The Commons
Readers respond to our April 2020 cover story and more.
How to Destroy a Government
The president is winning his war on American institutions, George Packer wrote in April.
On the fifth night of my coronavirus quarantine, I sat and read “How to Destroy a Government” in one sitting. Although my attention had been scattered all week, bouncing between worrying about suddenly teaching an online class and worrying about getting sick, I could not peel my eyes off this article. From the horrifying tangle of presidential misdeeds, it extracts the key narrative strands, illuminating Donald Trump’s more sinister, power-addicted tendencies. Reading it in the midst of such gross presidential incompetence felt particularly poignant. Excising him from his post, like the tumor that he is, is the only chance we have to rehabilitate
