Why Are We Surprised by the Trump-Putin Alliance? | Trump, Putin and the Authoritarian Take on Constitutionalism | Only 6% of Gen Z Actually Favor Dictatorship – Not Half, and more

And it provided representation for “We the People,” because we vote for members of Congress.
During its first month, the second Trump administration has pushed a new balance of these powers, granting the president expansive and far-reaching authority. These actions imperil the power of elected lawmakers in the House and Senate to pass legislation, oversee the federal government and exercise spending authority.

Trump, Putin and the Authoritarian Take on Constitutionalism  (Stephen Lovell, The Conversation)
When Donald Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” for his failure to hold elections, it was a shocking moment. Even by the topsy-turvy standards of the current US administration, this looked like deliberate ignorance of the facts. Ukrainian law and the electoral code state that elections cannot be held while martial law is in place. That leaves aside the practical impossibility of ensuring fair, free and secure elections during war on the scale Russia is inflicting on Ukraine.
In making this dangerous intervention, the US president was simply repeating a well-established trope of Russian propaganda. For some time, the Kremlin has been casting aspersions on the legitimacy of Zelensky. Vladimir Putin has been using this as a pretext to allow him to sidestep any direct contact with the (legitimately elected) Ukrainian president.
Ukraine now finds the legitimacy of its constitution under threat from both the dominant regional power – Russia – and the world power of the US. It falls on Europe – a region almost defined by its commitment to constitutional democracy – to articulate and defend an alternative vision.
European leaders – and their electorates – need to act on the belief that democracy and sovereignty are not on separate tracks but belong together. Ukraine deserves to retain its free elections, but it also deserves a state.

Only 6% of Gen Z Actually Favor Dictatorship – Not Half, as Some Reports Would Have You Believe  (Bobby Duffy and Paolo Morini, The Conversation)
America’s constitutional framework was designed specifically to prevent the concentration of power and to impede any president’s authoritarian aspirations. It is certainly being put to the test right now.
When US vice-president J.D. Vance recently wrote that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power”, he gave perhaps the clearest indication to date that the Trump administration might ignore court rulings, potentially laying the ground for what some have argued would amount to a dictatorship.
Given this context, it certainly seemed plausible when a recent Channel 4 study suggested UK democracy could be heading towards a similar crisis. However, we have conducted research that paints a very different picture of gen z’s tendency towards dictatorship.
Our analysis of the WVS shows precisely this. Gen Z are the least likely to think we even currently live in a democracy. That’s perhaps understandable from their perspective when so many policy decisions – from pensions and housing, to support for the costs of education and childcare – have favored older people.
Older generations face a serious challenge convincing gen Z that democracy and our political institutions can work for them. But exaggerating their desire to rip it all up doesn’t increase the sense of urgency, it just adds to the drama of generational division. It risks giving a false sense of momentum to the decline of democracy, which is the last thing we need right now.

Trump Administration Sets Out to Create an America Its People Have Never Experienced − One without a Meaningful Government  (Sidney Shapiro and Joseph P. Tomain, The Conversation)
Many Trump voters cited economic factors as motivating their support. And our book, How Government Built America,documents how policies supported by both political parties – particularly globalization, which led to the flood of manufacturing jobs that went overseas – contributed to the economic struggles with which many Americans are burdened.
But based on the history of how government built America, we believe the most effective way to improve the economic prospects of those and other Americans is not to eliminate portions of the government entirely. Rather, it’s to adopt government programs that create economic opportunity in deindustrialized areas of the country.
These problems – economic inequality and loss of opportunity – were caused by the free market’s response to the lack of government action, or insufficient or misdirected action. The market cannot be expected to fix what it has created. And markets don’t answer to the American people. Government does, and it can take action.

Donald Trump Should Not Replace Us with His Stooges, Warns a Fired Inspector-General  (Economist)
Mark Greenblatt on the dangers America will face if oversight officials lose their independence.

Musk and Republican Lawmakers Pressure Judges with Impeachment Threats  (Carl Hulse, New York Times)
Democrats say the calls to remove judges who block Trump administration initiatives amount to intimidation. Some senior Republicans are also skeptical of the effort.

Can Elon Musk Find Any Fraud Before Trump’s Base Notices the Con?  (Philip Bump, Washington Post)
The truth is that “fraud” has never been the target.