Brian M Downing
Donald Trump is effecting a critical change in American life. He’s weakening congressional and judicial roles and concentrating power in the Oval Office – that is, in himself. A new form of government is forming, one based on a wealthy clique, an obedient military and state, and a devoted popular base.
Unchecked presidential power moves the United States away from European democracies and closer to Russian and Saudi autocracies. Netanyahu is taking Israel in the same direction. The four powers will form a formidable block.
The outlook
The emerging governing clique comprises a few dozen figures – mostly exceptionally wealthy men. They are alarmed by democracy and supportive of authoritarianism. They see Washington as intrusive, irresponsible, and parasitic. Bureaucrats, politicians, and the people who put them into office know little of capital formation, engineering, construction, and budgets. They are more focused on regulation, the environment, careers, and notions of equality. Money is squandered on dubious and wasteful programs and the nation is $37 trillion dollars in debt. The Times Square readout spins wildly.
The top one percent pay forty-five percent of all income taxes yet voices from below insist they don’t pay their fair share. Despite this, hostility toward them is growing, even among young people of privileged backgrounds. Luigi Mangione is a folk hero to some and his trial will worsen things, perhaps forming a sizable populist movement.
The elite see America as founded by bankers, merchants, and gentry who resented British taxation and broke free. Their Republic was rightly governed for centuries. The elite of our day are not well grounded in history. Their views aren’t based on respect for early America but on disdain for the nation’s recent downward spiral.
Democracy has failed to avert political paralysis, fiscal ruin, and the slide toward ruin. A return to elite government is needed. Business acumen will win out over political norms. Government spending will be slashed, stifling regulations retracted, and businesses will thrive. A new era of greatness is at hand, a new Gilded Age with liberty and justice for many.
The transition
High-ranking civil servants are being summarily fired as adepts in the Deep State and replaced by loyalists. The rest stand by. Members of Congress are either loyal, deferent, or timid. The judiciary will be ignored and recalcitrant judges will be removed in coming years.
The military no longer comprises a cross section of America. Ending conscription a half century ago saw to that. Personnel are disproportionately from small towns and rural areas. They take an oath to the Constitution but that’s as binding as a wedding vow. The old guard will leave on their own or in time get shown the door. Newly promoted officers will salute more crisply and serve the president more faithfully. The Milleys are out, the Flynns are taking over.
Parts of the private sector outside the governing clique are being corralled by incentives and threats. An independent-minded firm will lose contracts, face audits, and incur the faithful’s boycotts. Even powerful magnates are treading carefully. Some are getting on board. The Washington Post is reorienting its editorials to stress free markets and traditional liberties.
The administration cannot allow its accomplishments to be turned back by an ill-informed and unpatriotic electorate. Upcoming elections must be influenced by money, suppression, and poll officials, especially in swing states. The administration’s heavy-handed and dismissive actions don’t suggest concern with future elections.
Nationalism and internationalism
Such are the self-serving views from many boardrooms and gated estates and private islands. Their composition and goals, though objectionable and antidemocratic, are not fascist. Mussolini and Hitler were ardent nationalists, though aberrant and destructive ones of course.
The new elite in Washington don’t believe in our myths and institutions. Few have deigned to serve in the military and feel their patriotism is adequately proven by lapel pins. Nationalism is a set of images and slogans that attracts a mass following. They’re internationalists. In concert with peers in Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, they intend to create an international sphere controlling tremendous political, economic, and military power. The challenge and prospects are dazzling. The risks to them are minuscule, those to America are staggering.
.Next: the authoritarian base
©2025 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs. Thanks as ever to fellow Hoya Susan Ganosellis.