Donald Trump continues to smash the conventional wisdom, norms, institutions, rule of law and U.S. democracy. He only returned to office three months ago, so he is just getting started. Moreover, Trump appears to greatly enjoy the chaos of his second term in office. He has no plans to leave office and has already hinted at his desire to seek a third term, in violation of the Constitution.
The so-called conventional wisdom, which consists of those taken-for-granted ideas, comfortable understandings of how things are supposed to work, and common sense that does not yield to new evidence, is no match for the shock and awe campaign of Trump and his MAGA movement and their allies. Their application of the German concept of “Gleichschaltung” (which means synchronization or bringing into line) to force universal compliance and remake society in the vision of Trumpism and American authoritarianism has proven too strong for the Democrats, civil society and the larger Resistance to stop. Ultimately, Donald Trump’s chaos and disorientation are the point; it is both the strategy and the goal. The chaos enables Trump and his allies and other enemies of democracy and a humane society to get and keep more corrupt power, a power without limits and unbounded in its ambitions and harm.
