Category: Politics, Power & Governance
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Trump and the Nobel Peace Prize: Peacemaker or Pretender?
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Donald Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize. That’s certainly a notion worth pondering, preferably while trying to keep a straight face. I gave it a fair shot. Sat down at the computer, searched for a list of Americans who’ve earned that honor in recent decades. Then, with…
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Gerrymandering in Action: The Threat to Fair Representation
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Back in college, studying political science was one of the most energizing times of my life. I dove into everything: how the American system works, political parties, campaign finance, the Constitution, international law. I loved it. I thought for a while about going further, maybe law school.…
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Republican Party Loyalty Over Country: How Duty Was Abandoned
← Back to Community Engagement With the exception of roughly a six-month period, I’ve been an Independent. To be blunt, I don’t like political parties any more than some of our Founding Fathers did. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson all warned against the dangers of factionalism. Today, their fears…
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Trump Epstein Conspiracy Promised Truth — Now It’s Just Puppets, Lawsuits, and Redactions
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Trump’s unraveling defense over the Epstein files feels like a moment ripped from a Jeff Dunham skit – specifically, when Peanut turns to Jeff and demands, “What…Did…You…Do?!” That same question now ricochets across MAGA circles, media outlets, and courtrooms, fueled by years of speculation around the Trump…
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The Myth of the Lone Strongman
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Tyranny rarely announces itself. It emerges when institutions defer and constraints quietly dissolve. As Ruth Ben-Ghiat notes in Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, autocrats like Mussolini and Orbán didn’t act alone. They relied on courts, legislatures, and bureaucracies repurposed by enablers of authoritarianism. Modern strongmen gut democracy…
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You’re Fired: A Chairman’s Review of CEO Trump
← Back to Essays & Commentary A Mid-Year Emergency Session of the Board of We the People LLC Opening Statement from the Chairman Subject: Six-Month Performance Review — CEO Donald J. TrumpDate: Fiscal Q2, Reality Optional [Transcript begins] Esteemed Board Members, We reconvene not as optimists, but as survivors – a little over six months…
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Wedding Bells and Welfare Cuts: The One Big Beautiful Bill
And while they danced beneath chandeliers and fireworks, lawmakers in Washington prepared their own celebration; a grotesque tribute to inherited wealth and institutionalized greed. They call it the One Big Beautiful Bill.