The Qualification Gap
What JD Vance Reveals About Who Governs Now
Civics Unhinged — Online Satire Magazine
Dispatches from Trumpistan • Written by F.P. Dunneagin
Featured Dispatch
Mr. Dunneagin Speaks
The Truths Presidents Hear—or Don't
How organizational culture determines what truths reach the Oval Office—and which never do.
Essential Reading
Five curated entry points to the Civics Unhinged catalog.
Flagship Series
Mr. Dunneagin Speaks
A running commentary on power, performance, and the operating system of the state.
The Truths Presidents Hear—or Don't
How organizational culture determines what truths reach the Oval Office—and which never do.
Why I Write: On Politics & Political Satire
On Politics & Political Satire
Why I Write (Still): The Case for Satire in a Post-Conviction Presidency
The Case for Satire in a Post-Conviction Presidency
The Presidency Teddy Roosevelt Would Not Recognize
On stewardship, spectacle, and the direction of executive power.
Latest Dispatches
-
Why I Write: On Politics & Political Satire
On Politics & Political Satire
-
Why I Write (Still): The Case for Satire in a Post-Conviction Presidency
The Case for Satire in a Post-Conviction Presidency
-
The Presidency Teddy Roosevelt Would Not Recognize
On stewardship, spectacle, and the direction of executive power.
-
When Congress Stopped Saying No
-
Limiting the Presidency: We Have the Tools, But Will We?
On the uncomfortable distinction between holding constitutional authority and actually choosing to use it.
-
The President Who Monetizes the Presidency
On the constitutional hazards of executive enterprise, and what happens when the chief magistrate's office is valued by the yield.
-
At What Point Does Surprise Cease to Be a Surprise?
On the Curious Habit of Being Surprised by the Predictable
-
The Price of the Performance State
As inflation rises, war costs mount, and trillion-dollar defense spectacles dominate the political stage, Trump’s second presidency reveals something larger than fiscal irresponsibility. Public money is increasingly being transformed into political theater, where national grandeur matters more than civic sustainability, and citizens are treated less as stakeholders than as the audience for an endless performance.
Departments
Trump-Era Governance How the machinery of the state is being rewired, one norm at a time. 59 essays Democratic Norms The unwritten rules that held the republic together, and what their erosion costs. 51 essays Trump's Second Term Field notes from the operating system, now that the circus has become the government. 17 essays Foreign Policy America's standing abroad, read as a disclosure about its character at home. 9 essays Sovereignty Who decides, who belongs, and who gets to draw the line. 8 essays Trade & Tariffs Economics as theater, and the bill that comes due after the curtain falls. 5 essays Corruption & Patronage Loyalty and access where competence used to stand. 4 essays The Loyalty Economy When fealty becomes the currency and merit becomes the markup. 5 essays Civil Service The career workforce that runs the government, and the campaign to make it personal. 6 essays
Spoken Edition
Spoken Dispatches
Listen to audio dispatches and podcast recordings on the Substack archive repository.
Listen to Audio Archive →From the Bookshelf
Fourthwall Editions
Collected volumes and reader editions—including Volumes 1, 2, 3, and The Liar’s Guide to Autocracy.
Browse Fourthwall Shop →Browse the Archives
Browse by topic, by series, or date. Every Tuesday dispatch compiles toward a permanent, physical record.