Trump’s Weakness Is Bad for Democracy
It’s tempting to think that a president unskilled at wielding power can’t do much damage by abusing it. It’s also wrong.
Underpowered.
Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Weak presidents are not safe for democracy.
Bright Line Watch, a project of political scientists worried about the erosion of democratic institutions, has found increasing concern by experts about the state of U.S. democracy since 2017. That’s despite the well-documented case that Donald Trump has been an unusually weak president. He often defers to Republican Party regulars on policy questions; when he doesn’t, he’s usually rolled by members of Congress, the executive branch, governors and business leaders. He often appears more interested in announcing policy wins than in actually doing the work to make those victories real.