Testing Democracy in the Donald Trump Era

Paweł Laidler is Professor of political science at the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. His research focuses on U.S. constitutionalism, with a special focus on politicization of justice, judicialization of politics and constitutionalization of justice.Jared Sonnicksen is Professor of political systems, at the Institute of Political Science, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. His research interests include comparative government, federalism and multilevel governance, with a cross-cutting interest in democratic theory and challenges of democratic governance under complex conditions.Maciej Turek is an assistant professor at the Institute of American Studies in Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. His academic interests lie in American politics, including U.S. political institutions, elections, campaign finance system, and the state of contemporary U.S. democracy.

This book provides a unique perspective on democracy in the United States during the Trump era. Just as Alexis de Tocqueville, a French social scientist, was able to capture the essence of American democracy during the populist era of Andrew Jackson, so too do these scholars, based in Europe, diagnose and prognosticate on the health of American democracy under another populist president.Dr. Richard Johnson, Senior Lecturer in US Politics and Policy, Queen Mary, University of London

• Introduction 1. Exploring the Donald Trump Era and the Testing of Democracy Part I. Ideological Change and Continuity in the Donald Trump Era 2. Trump’s Conservatism: Fusing Traditional Conservatism, Reactionary Racism, and Populist Nationalism 3. The U.S. Constitution According to Donald Trump 4. Postliberalism and the Specter of Theocracy in Trump’s Second Administration Part II. Testing Democracy in Policies and Politics 5. Violence as a Tool of Effective Politics 6. Take the Money, Run: Trump-Politician as a Business Project 7. The Politics of Surveillance in the Donald Trump Era 8. Voting Laws as a Political Capital in the Donald Trump Era 9. The Supreme Court and Women’s Rights: Examining the Legacy of Trump’s Judicial Appointments 10. Socialmediatization of Politics: How Social Media Are Leading Us Towards a Fanocracy 11. Wedge Lies, Truth and the Corrosion of American Democracy 12. Trump’s Foreign Policy: Mixing State and Personal Interests 13. Impunity by Design: The Trump Court and the Collapse of Constitutional Authority Conclusion 14. Maintaining Democracy. Lessons from the Testing of Democracy 15. Conclusion and Outlook