American democracy is on a break. Welcome to ‘Trumpocracy.’
HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE
By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. Crown. 312 pp. $26
Once the fire burns out and the fury subsides, what will chroniclers of our era make of this frenetic first year of America Under Trump?
Michael Wolff’s news-breaking and news-stretching bestseller has become the political book of the moment, depicting a White House torn by infighting and bereft of ideas. But it is at best a snapshot, already blurred and dated. Accounts such as “Let Trump Be Trump” by former campaign aides Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie deliver insider details in a haze of 2016 MAGA nostalgia. Fortunately, other authors and analysts are looking past the news alerts and war stories to examine President Trump’s longer-term impact on the nation’s norms and governance — on American democracy itself.