A second Trump term seems more possible than ever. New York Magazine’s February 17-March 1, 2020 issue explores what it might actually be like to live through four more years, with dispatches from Jonathan Chait on how the resistance will roll over; Frank Rich on how the Trump mob will be more shameless about seeking retribution from those who step out of line; former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade on how concerns about Trump’s criminal activity will quietly fade with the help of his lawless DOJ; David Wallace-Wells on how it will spell out the end of global climate efforts); Representative Barbara Lee on how it will further embolden white supremacists; Kathryn VanArendonk on how we’ll drown our sorrows in middlebrow television; Alison Willmore on a Hollywood fumbling to reach a red state demographic; and more. The package also includes dispatches from New York’s colleagues at Vox Media Kara Swisher, who shares her thoughts on how it will heighten his dysfunctional relationship with Silicon Valley, and Ezra Klein, who describes what it could mean for the electoral college.
“When Trump was elected, pundits explained it as a fluke: an unexpected, once in a generation aberration that would be undone in four years time,” says New York features editor Marisa Carroll of the package. “Three years in, the essential question isn’t, ‘How’d that happen?’ but, ‘What if he wins?’ We wanted to step outside of the daily news cycle and never-ending Democratic primary and imagine the general.”