understanding the moment

To describe the current situation in the executive branch as merely a constitutional crisis is to understate the significance of what we’re experiencing. “Constitutional crisis” does not even begin to capture the radicalism of what is unfolding in the federal bureaucracy and of what Congress’s decision not to act may liquidate in terms of... See more

Digital activism tends to favor symbolic over violent resistance.

Historian Peter Turchin illuminates this possibility with his theory of “elite overproduction.” When societies generate more elite aspirants than there are roles to fill, competition for status intensifies. Ambitious but frustrated people grow disillusioned and radicalized. Rather than integrate into institutions, they seek to undermine them.... See more

Over 40 million people rely on SNAP to afford groceries, and the program is confronting its largest cuts in history. Even if you personally don’t use food stamps, your local grocery store could go bankrupt after losing SNAP customers.

Legal scholars tell the New York Times that it is no longer a question of whether the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis — rather, whether Trump’s contortion of the constitutional system will be permanent.