Mark Whitehouse, Columnist

Two Ways Trump Might Be Great for Democracy

U.S. consumers seem to be devoting a bigger share of their spending to social advocacy groups and newspapers.

December 5, 2017 at 10:00 AM UTC

Mark Whitehouse is a member of the editorial board covering global economics and finance. Previously, he reported on economics for the Wall Street Journal and was managing editor of Vedomosti, a Russian-language business daily.

Protest isn't cheap.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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If you think the presidency of Donald Trump has cast a pall on American democracy, consider a bright side: It has been very good for two important institutions of civil society -- social advocacy groups and newspapers.

One way to assess the changing state of the nation is to follow how people spend money. To that end, I looked at Commerce Department data on personal expenditures in the year before and after Trump’s election in early November 2016, to see if any shifts in U.S. consumer purchases stood out.