Such are the awful vagaries of the Trump era. This issue of The Nation was organized to explore those vagaries with open eyes and from multiple perspectives. The plan was to examine the global chaos Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—whom Matt Duss writes about—have unleashed. At the same time, we wanted to make the case—as does Robert Borosage in his savvy opening article for the issue’s special section on US foreign policy—that alternatives are needed to both Trump and to the foolish Democratic calculations that say we can return to “normalcy” after this president is gone.

We don’t want to go back to the neoliberal or neoconservative practices and policies that have failed so frequently that they’ve spawned a new wave of authoritarianism. Rather, we want to recognize that Arundhati Roy was right when she taught us to believe: “Another World Is Possible.” This issue explores that possibility, while at the same time loudly declaring, as does Katrina vanden Heuvel in her opening editorial, that the US assault on Iran is ill-thought-out, illegal, and immoral.

— John Nichols

Executive Editor, The Nation

Not yet a subscriber of The Nation? Get one year of unlimited digital access for just $14.95.