"President Donald Trump is worried that Attorney General Pam Bondi is moving too slowly to prosecute his political adversaries on fake charges. Trump has good reason to be concerned. He is carrying out his project to consolidate authoritarian power against the trend of declining public support for his administration and himself. He is like a man trying to race upward on a downward-moving escalator."
"Trump's hold on power is indeed loosening. His standing with the voting public is quickly deteriorating. Grocery prices jumped in August 2025 at the fastest speed since the peak of the post-pandemic inflation in 2022. Job growth has stalled to practically zero. Almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of higher tariffs, Trump's signature economic move. His administration's attack on vaccines for young children is even more unpopular."
Donald Trump pressures officials to prosecute political opponents and seeks to consolidate authoritarian power despite falling public support. Autocracies rely on collaborators and opportunists whose cooperation depends on whether short-term gains outweigh long-term risks. Pam Bondi must assess whether Trump will retain power to reward allies or expose them to legal consequences, with Richard Nixon's attorney general John Mitchell’s prison sentence as a cautionary example. Trump's political standing is eroding amid rising grocery inflation, stalled job growth, widespread opposition to tariffs, and unpopular vaccine policies; measles cases have risen to levels not seen since 1993.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]