Federalism, Trumpism, and Democracy in America

Trump's approach to federalism is different from his predecessors – and it poses challenges to effective policy and democracy in America.

Every president in the last century has launched his own strategy of federalism, and with every launch, presidents have tried to characterize their own approach as newer and better. Most of these approaches have swung like a pendulum along a continuum from centralization and decentralization.Every president in the last century has launched his own strategy of federalism, and with every launch, presidents have tried to characterize their own approach as newer and better. Most of these approaches have swung like a pendulum along a continuum from centralization to decentralization. Donald Trump's version of federalism, however, has proven to be radically different, not only in its politics and administration but also in its disconnection from the themes that have long characterized the debate about American democracy, shaped by French intellectual Alexis de Tocqueville in the middle of the nineteenth century. Trump has relied on both finance and force as tools to redefine power in the intergovernmental system. That, in turn, poses enormous challenges not only for the execution of domestic policy but also for the conduct of democracy in America.