New York, NY (May 11, 2017) — In its June issue, the New Republic offers an incisive and essential take on the opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency, assessing the movement’s initial victories and analyzing how it should approach the longer-term challenge of rebuilding the Democratic Party.
Describing the importance of the movement, editor Eric Bates states, “There’s no question that the first 100 days of the Trump administration unleashed a remarkable upswelling of civic engagement and political opposition. The question is: Can those who wish to derail the GOP agenda find a way to overcome their own divisions and develop a strategic roadmap for the future?”
In the opening to June’s cover feature “The Path of Most Resistance,” senior editor Jeet Heer offers a scorecard on the opposition’s effectiveness since Trump was elected. “The Resistance, as it’s come to be known, was born of anger and abandonment,” he writes. Expanding on the magazine’s reporting in “Obama’s Lost Army,” a feature in March 2017 issue, Heer concludes that “the Resistance, in a sense, represents the resurgence of the social movement that Obama promised, but failed, to create.” Looking forward, he adds, “Democrats must use the Resistance as a kind of real-world laboratory for democratic action. Allow it to hash out old grievances, try out unproven strategies, test new messages.... That is the promise and the potential of the opposition’s first 100 days.”
[FEATURES]
“The Only Good Muslim Is a Dead Muslim” provides an exclusive look into the foiled terrorist plot in Kansas by three members of an anti-Muslim white supremacist group called the Crusaders. Ted Genoways investigates the group’s radicalization, their plan to bomb an apartment complex comprised of mostly Somali immigrants, and how the town rallied to the defense of these refugees. The piece was produced in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent, nonprofit news organization producing investigative journalism about food, agriculture, and environmental issues.
News editor Alex Shephard explores the Virginia gubernatorial race between Tom Perriello and Ralph Northam in “The Rumble in Richmond.” Comparing it to the race between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, Shephard notes that the upcoming election is “the Democratic Party’s old guard squaring off against its younger, grassroots base.” With Perriello running on a Sanders-like platform centered around social and economic justice, Shepard addresses how the race highlights the growing rift between the Democratic establishment and the grassroots movement.
This month’s photo essay, “The War On Hillbillies,” takes a look at the people of Appalachia through the lens of photographer Espen Rasmussen. Juxtaposing images of coal miners and addicts with local nightlife and fiddle making, social media editor Sarah Jones explores how the images represent a region that remains impoverished because of “a legacy of extraction and exploitation.”
[UP FRONT & COLUMNS]
For Up Front this month, managing editor Laura Reston in “How Russia Weaponizes Fake News” provides insight into Russia’s use of hackers, state media outlets, Twitter bots, and bloggers to produce fake news stories that benefit Russian goals. Bryce Covert describes how the self-proclaimed “greatest jobs producer” has instead done the opposite, starting with the government workforce. Shannon Stirone in “The New Star Wars” comments on the Trump administration’s focus on militarizing space. Rounding out Up Front is newly appointed staff writer Clio Chang on minimum wage laws and the measures Republicans have taken to roll back local measures to raise it.
Columns this month features Michael Tomasky arguing that the biggest problem between elite liberals and middle America is our isolation from one another. On education, Diane Ravitch makes a case for why the Democrats really carved the path towards privatizing the US school system, calling for the party to return to their mission to improve public education.
[REVIEW]
The Review section opens with Jeff Sharlet’s “Pew Research,” an examination of Frances Fitzgerald’s new book The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America. Though the book’s intent it to “write a history of white evangelical politics,” as Sharlet comments it leaves out many elements (including notable figures and black history) that “might have helped readers understand how the evangelical surge for Trump, a philandering celebrity businessman, fits into the longer history” of American politics.
Praised for Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit returns with a new collection of essays that “deal with the subject of women in the public sphere,” writes Charlotte Shane in “Woman’s March.” Detailing Solnit’s background and work leading up to her upcoming release, Shane profiles the prolific feminist writer.
Also featured in Review is Sarah Marshall on Veep and the show’s approach to life after an election by the losing candidate. Adam Gaffney discusses the book Teeth and the social and economic implications associated with dental inequality. Examining a new biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sam Tanenhaus describes how the influential author was a chronicler of his time, reflecting ideas from some of the greatest theorists of the period within his work. Rachel Riederer reviews a new seasteading manifesto and why the movement is appealing to libertarians like PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Adrienne Raphel contributed this month’s poem, “Boardwalk Block.” Backstory features an image by photographer Michelle Shu.
On the podcasts this week: On Primary Concerns, senior editor and host Brian Beutler is joined by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy for a discussion on health care, gun safety, and foreign policy. On the last episode of Grierson & Leitch, film critics Tim Grierson and Will Leitch explore Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.
The June issue of the New Republic hits newsstands Thursday, May 11th.
For additional information, please contact Steph Leke sleke@tnr.com
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