1. I think one mistake people are making is thinking that the Atlantic is a liberal magazine. It's not. It's a centrist one. Which actually was a big factor in why Williamson proved to be a problem.
2. I mean people have a distorted view of the Atlantic because their biggest writer in recent years is Coates. But he's not really representative of magazines as a whole.
3. Jeffrey Goldberg is a liberal hawk & the opinions in Atlantic normally span between center-right & center-left -- i.e. the types of liberals who worry about PC or Republicans who are okay with gay marriage.
4. From the point of view of the Atlantic, the ideal conservative is someone like David Brooks (who the magazine kind of invented)
5. This is pretty much the Atlantic's normal political spectrum:
6. The problem for Atlantic & NY Times op ed is they are centrist publications in era where center is increasingly irrelevant & wilder, non-consensus opinions are gaining salience.
7. Institutionally & tonally, Atlantic is geared towards consensus world of "reasonable discourse." But that's not American politics in age of Trump, where tribalism & blunt demands are dominant voice.
8. One way elite pubs try to thread the needle is to subsume all Never Trump conservatives into category of "reasonable." Which explains why Williamson got hired by Atlantic despite batshit sensibility.
9. Elevating Never Trump conservatives is I think the wrong approach since they really are fringe in their own movement & don't tell us much about where conservatism is.
10. Of elite centrist publications, I think the one that does best at capturing current moment is Washington Post, which really does try to represent in opinion pages wider & fraying spectrum of American opinion
11. I mean Post has @ebruenig (a rare socialist voice in USA press) & smart Trumpists (Gary Abernathy) as well as many others. It's a more accurate representation of where things stand right now.
12. For Atlantic, there are two possible paths. They could continue to go with centrist conservatives & centrists (Frum, @CaitlanAtlantic, @conor64, Jonathan Rauch). Try to create on paper the responsible consensus that no longer exists in reality.
13. The other option is to embrace the authentic American Berserk, "in the destructive element immerse." Try to hire writers who capture the bananapants whackiness of the moment.
14. What would an "American Berserk" editorial policy look like? Hire Williamson back but also get a Valarie Solanas style feminist advocating SCUM manifesto agenda (i.e. killing all men)
15. Let's rename The Atlantic Monthly "The American Berserk." Get @herandrews to argue against woman's suffrage, get Judith Butler to argue for the eradication of gender, get Andrew Bacevich to advocate for the end of American hegemony.
