Tag Archives: Donald Trump

How Bad is Corruption under Trump?

Posted on August 30, 2018 by politicaloptic

How bad is corruption under Trump? To help us answer the question, it’s useful to consider first what the major types of corruption are and secondly what the extent of corruption was in past American administrations before we get to … Continue reading →

How Democracies Die

Posted on March 30, 2018 by politicaloptic

How Democracies Die (2018), a book by two Harvard political scientists, is a sober view of liberal democracy’s vulnerability in today’s world. The book has achieved attention for focusing on the troubling political forces now at work in the United … Continue reading →

Posted in political strategy, politics of extremism, populism, Uncategorized | Tagged demagogues, democracy, Donald Trump, guardrails of democracy, How Democracies Die, informal rules, institutional forbearance, toleration, U.S. Constitution | Leave a comment

The Trump-Republican Tax Cut: What Were They Thinking?

Posted on December 25, 2017 by politicaloptic

As a mental exercise, let’s ask the following question: what if Trump and the Republicans, instead of tilting their tax-cut legislation heavily towards corporations and the rich, had come up with a bill that truly favored white middle class voters, … Continue reading →

Posted in economic policy, political strategy, populism, Trump administration | Tagged 2018 congressional campaign, class warfare, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, Republican tax bill, Republican tax cut, Republican tax reform | Leave a comment

The Worldviews of Donald Trump and Roy Moore

Posted on November 30, 2017 by politicaloptic

Recently, commentators have been making suggestive comparisons between Donald Trump and Roy Moore in the wake of the sex scandals uncovered in Moore’s Alabama senate campaign. The similarity between the two men in their personal misbehavior is apt and well … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian worldview, culture war, Religious Right | Tagged authoritarianism, conspiracy thinking, Donald Trump, epistemology, parallel, paranoid style, polarization, Roy Moore, similarity, tribalism | Leave a comment

Creative Destruction, or Just Destruction?

Posted on October 30, 2017 by politicaloptic

The Trump administration’s efforts to disrupt the political world in recent months should be no surprise to anyone. After all, Trump promised to be disrupter-in-chief if elected and to “shake things up.” His supporters on the right were happy to … Continue reading →

Posted in political strategy, Trump administration | Tagged Affordable Care Act, creative destruction, Donald Trump, First do no harm, Ilana Mercer, Joseph Schumpeter, NAFTA, Obamacare, Paris Climate Accord, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership | Leave a comment

Putin-philia on the American Right

Posted on July 29, 2017 by politicaloptic

Trump’s adoration for Putin is not an anomaly in today’s American politics. Such at least is the gist of Jeremy Peters’ recent article in the New York Times , which shows that figures on the American right have been lauding … Continue reading →

Posted in alt-right, conservatism, culture war, politics of extremism, Religious Right | Tagged David Duke, Donald Trump, homophobia, Matthew Heimbach, Putinphilia, Richard Spencer, Russia, Russia's Hard Right Turn, Russian Orthodox Church, Traditionalist International, Vladimir Putin, World Congress for Families | Leave a comment

Asymmetric Warfare: How Is It Working for Trump?

Posted on March 31, 2017 by politicaloptic

As two recent commentators have observed, Trump is a master of asymmetric warfare. Asymmetric warfare is a term used to describe tactics adopted by a weaker force against a stronger one, normally in a military setting. The typical example is of a guerrilla … Continue reading →

Posted in political strategy | Tagged asymmetric warfare, bureaucracy, deconstruction of the administrative state, Donald Trump | Leave a comment

Team of Wreckers

Posted on December 22, 2016 by politicaloptic

Donald Trump campaigned as the man who would shake up Washington. He was the anti-candidate, the enemy of political correctness, the scourge of the establishment, the “only one” who could turn things around. With hyperbole and swagger, Trump presented himself as the agent of … Continue reading →

Posted in alt-right, politics of extremism, Trump administration | Tagged anti-establishment, appointments, conspiracy theory, Donald Trump, establishment, Islam, Michael Flynn, Stephen Bannon | Leave a comment

On Approaching the Coming Trump Administration

Posted on November 30, 2016 by politicaloptic

It’s been a rough few weeks for democrats and progressives in the wake of a shocking electoral loss. It has not been easy to absorb. Part of the reason is that we on the left have been a bit too smug … Continue reading →

Posted in political strategy, privatization | Tagged Betsy Devos, contradictions, Donald Trump, Medicare, Thomas Price, voter backlash, vouchers | Leave a comment

Trump Would Likely Do to America What Berlusconi Did to Italy

Posted on September 21, 2016 by politicaloptic

While many of Donald Trump’s supporters concede that he is crude and dangerous, they justify voting for him because they believe he could “shake up” Washington. Trump, they claim, would not act like a typical corrupt politician because he is too rich to … Continue reading →

Posted in corruption | Tagged Donald Trump, Italy, public interest, self-interest, shake-up, Silvio Berlusconi | Leave a comment