Unmasking the Administrative State

The election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency shocked the political establishment, triggering a wave of hysteria among the bicoastal elite that may yet never subside. The biggest shockwaves of all however were felt not in the progressive parishes of Manhattan or San Francisco, but in the halls of the political elite's cherished and oft-overlooked center of power: Washington, D.C.'s sprawling "administrative state." For President Trump represented an existential threat to its denizens, which came to be known as "swamp creatures." How did it come to pass that the "deconstruction" of this obscure institution – the "draining of the swamp" – would become a core aim of the Trump administration, impacting everything from judicial appointments to the federal budget and regulatory policy? Could public aversion to policies and practices for which the administrative state was sometimes surreptitiously and other times overtly responsible explain President Trump's rise?...