The Week Magazine September 5/12, 2025

As the United States descends into one-man, authoritarian rule, I sometimes wonder what Donald Trump’s collaborators really think. By collaborators, I do not mean the true MAGA cultists, who welcome his tyrannical intrusion into every aspect of American life, his military occupation of American cities, and his unrestrained use of government power to intimidate and punish opponents, critics, and immigrants. The collaborators are the once-principled Reaganites, the small-government libertarians, and the conservative commentariat who through fear or tribal allegiance are still defending or downplaying the Maximum Leader’s insistence that everyone—private companies, universities, museums, states, cities, the Fed, the Justice Department, other countries—must capitulate to his will or suffer his wrath. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is a useful example. In 2016, Rubio compared Trump to a “third-world strongman” and warned…

What happened Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker assailed President Trump for his threat to send the National Guard into Chicago this week, calling it an illegal and “un-American” scheme hatched by a “wannabe dictator.” Trump cited Chicago, New York, and Baltimore as possible next targets for federal intervention, while claiming his takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police force and deployment of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement agents to the nation’s capital had made the “hellhole” city safe. The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon has spent weeks sketching out a plan that would see thousands of Illinois National Guard deployed in Chicago; the use of active-duty troops had also been discussed. Calling the nation’s third-most populous city “a killing field,” Trump said he could “solve Chicago” in a week or…

We now have a clear sign that Trump “intends to expand the U.S. military’s role in domestic law enforcement,” said Zachary Cohen in CNN.com. His National Guard executive order also calls for every state to create specialized units focused on “public order issues.” But questions remain “about how the order will work in practice.” The guard “already has reaction forces” in each state and territory, who are under the command and control of governors. Trump’s order doesn’t say what authority the new units would report to if they’re deployed over a governor’s objection. Nor does it say how such units would train “or whether there would be coordination between those units across the states.” Whatever the details, the alarming upshot is clear, said William Kristol in The Bulwark. The National…

What happened President Trump ramped up his retribution campaign this week, threatening to prosecute former ally turned critic Chris Christie just days after FBI agents searched the home and office of former national security adviser John Bolton. Federal agents raided Bolton’s Washington, D.C., office and his suburban home last week, seizing computers and documents as part of an investigation into alleged illegal sharing of classified information. Ahead of the raid, Bolton had angered Trump with public criticism of his policy toward Russia, and the president had spent days attacking him on social media. While Trump later denied foreknowledge of the FBI raid, he said Bolton deserved it because he was “a real sort of lowlife” and “unpatriotic.” Undeterred, Bolton wrote an op-ed in the Washington Examiner listing numerous mistakes he…

■ In 2002, Bruce Moss joked to semiretired U.S. Air Force Band conductor Arnald Gabriel that the 77-year-old would still be conducting at 100. “I plan to,” Gabriel replied. They signed a contract for Gabriel to conduct Moss’s municipal band in Wheaton, Ill., in 23 years—and Gabriel did so in July. Although unable to travel to Illinois, Gabriel prerecorded his performance in his uniform for the USAF Band, which he conducted from 1964 to 1985. He led Moss’s band in two songs from a giant screen, and then agreed to a new contract: another performance at 105. ■ After Angel Santiago let out Bam Bam, his emotional support dog, one early June morning, thieves broke into the Chicagoan’s yard and stole the 14-year-old dachshund. Santiago, who has glaucoma and is…

Gavin Newsom has devised a new strategy to energize Democrats and infuriate Republicans, said Matt K. Lewis in the Los Angeles Times: Act like President Trump. In recent weeks, his social media accounts have shared posts that parody the kind of material that normally fills up Trump supporters’ feeds. There’s AI-generated images of Newsom with a cup labeled “MAGA tears”; Newsom on Mount Rushmore; and “my personal favorite,” Newsom getting prayed over by Kid Rock, Tucker Carlson, and an angelic Hulk Hogan. The Democrat has adopted Trump’s all-caps writing style as well, posting that his redistricting plan to counter the Texas GOP’s gerrymander has led “MANY” people to call him “GAVIN CHRISTOPHER ‘COLUMBUS’ NEWSOM (BECAUSE OF THE MAPS!)” He taunts the president on X with Trumpish insults (“DONALD IS FINISHED—HE…