The Limits of Legitimate Presidential Defiance
Reflections on Week 1 in a harder-right America
Remember when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was preparing to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2023? Back then, some liberals insisted DeSantis would be a worse GOP nominee because he’d shown himself to be such a competent executive committed to advancing a hard-right agenda, whereas Trump’s first administration had been haplessly chaotic and ineffectual, with few concrete accomplishments beyond the president’s gaslighting and demagoguery. Better to stick with Trump than risk elevating someone who could do much more enduring damage to the country.
Well, it looks like we’ve ended up with the worst of both worlds.
The gaslighting and demagoguery are still there, of course—from Trump himself, though now also from his personal tech oligarch and “government efficiency” czar Elon Musk—but they have now been paired with an altogether higher level of competence and ideological zeal among those Trump has hired, nominated, and appointed for top jobs.
Evaluating Where We Are
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