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Benito Mussolini and Family Fascism rarely arrives announcing itself. It appears first as contempt for expertise, hostility toward institutions, and demands for personal loyalty over professional competence. Bill Pulte’s appointment embodies all three. The announcement of President Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte to the position of Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was met with […]
Venezuelan Oil Extraction Industrial Center The barrels are flowing. The bankers are arriving. The guns are firing. The only thing not moving in Venezuela is democracy. On June 12, the Organization of American States offered María Corina Machado its help in organizing an election. That same evening, President Trump announced on Truth Social that the […]
A live in-person conversation with Steven Cash — a former CIA officer and member of The Steady State — about what’s happening to American democracy and what ordinary people can do about it. Watch here and below and join in on the chat. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, […]
For years, military barrier-analysis teams helped identify and remove obstacles that drove talented people away from service. Their elimination—and the broader purge of transgender personnel—has sent a different message: belonging is conditional. That message carries a readiness cost that will outlast any single administration. In June 2024, around fifty people, most in uniform, a few […]
A new book, Common Sense: Take 2, A Call to Renew Democracy, contends that the United States is confronting not simply a political crisis but a deeper crisis of democratic capacity. Written by Russ Travers, a career public servant across multiple administrations who retired as Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, the book focuses […]
President Trump in the Situation Room Bill Pulte’s failed nomination and Jay Clayton’s selection are not the story. They are symptoms of a deeper problem—a president who appears to place greater faith in personal instinct than professional intelligence. When policymakers stop listening, even the best intelligence in the world becomes irrelevant. The outcry over the […]
What does it mean to be a federal prosecutor when the client is the United States and the measure of success is not simply winning, but doing justice and doing it the right way? In the latest Steady State Sentinel podcast, former federal prosecutor and Steady State member Steve Bunnell interviews former federal prosecutor Ken […]
For decades, conservatives saw Russia as a threat to freedom. Today, many admire the very qualities that once made Moscow dangerous: strongman rule, contempt for institutions, and politics driven by grievance and loyalty. Putin’s greatest success may not be abroad—it may be here. Is Russia Now America’s Ally? For nearly eighty years, the answer would […]
America is under strain, but the story is not yet one of collapse. It is a story about whether democratic institutions can endure long enough for citizens to defend them. This week the Steady State doubled down on the fact that the greatest threat to American democracy is not a sudden coup or dramatic crisis, […]