Three years after Donald Trump rode down his golden escalator to present himself as the great hope of a new American populism, his detractors are increasingly betting that Trumpism will end in a dramatic confrontation between the president and the investigators examining how he won office.
Some, like the New Yorker’s Adam Davidson, say Robert Mueller’s team will lift the fog from Americans’ eyes and lead us back toward a sober embrace of the very institutions that voters rebelled against when they chose a populist disruptor.
Some, such as the Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan, say reports about the president’s sordid behavior (alleged affairs with porn actresses, among other things) will break the populist fever.