Get used to it: The ‘I-word’ — impeachment — is about to dominate Trump coverage

By Margaret Sullivan
Media columnist
January 19

Not too long ago, Jeffrey Goldberg, the top editor of the Atlantic, thought that beginning an impeachment investigation of President Trump would be “a formula for chaos — the sort of chaos no fractured nation needs.”

But last Wednesday night, the magazine published an issue whose cover was dominated by a single word in huge red letters (roughly 370-point type): “IMPEACH.”

A smaller sub-headline previewed the historically rooted 8,000-word argument within, written by Yoni Appelbaum: “It’s time for Congress to judge the president’s fitness to serve.”

With that notable media moment, the I-word seemed to leap across an invisible divide.

The Atlantic article was not the first to make the argument, but its depth and dramatic presentation set it apart.

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