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By Anna Commander
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David Frum, a former George W. Bush speechwriter, warned that every day Trump is moving away from the rule of law during his second term in office, and after he leaves, the wake is "likely to resemble the aftermath of the Civil War."
Why It Matters
Frum argued that a pattern of using federal power against political critics and replacing career officials with personal loyalists risked normalizing executive retaliation and weakening independent institutions. He wrote that "the president is going after his enemies and undermining the American system," framing these actions as an existential threat to the separation between public office and personal vendetta.
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The president has also long stated that he believes he won the presidential election in 2020, and that legal investigations into him are "witch-hunts."
What to Know
Frum, a notable Trump critic, warned in a long essay for The Atlantic that actions taken during Trump's second term—including high‑profile raids, personnel purges, and public threats toward critics—have shifted the administration toward personal rule.
The FBI recently executed a search at the home of former National Security Adviser John Bolton, a frequent Trump critic, related to "broad concern" and classified documents, Vice President JD Vance previously told NBC News's Meet the Press.
"In this second Trump term, things keep happening that would have seemed outrageous—impossible—just a few months before. Every day, there's a new movement away from the rule of law, toward arbitrary and corrupt personal rule. Among the fearful questions pressing upon the country: How does America ever turn back?" Frum questioned.
While speaking to reporters last week, Trump stated he was not informed about the search of Bolton's home, but added, "I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I'm actually the chief law enforcement officer. But I feel that it's better this way."
Frum warned that compared to his first term, "the government is changing fast" in the second.
"In his first half year as president, Trump has systematically purged the federal law-enforcement apparatus of rule-obeying public servants. He is replacing them as quickly as he is able with people chosen for their loyalty, without regard for their other qualifications," Frum warned, noting key firings within top leadership positions in Trump's administration.
"The American system depends upon public understanding that law is bigger than politics, that right and wrong exist independent of who screws whom," Frum added.
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What People Are Saying
White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson to Newsweek via email Monday: "Joe Biden weaponized his Administration to target political opponents – most famously, President Trump. And if that wasn't bad enough, Biden – or whoever was really calling the shots – also used his Administration to target everyday Americans who dared express political opinions he disagreed with.
"The Biden Administration investigated dozens of parents who criticized their school boards for school curriculums or covid mandates and locked up peaceful pro-lifers for protesting outside of abortion clinics, among many other examples. The American people are lucky Biden's shameful chapter of history is closed. President Trump is restoring law and order. "
Columbia University Professor Robert Y. Shapiro to Newsweek via email Monday: "Trump has changed the norms and moral values of politics. He is taking revenge on his enemies at every turn -- those who did him wrong in any way when Trump himself was the one blatantly in the wrong. He has appointed others like Kash Patel who have their own reasons for vengeful action. Moreover, he has used and is expanding further his own thuggish paramilitary forces in Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do his bidding and he has started to position the armed forces in major cities, who could be poised for whatever else he might ask them to do next."
Shapiro continued: "Even in the end if he does not succeed in what he is trying to do further, he and his followers will never acknowledge the wrong, leaving it open for their next comparably immoral and wrongheaded leader to do the same. This could be worse than the legacy of the Civil War: nearly the entire nation knew or eventually came to acknowledge that slavery was wrong. But even if Trump himself is defeated politically, he and his followers will never concede that he and they were misguided."
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California: "When Donald Trump's FBI raids John Bolton's home, it's a signal. To any of his opponents. To all of his detractors. If you stand up to this administration, you could be next. To save our democracy, we must reject these tactics of an aspiring dictator."
The New York Times Editorial Board last week in part: "Mr. Trump seems convinced that he is doing nothing to his rivals that was not done to him in earlier prosecutions and lawsuits. That is untrue. There is little comparison between the substantial evidence amassed in his cases — in particular, that he tried to break the nation's election laws in 2020 and refused to return classified White House documents — and the frequent lack of evidence lobbed at his adversaries."
What Happens Next
Frum and other analysts say the potential long‑term challenge would be disentangling legitimate policy or personnel changes from measures intended as retribution, and that restoring legal and bureaucratic norms could prove difficult if political actors have altered institutions.
Update 8/25/25 10:28 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Robert Y. Shapiro.
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