The World After the Whistle-Blower

An accounting of the early days of impeachment.

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ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24—in a move that was either months overdue or dangerously premature, depending on whom you ask—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry. In the weeks since, public polling has continued to climb in its favor, but that doesn’t mean the Democrats are about to smoothly “impeach the motherfucker,” as Representative Rashida Tlaib declared the night she was sworn into Congress. The impeachment proceedings of the past were divisive national theater, and that was before Twitter and Facebook and a conspiracy-theorist president superpowered the country’s partisanship. Are we headed for a full-fledged constitutional crisis by Christmas? A survey of this high-stakes moment, from the Democrats’ war room to the Republicans’ bunker (and what it has felt like for the rest of us).

1. Her Game by GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI