American revolution 2.0: how Trump has changed the US, and why it was powerless to stop him
America’s system of government, and the constitution on which it is built, was created in different times and for different circumstances and purposes, and it has changed very little since then.
Many of its components, such as the way elections are conducted, are battered and worn from centuries of use and abuse.
So it would not be surprising if America faced a second revolution, 250 years after the first.
This may be the best way to understand what is happening today.
Ever since that day in 2015 when Donald Trump announced his intention to run for president, he has been by far the most important figure in American politics.
It is a remarkable record.
Since George Washington, no figure in American history has dominated US politics so completely for so long except Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
But FDR worked his political magic through artful manipulation of Washington’s constitutional machinery and norms.
Trump has dominated American politics by flagrantly and gleefully challenging and violating them.
That is what gives his ascendancy the feeling of a second American Revolution.
This revolution is also the product of discontent in the US electorate, fragility in key political institutions and turmoil in American conservative ideology.
But Trump is at the heart of it.
His remarkable character is the catalyst that gives those other factors their power and effect.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on theconversation.com — the content belongs to The Conversation Australia.