Resisting a Weaponized DOJ, Rebuilding a Post-Authoritarian America
Plus: What You Missed This Week From The Bulwark
Happy Saturday! Overtime is for everyone. If you’re a Bulwark+ member: thank you. If you’re not, there’s no better time to subscribe to Bulwark+ than today. If you like today’s issue, you can share this newsletter with someone you think would value it.
After Trump: Proposals for a Post-Authoritarian America
A YEAR INTO HIS SECOND TERM, Donald Trump has proved transformative: He has transformed America’s proud liberal democracy into virtual one-man rule, tearing down checks and balances constructed over more than two centuries to block exactly this.
Trump will not be president forever. And when he goes, Democrats will face a defining choice: exploit the executive machinery he has exposed, or dismantle it. The temptation to exploit it will be enormous—and yielding to that temptation would be a historic mistake. If post-Trump America is to be a post-authoritarian one, it will have to embark on a Second Reconstruction, and Democrats will need to lead it.
How to Resist Trump’s Weaponized DOJ
DONALD TRUMP’S UNPRECEDENTED USE of the powerful Department of Justice to bully his political rivals and intimidate anyone else who dares say or do something that irks him continued apace this week. The public is not without recourse. But if there’s any fighting chance of turning things around one day, it’s high time that the American people face the steely reality of how bad things have gotten.
Get Ready for the Bari-fication of CNN
THE DUST HAS BARELY SETTLED from the latest clashes between CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and network staff—or, more accurately, from Weiss’s recent purges at 60 Minutes—when it’s starting to look like CNN is next in line for Bari-fication. The Justice Department has greenlit th…
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Saturday! And to all you fathers out there: have a happy Father’s Day. I hope you have an enjoyable weekend, especially if you’re a soccer fan!
As it’s the World Cup… and it is tradition in this newsletter space, we’re doing a bracket contest for the round of 32. Sign up today! Winners get prizes! Good luck to your team(s).
A late review… of Hillbilly Elegy from Cincinnati’s own softmaxplus.
The reflecting pool… as perfect metaphor.
It really is hard to argue with that. But perhaps one can. Is there a better metaphor? Leave yours in the comments.
Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.
—30—
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
One additional element of the metaphor: Blame Obama (and/or Biden).
Sweet irony——the pool has become an algae swamp that needs draining.