The conservative intelligentsia keeps returning to authoritarianism.Back in June of last year, I wrote a about how the intellectual right was talking itself into tearing down American democracy. The occasion was a debate between David French, a social-conservative defender of the right to religious freedom enshrined in the First Amendment, and Sohrab Ahmari, a more stridently right-wing opinion journalist and editor who favors a politics actively devoted to re-ordering American life "to the common good and ultimately the Highest Good," even in the absence of popular support for such a...…The conservative intelligentsia keeps returning to authoritarianism.Back in June of last year, I wrote a about how the intellectual right was talking itself into tearing down American democracy. The occasion was a debate between David French, a social-conservative defender of the right to religious freedom enshrined in the First Amendment, and Sohrab Ahmari, a more stridently right-wing opinion journalist and editor who favors a politics actively devoted to re-ordering American life "to the common good and ultimately the Highest Good," even in the absence of popular support for such a...WW…

Donald Trump is a master of political demonization.In 2016, he successfully portrayed Hillary Clinton as a corrupt and criminal Washington insider who would continue with and expand on the failed policies of the bipartisan political establishment. In 2020, Trump's re-election effort had been hoping to push a similar message rooted in fear: "It's either me or a dangerous and deranged America-hating left."If you had told the Trump campaign six months ago that the summer leading up to Election Day would be dominated by widespread protests, severe criticism of police, a sharp spike in violent...…Donald Trump is a master of political demonization.In 2016, he successfully portrayed Hillary Clinton as a corrupt and criminal Washington insider who would continue with and expand on the failed policies of the bipartisan political establishment. In 2020, Trump's re-election effort had been hoping to push a similar message rooted in fear: "It's either me or a dangerous and deranged America-hating left."If you had told the Trump campaign six months ago that the summer leading up to Election Day would be dominated by widespread protests, severe criticism of police, a sharp spike in violent...WW…

Is Trump a tyrant? Or does he just The debate over these questions goes back to the earliest days of the Trump administration. Though I've gone back and forth during the past three and a half years, I've usually sided with the skeptics. Trump talks (and tweets) like an autocrat. He clearly would love to control the country like a dictator. He may well be preparing a sizable segment of the population for . But Trump himself is, if anything, an unusually weak president, with very few accomplishments, most of them enacted with executive orders that quite often get ignored by executive branch...…Is Trump a tyrant? Or does he just The debate over these questions goes back to the earliest days of the Trump administration. Though I've gone back and forth during the past three and a half years, I've usually sided with the skeptics. Trump talks (and tweets) like an autocrat. He clearly would love to control the country like a dictator. He may well be preparing a sizable segment of the population for . But Trump himself is, if anything, an unusually weak president, with very few accomplishments, most of them enacted with executive orders that quite often get ignored by executive branch...WW…

How fast have events been moving over the past several days? So fast that on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, written Thursday morning, just hours after the war began, is already irrelevant.Then, I mainly expressed sadness at what I expected to be Ukraine's swift and decisive defeat at the hands of Russia's vastly more powerful military machine. Instead, that machine has sputtered, and Ukraine's unexpected resolve has inspired what can only be described as geopolitical earthquakes.Germany's government has sharply hiked spending on defense, breaking from decades of precedent. The European Union...…How fast have events been moving over the past several days? So fast that on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, written Thursday morning, just hours after the war began, is already irrelevant.Then, I mainly expressed sadness at what I expected to be Ukraine's swift and decisive defeat at the hands of Russia's vastly more powerful military machine. Instead, that machine has sputtered, and Ukraine's unexpected resolve has inspired what can only be described as geopolitical earthquakes.Germany's government has sharply hiked spending on defense, breaking from decades of precedent. The European Union...WW…

The country feels less like it's perched on a precipice than it did at numerous times during the presidency of Donald Trump — and certainly less so than during the white-knuckle weeks surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.Yet as some , this impression is at least partially illusory. The United States remains deeply polarized, with the two parties and their supporters increasingly living out their lives in hermetically sealed realities — residing in different neighborhoods and communities, receiving their news from separate informational ecosystems, perceiving threats to the...…The country feels less like it's perched on a precipice than it did at numerous times during the presidency of Donald Trump — and certainly less so than during the white-knuckle weeks surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.Yet as some , this impression is at least partially illusory. The United States remains deeply polarized, with the two parties and their supporters increasingly living out their lives in hermetically sealed realities — residing in different neighborhoods and communities, receiving their news from separate informational ecosystems, perceiving threats to the...WW…

