There’s a particular unease that sets in when I find myself nodding at a Trump administration policy. It’s not cognitive dissonance—it’s a deeper alarm. Because agreement, even in substance, risks legitimizing the structure that delivered it.

Take federal decentralization. Moving agencies out of D.C. is a move I’ve long supported on principle—rebalancing federal overreach, reconnecting government with the people. But under this administration, the motivation isn’t civic health—it’s sabotage. They’re not dispersing power to empower—they’re gutting institutions under the banner of “efficiency.”

So yes, I may agree with the shape of the action. But not its soul. The execution is authoritarian. The objective is corrosion, not reform. Agreement without scrutiny is complicity. And in this era, vigilance matters more than vindication.