What Donald Trump Has Taught Us about American Political Institutions

Abstract

Generations of political scientists have viewed the American constitutional system and its surrounding pluralist civil society as stable touchstones that safeguard against the threat of authoritarian leadership. Capitalizing on changes that go back several decades—the rise of nationalized polarization, the development of the unitary executive theory, and the growing sway of populist conservatives within the Republican Party—Donald Trump has demonstrated that the sources of countervailing power in the U.S. political system are far more fragile than previously understood. Trump has prevailed upon congressional Republicans to surrender their core constitutional responsibilities, has eviscerated critical foundations of the modern administrative state, and upended the relationship between the federal government and major civil society actors. Political scientists did not anticipate the potential for democratic breakdown that has emerged; we must now direct our energies to understanding this new constellation of power, as well as the pathways available for opponents to respond.