Advertisement

Supported by

Guest Essay

By John Fabian Witt

Dr. Witt is the author of “The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America.”

In a year when the United States seemed more split than ever, Americans united in one way: We demanded results and we wanted them now. From ICE raids designed as a theater of terror and GLP-1 shortcuts for weight loss, to A.I.-generated term papers, rampaging DOGE bros and summary Alien Enemies Act deportations, America raged against the journey and clamored for the destination, no matter what the lawyers and the chatbot therapists said. Outcomes seemed to be all that mattered. Winners win. Losers follow rules and talk it over.

The pattern was most conspicuous in a Washington that swept aside norms, starting with President Trump’s Inauguration Day assembly of billionaires and followed by a Project 2025-led smashing of the traditional rituals of administration. Regular order in Congress gave way to federal shutdown, ad hoc continuing resolutions and forced votes on bills like the Epstein Files Transparency Act. With impoundments, the White House upended the Constitution’s carefully choreographed........

© The New York Times