{"id":4326,"date":"2026-08-03T20:37:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326"},"modified":"2026-08-03T20:37:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:37:02","slug":"trump-and-his-allies-know-his-methods-are-backfiring-political-philosopher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326","title":{"rendered":"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s methods of ruling as president have been widely described as \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d yet according to a prominent German historian and political philosopher, Americans should recognize that the Republican leader\u2019s approach is in the process of backfiring.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump biographer delivers play-by-play of the president\u2019s golf bribes<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of what is distinctive about Trump\u2019s governance during his second term can serve the consolidation of an autocratic regime and at the same time create particular vulnerabilities for the regime,\u201d wrote Dr. Jan-Werner M\u00fcller for The Guardian on Monday. \u201cWe have to become better at identifying these weaknesses, as opposed to being shellshocked by Trump\u2019s brazenness every single time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing Trump\u2019s demolition of the East Wing as symbolic of the president\u2019s approach, M\u00fcller said that the administration assumes people will feel overwhelmed by its illegality and will ultimately settle for accepting certain forms of corruption and authoritarianism as accepted reality rather than challenging them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis method (strategy might be too big of a word) of illegality \u2013 and hope for impunity \u2013 now characterizes almost the entire administration,\u201d M\u00fcller argued. \u201cMore particularly, the Trumpists have figured out that a scandal per year can spell political death, while 10 scandals a day elicit hardly a shrug, because no one, it seems, can keep up. This \u2018flooding the zone\u2019 with scandals is in itself a means of generating power \u2013 but it also creates vulnerabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cOne never knows whether one scandal \u2013 even a relatively harmless one like the reflecting pool disaster, combining grift and incompetence \u2013 might not focus the public\u2019s attention after all and become a symbol for the corruption of the regime as a whole, the way that one child abuse scandal \u2013 a [former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orb\u00e1n ally pardoned a man convicted of covering up abuse \u2013 became the symbol of everything wrong with Orb\u00e1n\u2019s rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, M\u00fcller claimed that Trump\u2019s emphasis on hiring loyalists can be self-defeating because he chooses people who are incompetent, while his cruelty can turn people off even as it intimidates potential opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the shameless corruption?\u201d M\u00fcller said. \u201cAgain, the shamelessness might easily generate a sense of hopelessness on the part of Americans watching unprecedented acts of malfeasance. But, unlike with other aspiring autocrats, the Trumpists are not really creating a coherent system of self-enrichment (the way Orb\u00e1n did with what came to be called his mafia state \u2013 where tricks with public procurement were disguised well enough for many years). Under Trump, everyone just grabs whatever they can as quickly as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Blanche confirmation \u2018could do more damage to Republicans\u2019 than a GOP revolt<\/a><\/p>\n

He concluded, \u201cThat inability to build a system is ultimately a sign of weakness; the Trumpists themselves do not really seem to believe that their rule will last, and what Mike Johnson, in a revealing moment, called the Republicans\u2019 \u2018protection program\u2019 \u2013 the majority in Congress \u2013 might be gone this year. Self-confident creators of autocratic kleptocracy would have stayed silent on the point \u2013 and been smarter in their approach altogether. To be sure, that is no consolation for victims of cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other scholars have also discussed Trump\u2019s authoritarian leanings. Last month, Dr. Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, pointed out that Trump has been consistently thwarted by lower courts, yet abetted by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

“I think if you want to hold some actor other than Trump responsible for the moment that we\u2019re in, it is the Supreme Court,” Moynihan argued. “They are the group that has the standing, they have the role, they have the authority to say, This administration is violating the Constitution, it\u2019s violating the law. And again, they haven\u2019t done that. And in fact, they\u2019ve done the opposite. They\u2019ve bought into Trump\u2019s legal theories.”<\/p>\n

Also in July, an expert on the history of fascism explained that Trump is unlikely to create a new American global empire, but could very well destroy its democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the U.S. exists and is celebrating 250 years doesn’t mean that it’ll exist in 5 years or 10 years or 15 years \u2014 states have a beginning and they have an end,\u201d University of Toronto historian Timothy Snyder wrote. \u201cI think that the Trump people are much more likely to wreck the U.S. as an entity than they are to succeed in generating some kind of homogeneous tyranny from the Pacific to the Atlantic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump \u2018doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going on\u2019 and is incapable of figuring it out: niece<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s methods of ruling as president have been widely described as \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d yet according to a prominent German historian and political philosopher, Americans should recognize that the Republican leader\u2019s approach is in the process of backfiring.\u201cSo much of what is distinc…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Donald Trump\u2019s methods of ruling as president have been widely described as \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d yet according to a prominent German historian and political philosopher, Americans should recognize that the Republican leader\u2019s approach is in the process of backfiring.\u201cSo much of what is distinc...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-03T20:37:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-03T20:37:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326\"},\"wordCount\":783,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326\",\"name\":\"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher - Next Address America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-03T20:37:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=4326#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next Address America\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher - Next Address America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher - Next Address America","og_description":"President Donald Trump\u2019s methods of ruling as president have been widely described as \u201cauthoritarian,\u201d yet according to a prominent German historian and political philosopher, Americans should recognize that the Republican leader\u2019s approach is in the process of backfiring.\u201cSo much of what is distinc...","og_url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326","og_site_name":"Next Address America","article_published_time":"2026-08-03T20:37:02+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3"},"headline":"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher","datePublished":"2026-08-03T20:37:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326"},"wordCount":783,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326","name":"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher - Next Address America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp","datePublished":"2026-08-03T20:37:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c9642de20b53783fae0792ff9687b68a.webp","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4326#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump and his allies know his methods are backfiring: political philosopher"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/","name":"Next Address America","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}