Source: Washington Monthly
by Anne Kim
“President Donald Trump is a singular — and solitary — figure. ‘I alone can fix it,’ he solipstically declared in 2016, before his first presidential run. Now in his second term, he’s been a one-man tsunami, destroying decades-long global alliances, creating chaos in the global economy with his unilateral tariffs, and unleashing bitter partisanship domestically. … We can blame our national habit of venerating iconoclasts, a tendency Trump exploited to leverage himself into office. We like to lionize the man who speaks out — the brave rebel who defies the establishment. … But for every iconoclast, there’s a crank. For every visionary, a conspiracist. For every genius, a madman.” (12/21/25)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/12/21/trump-individualism-collective-institutions-aca/