No Kings Means Us: The People as the Last Branch of Government
— No one rules by birthright here. The sovereign is the citizenry.
- Democratic norms
- Sovereignty
- Civics unhinged
Civics Unhinged — A chronicle of American absurdity, written with a straight face and a sharp pen. Civics Unhinged — satire for those who still give a damn. — Page 6
The Republican Enlightenment: Late, Brief, and Possibly Accidental
A third of Republicans have finally noticed Trump is enriching himself. It isn't conscience that woke them—it's exhaustion.
- Democratic norms
- Trump-era governance
- Civics unhinged
Mission Accomplished (Again): The Price of Victory
Trump declares total victory over inflation from the deck of the U.S.S. Sam's Club—and the receipts rise again by morning.
- Foreign policy
- Trump-era governance
- Civics unhinged
Cloaked in Robes: How America's Supreme Court Turned Trump’s Carnival into a Coronation
Keep watching the clown. The real act happens in dim light, where robed hands rig a republic into an elective monarchy.
- Trump-era governance
- Democratic norms
- Civics unhinged
About Civics Unhinged
Civics Unhinged is the new home for my long-form satire and political commentary — a place where essays can breathe without algorithms or paywalls. I write about the civic unraveling of our time: the absurdities of power, the decay of seriousness, and the endurance of humor as a last civic virtue. Dunnegin is a former senior federal official, policy analyst, and longtime political consultant who has advised members of Congress, federal agency heads, and corporate leaders. He has spent decades...
About Civics Unhinged
Jim Crow 2.0 — Trump Style
The burning cross became a trending hashtag. America's oldest sickness didn't die—it found a business model.
- Trump's second term
- Trump-era governance
- Democratic norms
The Anti-Woke Death Spiral: How Trump’s Culture War Could Kill Conservatism
The crusade meant to save American conservatism is becoming the anchor that finally drags it under.
- Democratic norms
- Trump-era governance
- Civics unhinged
Postmortem by Gaslight
Nate Cohn and the New York Times's Autopsy of Democracy, Minus the Mirror
- Democratic norms
- Trump-era governance
- Civics unhinged
Dancing on Empty: Trumpism and the Choreography of Illiberal Power
Trumpism didn't invent the performance of hollowness. It perfected it—emptiness staged as rule, chaos scripted as destiny.
- Trump's second term
- Trump-era governance
- Democratic norms
I Came, I Wrote, It Didn’t Matter
A Farewell to the Algorithmic Republic
- Democratic norms
- Trump-era governance
- Civics unhinged
About Civics Unhinged
Civics Unhinged is the new home for my long-form satire and political commentary — a place where essays can breathe without algorithms or paywalls. I write about the civic unraveling of our time: the absurdities of power, the decay of seriousness, and the endurance of humor as a last civic virtue. Dunnegin is a former senior federal official, policy analyst, and longtime political consultant who has advised members of Congress, federal agency heads, and corporate leaders. He has spent decades...
About Civics Unhinged
The Real Heirs of the Republic
Heritage, Myth, and the Power We Inherit
- Democratic norms
- Sovereignty
- Civics unhinged
World Stage, MAGA Script: Willfulness as Governance
How impulse displaced architecture in American statecraft [This essay is Part 1 of a two-part series on Trump’s foreign policy method and its global consequences. Part 2, Coercion Without Credibility Publishes March 3.]
- Trump's second term
- Trump-era governance
- Civics unhinged
History’s Exit Interview: Notes from the End of Progress
Somewhere between the ruins of Enlightenment optimism and the latest GOP fundraiser, History called it quits.
- Democratic norms
- Trump-era governance
- Civics unhinged
When Courts Rule but Power Doesn't Listen
Why Judicial Power Now Turns on Compliance, Not Rulings
- Trump-era governance
- Democratic norms
- Civics unhinged
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A chronicle of American absurdity, written with a straight face and a sharp pen. Civics Unhinged — satire for those who still give a damn.
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