Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and The Unitary Executive

The American People Have Been Enlisted In An Eerie Face-off, One All The More Nightmarish For The Way The Competing Specters Play Off One Another. On One Side Is A Deep State Conspiracy That Threatens To Thwart The Will Of The People And Undercut The Constitutional Authority Of The Leader They Elected. On The Other Side Is A Raw Personalization Of Power, One That A Theory Of The Unitary Executive Has Gussied Up And Allowed To Run Roughshod Over Reason And The Rule Of Law. These, We Submit, Are The Phantom Twins Of A Beleaguered Republic. Each Threat Implicates The Other In Every Central Controversy Of The Trump Era. Phantoms Of A Beleaguered Republic Argues That The Deep State And The Unitary Executive Are Two Sides Of The Same Syndrome, That The Contest They Frame Speaks To Basic Issues Of Governance Long Suppressed, And That Two Distinct Conceptions Of Authority Are Now Drawing Each Other Out To No Good Effect. The Worry Is That, Left Untamed, These Phantom Twins Will Continue To Pull American Government Apart--