The second Trump administration is engaged in the first real transfer of power since 1933. What is taking place is an attempt at national transformation, and that is never quiet. “Buckle up, there’s more to come,” I tell friends—not only here but especially those overseas—who express anxiety with what they see as turmoil.
Transfers of power produce winners and especially losers. The losers don’t accept their new status quietly, especially when they’re used to winning. A pliant media amplifies the noise, creating cacophony.
So we are at peak moaning. Go to any gathering inside Washington’s Beltway, and you’ll likely encounter the men and women who used to run the “permanent bureaucracy”—and thus expected to do so permanently—crying in their Chardonnay and spitting spitefully at Elon Musk.
President Donald Trump’s many fans in politics…
