Source: Washington Monthly
by Jonah Blank
“For a man who hates academia, Donald Trump has had a revolutionary impact on political science. He’s rendered libraries of doctoral theses irrelevant by reducing the discipline to one phrase: Plata o Plomo. Silver or lead — bribe or bullet — has long been the motto of Colombian drug lords. That bared truth exposes the enormity of our challenge and, perhaps, our path to overcome it. Silver or lead, money or force. In American politics today, those are the only things that matter. There’s nothing novel in money shaping politics. What’s new is that you can buy the government for pennies on the dollar with enough cash — and (crucially) a ruthless will to deploy it as a weapon. The difference between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0 is the introduction of Elon Musk, the wealthiest human in the universe.” (03/31/25)