I don’t read the Atlantic enough to know what they tend to do. You have a point about the oddness of staying neutral if they perceive such danger as they proclaimed. Maybe it’s the journalistic ethic of staying neutral and pretense of a higher calling. Maybe the recognition that they’re not going to change anything by joining an already full chorus. The damage is done, so to speak, and waiting it out is really all one can do.

I do think there is a whole lot more to Trump’s actions than distracting people.