What’s the most important thing that’s happened in 2019? Various options contend for that dubious accolade, but many would say it’s the impeachment of President Trump. An objection to this, surely, is that Democrats decided to impeach him even before he took office and have never altered course since, so the actual House vote this month has been a foregone conclusion, not a cliffhanger.
It could be said that since impeachment so flagrantly results from bias among Trump’s opponent, it will be accorded a nullifying asterisk by historians, but no matter how strong the reek of partisan corruption hanging over it is, it could still have electoral consequences that make it 2019’s titanic event retrospectively. That’s certainly what Democrats hope, but it’s an even bet that nauseated voters will rally to the president rather than abandon him.
In the end, perhaps it’s best to avoid guesswork, so my choice for the most important event of 2019 will be something else entirely. I’m biased, but my pick is the launch of this magazine on Jan. 1. Circulation has climbed above 95,000, and new subscribers are signing up at an average of more than 1,200 a month. It’s for others to judge, but I reckon Washington Examiner magazine is already the most vibrant, engaging, and informative weekly magazine in America, beautifully written and designed, and packed with more fresh information and clear principle than any other.
The key to the Washington Examiner’s year-after-year success, and to that of the print magazine, is its disciplined policy of sticking to its values and not being reflexively for or against anyone, especially Trump. We praise and criticize as merited and don’t engage in the sort of wish fulfillment that has, as our lead editorial posits, distorted so many people’s judgment during the past three years. Certainly, if subscriber feedback is a good guide, as surely it is, the success of the Washington Examiner’s national magazine can be attributed to readers who want a publication that, even in the maelstrom of today’s political whirlwind, remains principled and doesn’t cut itself adrift to float on the ebb and flow of partisan tides.
So finally, I would like to thank all our readers — those who have been with us from the beginning and those who have chosen to join us during this astonishingly eventful year. We’ve heard from many of you, but we hope that this positive feedback is representative of the silent reading majority. In 2020, we will be adding more reviews of books, films, television, and the other arts at the back of the book. We will also be joined by new regular columnists, not just in Life & Arts, but also in other sections. I’ll have more to tell you about them in the first magazine after the New Year, out on Jan. 7.
Now, all that remains is to wish you a happy Christmas and great New Year, until we meet again in 2020.
