From the Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic:
Dear Reader,
I write to let you know that we’re doing something at The Atlantic that we only rarely do. We are releasing our upcoming cover story weeks before our subscribers receive it, and before we put it on newsstands around the world.
These unusual times demand unusual publishing decisions. Given the precipitous nature of the decision by the White House to issue an executive order concerning refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, I thought that it would be better for people to read David Frum’s upcoming cover story, “How to Build an Autocracy,” sooner, rather than later.
In the story, Frum argues that if Congress is quiescent and the public apathetic, President Trump can set the country down a path toward illiberalism, institutional subversion, and endemic graft. It’s an urgent story, one I hope gets read by every American, and by anyone who cares about America, and its role in the world.
We also produced a video featuring Frum, along with an audio version of the story, read by the author himself. You can access everything here.
We wanted you, our subscribers, to be the first to know about it. We’ve heard you tell us that you want The Atlantic to cover the presidency aggressively, with vigilance and discipline. We hope this demonstrates that that’s exactly what we plan to do.
Jeffrey Goldberg
Editor in Chief
The Atlantic