David Brooks, the token conservative at The Atlantic, dropped a bombshell on PBS’s NewsHour this week, crowning Donald Trump’s presidency as the most imperial presidency in American history. Coming from a guy who’s spent years tut-tutting about executive overreach under both parties, this hyperbolic jab feels less like sober analysis and more like establishment pearl-clutching. Brooks paints Trump as some unchecked monarch, but let’s peel back the layers: Trump’s imperial moves—like deploying federal agents to quell riots in Portland or pushing back against sanctuary cities—were often defensive plays against blue-state chaos and open-border policies that eroded law and order. Contrast that with Obama’s 300+ executive orders, including DACA’s end-run around Congress, or Biden’s student loan forgiveness fiat and vaccine mandates that steamrolled personal freedoms. If anyone’s throne deserves the imperial label, it’s the administrative state itself, not a president who at least tried to dismantle it.
For the 2A community, Brooks’ rhetoric is a flashing red light. Labeling Trump imperial isn’t just punditry; it’s ammo for the gun-grabbers who equate robust executive action with tyranny—unless it’s theirs. Remember, the same voices decrying Trump’s border wall or ATF nominations cheered Obama’s Operation Chokepoint, which weaponized banking regs against gun dealers, or Biden’s ghost gun rule that bypassed Congress to redefine firearms. Trump’s real sin in their eyes? Nominating judges who actually read the Second Amendment as a right, not a suggestion, and pressuring the NRA to stay feisty. This narrative sets the stage for post-Trump revenge: expect Dems to invoke imperialism to justify stacking courts, ATF power grabs, or red-flag laws on steroids, all while shielding their own executive end-runs.
The irony burns brightest when you consider 2A history. Every expansion of federal power—from the National Firearms Act of 1934 under FDR’s New Deal empire-building to the post-PATRIOT Act surveillance state—started with cries of necessity against chaos. Trump’s tenure, for all its bombast, saw no new gun bans and even some pro-carry wins at the state level. Brooks’ hot take? It’s just the chattering class’s way of softening the ground for more imperial assaults on our rights. 2A patriots, take note: when they call one side imperial, they’re prepping to make the presidency their own scepter. Stay vigilant, stock up, and vote like your arsenal depends on it—because it does.
