As Donald Trump prepares to take the oath of office on Monday, historian Sean Wilentz offers a sobering assessment of how the incoming administration will wield its authority. The author of The Rise of American Democracy, a pre-Civil War history of the United States, Wilentz warns that Trump aims to reshape federal power in order to amass enormous power for himself. Aided by a reactionary movement now in control of all three branches of government, Trump’s presidency, Wilentz suggests, will fundamentally challenge American democratic traditions.
