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As a weekend bonus for subscribers, we connected with a longtime friend of the newsletter, historian and author Kevin Kruse, to check in on what’s surprised him about the horror show that has been the first two months of Trump 2.0.
“I want to stress how far off the rails this is in terms of not just our norms and our expectations but our laws,” Kruse said. “There’s a lot that’s deeply unconstitutional here. I get that they’re trying to flood the zone and overwhelm the opposition, but the opposition shouldn’t let itself be overwhelmed. It shouldn’t accept this as the new normal, which is what the administration wants us to do.”
Kruse’s expertise is American history, so we asked him if there’s any parallel for an unelected oligarch basically taking over the executive branch like Elon Musk has done. He cited Eisenhower’s cabinet of “eight millionaires and a plumber,” but noted that nothing is really comparable to the utter lawlessness and corruption we’re seeing right now.
“What we see from Musk and the rest of Trump’s crew is that they are making financial gains off this,” Kruse said. “Musk just wrestled an FAA program away from Verizon and gave it to his own company. They’re doing all they can to profit from this. The tax cut alone is a good example. Those people in the cabinet are the ones who are going to benefit from more tax cuts for the wealthy.”
A transcript of Public Notice contributor Thor Benson’s full conversation with Kruse, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows.
Thor Benson
People have been referring to Elon Musk as a “shadow president.” I know this exact situation is unprecedented, but are there some examples from American history of co-presidencies?
Kevin Kruse
We’ve had brief situations like this. When Reagan was shot, then Secretary of State Alexander Haig famously grabbed the podium and said, “I’m in charge here at the White House.” Well, the vice president should have been in charge.
The one that really stands out, though, is when Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in October 1919. Wilson was totally incapacitated for two months, and his wife, First Lady Edith Wilson, basically ran the country. From then until March 1921, he was in a wheelchair with really limited memory and critical faculties, and she basically ran the show. She decided what got brought to him, what was important. She was in effect the shadow president.
Thor Benson
It’s been a little while since we chatted. I’m sure you had specific concerns going into Trump’s second presidency that seem quaint now. How are things worse than you expected?
