the Spotlight
It’s Tuesday, November 26. In today’s newsletter: the New York Democrat picking up the impeachment-inquiry baton. Plus, how a Fox News host and his liberal mother get along (pretty well, thanks for asking)*” TODAY IN POLITICS »(Tom Brenner / Reuters)The Return of Jerry NadlerThe House Judiciary Committee inherits the impeachment...
Heads, Trump Wins. Tails, We All Lose.
President Donald Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” from congressional oversight went crashing to its latest defeat last night. A federal judge rejected the White House’s assertion of an executive privilege to prevent former aides from testifying before Congress. Another federal judge approved a Freedom of Information Act request...
The Return of Jerry Nadler
For two months, Representative Jerry Nadler has been the Maytag repairman of the House impeachment inquiry: idled and isolated as his colleague Adam Schiff has presided over a parade of witnesses in public and private hearings before the Intelligence Committee.But now, as the focus of impeachment shifts to the Judiciary Committee that he chairs,...
Why the Strongest Argument Against Impeachment Fails
Last week, National Review’s Jim Geraghty offered an argument against removing Donald Trump that even those of us who believe him to be guilty of bribery should ponder. If you see danger in Trumpism or think Trump is an authoritarian menace, he argued, then you have the most to lose if his presidency ends with impeachment and removal,...
Trump’s Defenders Are Flirting With Nihilism
The House Intelligence Committee brought impeachment onto the public stage over the last two weeks. But now Congress has scattered for Thanksgiving, cable news is picking over the remnants of the hearings in search of content, the president is fuming, and impeachment has moved into a murky new phase, the parameters of which are not entirely...
The Bigger the Checks, the Worse the Diplomacy
No other developed, democratic country—and perhaps no other country in the world—would entrust any part of its foreign policy to someone like Gordon Sondland. A wealthy West Coast hotel owner, Sondland donated $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee and was rewarded with an appointment as the U.S. ambassador to the...
Foreign Policy Isn’t Just Up To Trump
While House Republicans struggled all week to develop a coherent explanation for President Donald Trump’s conduct in the Ukraine affair, they coalesced around at least one message they seemed certain would bolster their case. As Representative Elise Stefanik put it: “The person who sets the policy of the United States is the president.” In...
