For the cover story of New York Magazine’s February 20–March 5, 2017, issue, national affairs editor Gabriel Sherman profiles Senator John McCain, who is (ambivalently, agonizingly) taking on President Donald Trump. But asked about the potential impact of Russia’s election hacking, McCain minces no words: “The severity of this issue, the gravity of it, is so consequential, because if you succeed in corrupting an election then you’ve destroyed the foundation of democracy.”
In his time with McCain, Sherman says he was “struck by how Republicans in Washington feel the same way many Americans do: They have no idea what Trump is going to do.” When Sherman asked McCain how Trump is going to govern, McCain said he didn’t know. “Everyone really is a bit freaked out,” says Sherman. “On the one hand it’s comforting — we’re all in this together. On the other hand, if Trump’s own party can’t figure out what’s going on, that’s pretty scary.”