Intro

“I am done saying, ‘impossible’,” announces Damir Marusic. At least, with regard to what Trump might do or could do in the near future. We are still in the midst of a major shakeup in the administrative state. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is combing through Treasury data and cutting government personnel. Trump is delaying the distribution of federal funds. Trump’s policies have full support of the GOP-majority Congress. Meanwhile, the White House foreign policy agenda has upended three years of support for the Ukrainian war cause and, apart from that, is strikingly imperialistic — annexing Greenland and “owning” Gaza are stated objectives. Will Trump become a dictator?

Shadi Hamid believes that Trump won’t become a dictator — America is too big for a dictator — but he very will might signal the end of the “liberal” part of our liberal democracy. Damir fears that, by the end of Trump’s second term, Congress will become a vestigial representative body with littler power, like the Senate in the Roman Empire. Both worry that the demise of democracy could come in a subtle, slow way — a “boiling frog” scenario.

Shadi and Damir move on ask whether what’s happening is what Trump’s voters asked for. Why is Trump popular right now? Why do people want to break the state? Shadi says, “[Trump voters] believe that the system is fundamentally broken. Certainly, for a majority of Americans, the system is broken.” Damir partially agrees, but adds: “It’s a lot more resentment-based … Not really an idea that ‘the system is broken’ for me, but that it’s populated by those people over there, and it’s time to hurt them.” But why so much resentment?

In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Shadi talks about the Democratic Party’s potential to resist Trump and why the working class likes Trump (hint: it doesn’t have to do with economics). Damir brings up the famous book, What’s the Matter With Kansas by Thomas Frank, and explains why he thinks it misses the mark.

Required Reading:

* Shadi Hamid, “How to Break Up with the News” (Contentions).

* CrowdSource about the possible constitutional crisis (WoC).

* Democratic Party favorability ratings among young people (YouGov).

* “How Biden is continuing to cancel student loan debt despite Supreme Court ruling” (CNN).

* Tyler Cowen, “Trumpian policy as cultural policy” (Marginal Revolution).

* Christine Emba’s piece engaging with Cowen’s article (WoC).

* Shadi’s post about the “The System is collapsing” meme (X).

* David Polansky’s reply to Shadi’s post (X).

* Lee Hockstader, “In Germany’s elections, a last, best chance to hold off extremists” (Washington Post).

* Thomas Frank, What’s the Matter with Kansas (Amazon).

This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

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