Trump vs. the Leviathan

The greatest threat to American self-government may not come from a foreign adversary, it may come from within, from the vast, unelected bureaucratic machinery that has quietly accumulated power over decades. In this sharp and provocative essay, Chris Buskirk examines how the permanent administrative state has become a de facto fourth branch of government, answerable to no one and accountable to nothing. Written in the early years of Trump's first term, Buskirk surveys the steps already taken to roll back oppressive regulation and rein in bureaucratic overreach, while making clear how much work remained. His central argument is constitutional and urgent: the administrative leviathan has spent a generation eroding the separation of powers, and restoring that balance may be the most consequential challenge of our time. Concise, forceful, and intellectually serious, this is essential reading for anyone who believes that self-government still means something.