Washington has a comforting theory about falling presidential approval ratings: if the numbers drop far enough, the presidency corrects itself. Political gravity returns. Power retreats.

But that theory assumes a presidency that responds to declining popularity with restraint.

In When the Applause Fades, I explore a different possibility: what happens when a president treats popularity not as legitimacy, but as applause. When applause softens, the instinct is not moderation—it is escalation.

In a performance presidency, falling approval does not necessarily weaken power. It can intensify the search for spectacle.

The real question, then, is not whether polling declines. It is whether democratic institutions continue to function independently of the performance cycle.

Because when applause fades, the performance rarely ends.

The next act simply gets louder.

– Dunneagin

Civics Unhinged: Dispatches from Trumpistan

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