American Gag

A legal order issued Tuesday threatens to deprive Trump of one of his greatest skills: the ability to speak his mind without a filter.

US Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a gag order against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, coming after a similar order issued by a New York state judge earlier this month.

While the earlier mandate by Judge Arthur Engoron proved fairly modest - only preventing Trump from attacking the civil servants that make up his court’s staff, the latest order forbids him from making comments interpreted as endangering potential witnesses, or the team working under special counsel Jack Smith.

In the age of a fully neoliberal Democratic Party, Republicans thrive on the ability to occasionally sound as if they relate to average people, even as their policy serves elites. “I am your voice,” Trump famously declared in a 2016 campaign that sought to court disaffected working-class voters.

The successful marketing was enough to propel Trump to victory in 2016, and he’s been trying to recapture that magic ever since.

The dynamics of next year’s election may superficially resemble those of 2016, with Trump once again running against an emblem of the Washington political establishment. But unlike in 2016, Trump is no longer a political wildcard, but a figure who has dominated headlines for eight years.