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How the federal government has always worked in the past: entrenched civil service completely ignores elected representatives and instead develops rich relationships with industry.

Presidency is largely ceremonial while executive staff is there for resume padding.

Congress…

— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreytucker) January 11, 2026

How the federal government has always worked in the past: entrenched civil service completely ignores elected representatives and instead develops rich relationships with industry.

Presidency is largely ceremonial while executive staff is there for resume padding.

Congress throws as much money as possible to industrial pressure groups in exchange for financial backing of election campaigns.

Media backs it in exchange for advertising from same industries and content direction from contacts within bureaucracy.

The overwhelming crucial fact of our times to understand is as follows. Trump administration has attempted a hostile takeover of this deeply entrenched system.

You can agree or disagree with the policy choices – some I like and some I do not – but the big picture is about the fundamental institutional disruption. That's the reason reason for the unending court challenges, the nonstop media frenzies, the freak out panic among industry, the meltdown of academia, and so on.

The settled critique is that Trump is acting like an authoritarian king. The irony is that he is probably the first president since Coolidge who has taken the democratic mandate seriously: acting intending to govern in way consistent with the simple words of Article II: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America."

Again, you can agree or disagree with policies. But the core challenge to the deep state is the undeniable big theme. Far too few observers have any clue that this is happening or why.

Garet Garrett called the New Deal "revolution within the form." If so, the Trump administration is the counterrevolution within the form. The most exciting dynamic to watch right now is whether and to what extent this attempt succeeds in making lasting change or whether all these efforts are futile. The future of the US and the West generally depends on the results.