Congressional Republicans Threaten their own Power to Protect Trump

Congress — and more specifically congressional Republicans — is failing its role as a check against an executive branch that badly needs checking.

Jun 29, 2025

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President Donald Trump address the joint session of Congress, March 4, 2025. | Official White House photo

The broad story of the second Trump era has been of two inverse and related trends: The growth of a personalist Presidency, and the decline of state capacity. A system built on loyalty to one man cannot tolerate institutions bound by other values, an…

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A guest post by

Don Moynihan

Guggenheim Fellow, Professor of Public Policy, Ford School, University of Michigan. Immigrant. Researches and teaches about state capacity, tech in government, administrative burdens, and politicization.