"For the left, there is little more terrifying than an emboldened Donald Trump. Deep into the first year of his second term, he has behaved like an imperial president, thriving off new precedents set by the Supreme Court to shred democratic norms. He has gutted the federal bureaucracy, wantonly dispatched the National Guard to Democrat-run cities, unilaterally imposed tariffs, unilaterally launched a missile strike on Iran, and wrongfully deported an immigrant to El Salvador."
"If this is all plainly disturbing, with Trump occupying the White House through 2028 and threatening to illegally remain there even longer, it's striking how little thought Democrats have given to what they might do when, inevitably, they return to power. Some of this has to do with the catastrophism that is endemic to many liberals under Trump - to even speculate about the future is to acknowledge there will be, by the end of the 2020s, an extant constitutional republic."
An emboldened Republican presidency has exploited new Supreme Court precedents to erode democratic norms and expand executive authority. The president centralized power by dismantling federal bureaucracy, deploying the National Guard to Democratic cities, imposing tariffs unilaterally, ordering a missile strike on Iran, and deporting an immigrant to El Salvador. The expansion reflects a long-running conservative project to shift power from Congress and federal agencies to the presidency. Democrats lack a coordinated program to reclaim or check those powers after a return to office. Conservative operatives developed Project 2025 to guide governance; the left has no comparable Project 2029. A younger, ambitious Democrat could reciprocate with aggressive uses of presidential power.
Read at Intelligencer
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