we have a president who refers to judges as so-called judges. we have a president who add myers foreign dictators and say that the way that things are done in places like russia or north korea is better than the u.s. of course there are many reasons for concern. and yet has he really done anything to erode our democratic institutions? i mean, he may tack a big game, throw out a lot of threats, tweet at people these attacks, but at the end of the day he largely hasn t been able to dictate his agenda. isn t that a sign of democracy working. well, the fact that he hasn t made policy i don t find all that reassuring because what mr. trump has been able to do is change the nature of government. we no longer expect that the federal government will make policy. what we expect is aconstant treem of more or less artificial emergencies. what we spend our time doing is getting excited by this foreign mnl, this domestic crisis, this violent use of words. we re getting accustomed to a new polit