I'm starting to think that Donald Trump might be finished.I don't mean that he's bound to be taken down by one of the digging deeply into various aspects of his conduct, though he might be. Or that his business empire is going to be sucked into a cascade of bankruptcies once the begins to come due over the next few years, though that is certainly possible. Or that one or more of will bring him to his knees, though I wouldn't exactly be surprised to see it happen.No, I mean that the man's political potency is fading at a remarkably rapid rate. With Trump silenced on social media, still...…I'm starting to think that Donald Trump might be finished.I don't mean that he's bound to be taken down by one of the digging deeply into various aspects of his conduct, though he might be. Or that his business empire is going to be sucked into a cascade of bankruptcies once the begins to come due over the next few years, though that is certainly possible. Or that one or more of will bring him to his knees, though I wouldn't exactly be surprised to see it happen.No, I mean that the man's political potency is fading at a remarkably rapid rate. With Trump silenced on social media, still...WW…

No one likes bureaucracies. Just think of the adjectives we use to describe them: They are bloated, cumbersome, stifling, and impersonal, while the bureaucrats themselves are faceless, entrenched, and unelected.This is unfortunate. It's true that dealing with bureaucracies can be extremely irritating, and they can make mistakes, sometimes big ones. The trouble is that the alternatives are usually worse — and we're far too inclined to forget it.For much of human history, societies have been unapologetically organized to benefit those in positions of political power. Practically speaking,...…No one likes bureaucracies. Just think of the adjectives we use to describe them: They are bloated, cumbersome, stifling, and impersonal, while the bureaucrats themselves are faceless, entrenched, and unelected.This is unfortunate. It's true that dealing with bureaucracies can be extremely irritating, and they can make mistakes, sometimes big ones. The trouble is that the alternatives are usually worse — and we're far too inclined to forget it.For much of human history, societies have been unapologetically organized to benefit those in positions of political power. Practically speaking,...WW…

With new stories about "cancel culture" and "woke" outrage breaking every few days, it sometimes seems as if in American politics. Yet it's also the case that over the past seven weeks, the Democrats have passed a $1.9 trillion economic relief package and advanced an omnibus bill to protect voting rights and a pro-union bill that would significantly reform the country's labor laws.Political reality in the earliest phase of the post-Trump era somehow combines both of those poles — and gaining our bearings requires making sense of how they can both be true, and might even be connected below...…With new stories about "cancel culture" and "woke" outrage breaking every few days, it sometimes seems as if in American politics. Yet it's also the case that over the past seven weeks, the Democrats have passed a $1.9 trillion economic relief package and advanced an omnibus bill to protect voting rights and a pro-union bill that would significantly reform the country's labor laws.Political reality in the earliest phase of the post-Trump era somehow combines both of those poles — and gaining our bearings requires making sense of how they can both be true, and might even be connected below...WW…

Even in an era marked by polarization and hyperbole, it's noteworthy just how rancorous the language has become on a question fundamental to democracy: How easy or hard should it be to vote?On Monday, voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams Republican efforts in Georgia, Arizona, and New Hampshire to make it more onerous to vote the "largest push to restrict voting rights since Jim Crow." Meanwhile that same day, the conservative National Review H.R. 1, the omnibus voting rights bill that passed the House last week without a single Republican vote, "a radical assault on American democracy,...…Even in an era marked by polarization and hyperbole, it's noteworthy just how rancorous the language has become on a question fundamental to democracy: How easy or hard should it be to vote?On Monday, voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams Republican efforts in Georgia, Arizona, and New Hampshire to make it more onerous to vote the "largest push to restrict voting rights since Jim Crow." Meanwhile that same day, the conservative National Review H.R. 1, the omnibus voting rights bill that passed the House last week without a single Republican vote, "a radical assault on American democracy,...WW…

With a deadly pandemic rampaging across the country and the president to deploy armed federal agents to quash protests in numerous cities over the objection of local elected officials, it's understandable that there's been relatively little attention paid to the possibility that Republicans may soon attempt an unprecedented and dangerously antidemocratic power grab on the Supreme Court.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the high court's four liberals, was recently hospitalized with what was described as a possible infection. Three days later, the 87-year-old justice announced that she has...…With a deadly pandemic rampaging across the country and the president to deploy armed federal agents to quash protests in numerous cities over the objection of local elected officials, it's understandable that there's been relatively little attention paid to the possibility that Republicans may soon attempt an unprecedented and dangerously antidemocratic power grab on the Supreme Court.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the high court's four liberals, was recently hospitalized with what was described as a possible infection. Three days later, the 87-year-old justice announced that she has...WW…