Articles by Robert Zaller

Donald Trump has wanted the 2018 midterm elections to be about one thing: himself. That is not because he wants to seek support for his…

As American democracy descends further into its present impasse — or abyss — we can trace the steps by which we have arrived at our…

To have democracy, you have to have civil society. In the broadest sense, the term is inclusive of everyone who lives in a given country…

Last Thursday, we saw a woman of dignity, composure and courage describe the worst moment of her life. I can’t imagine what reserves of spirit…

What does “democratic socialism” mean? When Bernie Sanders, the man who brought the term back into public use, is asked to define it, he typically…

After 19 months of Donald Trump being the president, it might seem folly to seek a single area in which he has done the most…

It’s hard to tell whether Donald Trump is more preoccupied with wrecking civil discourse and public institutions domestically in the United States, or shattering the…

The question this essay asks — does democracy have a future? — must start, I think, with the question of what its present condition is.…

Maureen Dowd, The New York Times’ resident editorial wit, wrote recently that Donald Trump slipped into the presidency “through a tear in the space-continuum.” Sure…

In 1935, the third year of Hitler’s Third Reich, Sinclair Lewis published a novel called “It Can’t Happen Here,” speculating on the possibility that fascism…