Recalled Newsweek ‘Madam President’ Clinton Issue a Hot Item

Supporters of Hillary Clinton apparently still have a chance to get a since-recalled commemorative edition of Newsweek that had been set to be released if the Democrat won the presidential election.

Pictures of the one-off issue featuring a photo of Clinton with the title “Madam President” leaked before the election. Newsweek quickly distanced itself from the issue, explaining that it was published under a Newsweek license by Topix Media. It said a “President Trump” issue was also designed.

The “Madam President” edition was quickly recalled following Clinton’s loss, but many copies of it are for sale on eBay and at least one is fetching bids of $200. There is even a picture of Clinton autographing a copy in the evening of election day, when polls were still showing her with overwhelming odds of victory.

Newsweek editor-in-chief Jim Impoco said he was caught off guard when he spotted the cover on social media. He described the pre-produced cover as a “routine” product in the publishing industry.

“Yet in this toxic brew of electoral politics in America, it became a thing, it went viral,” Impoco said.

Prior to the election, Impoco said the cover was being used by Donald Trump supporters as evidence that the election was “rigged.” Following Trump’s victory, Impoco now says the cover is being held up as an example of what some believe to be Newsweek’s incompetence in covering the race.

“I actually preferred the ‘it’s rigged’ argument to the ‘boy are they dumb’ argument,” he said.

Topix Media says only 17 of the 125,000 “Madam President” issues were sold before they were recalled.

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the December 9th, 2016 edition of Hamodia.