Uprising in America?

Apr 18 2025 The New York TImes

What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal.

Opinion piece by David Brooks, on defending institutions from trumpism.

In the beginning there was agony. Under the empires of old, the strong did what they willed and the weak suffered what they must.

But over the centuries, people built the sinews of civilization: Constitutions to restrain power, international alliances to promote peace, legal systems to peacefully settle disputes, scientific institutions to cure disease, news outlets to advance public understanding, charitable organizations to ease suffering, businesses to build wealth and spread prosperity, and universities to preserve, transmit and advance the glories of our way of life. These institutions make our lives sweet, loving and creative, rather than nasty, brutish and short.

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Trump is shackling the greatest institutions in American life. We have nothing to lose but our chains.