The Politics of Demolition

American politics has entered an era where demolition is mistaken for leadership.

We celebrate the loudest disruptor, the figure most willing to tear down what exists, the one least constrained by memory, norms, or continuity. In this climate, destruction feels like momentum. Breaking things feels like proof of strength. And yet, demolition alone never produces a functioning society. It only exposes what happens when institutions have already stopped doing their job.

Donald Trump did not invent the breakdown of American conservatism. He revealed it.

Long before Trump arrived, the conservative movement had grown brittle. Its governing ideas lagged behind economic reality. Its institutions valued ideological purity over problem solving. Its leadership class became more comfortable defending abstractions than adapting to pressure. When a figure emerged who treated those institutions as optional accessories rather than load bearing structures, they collapsed with surprising ease.

This is the uncomfortable truth many prefer to avoid: Trump did not overpower American conservatism. He walked through walls that were already hollow.

What followed looked like reconstruction, but it is not. It is demolition without a blueprint.

Trump governs not as an institution builder but as a developer. Attention is the asset. Disruption is the strategy. Process is a nuisance. Consequences are someone else’s problem. This approach creates spectacle and speed, but it does not create stability. Developers flip properties. They do not steward communities.

That distinction matters because democracy is not sustained by moments of disruption. It survives through maintenance. Through institutions that remember why things were built the way they were. Through leaders who accept that governing is less about dominance and more about durability.

When institutions fail to adapt, someone eventually ignores them. When memory erodes, grievance fills the gap. When continuity disappears, politics becomes episodic and personal. Power stops flowing through systems and starts flowing through individuals. That is not renewal. It is volatility.

The deeper danger is not nationalism, populism, or even Trump himself. The danger is a political culture that no longer believes in building things meant to last. Once politics becomes detached from stewardship, every leader is forced to choose between impotence and excess. There is no middle ground. There is no patience for repair.

This is why Trump’s legacy feels simultaneously enormous and unfinished. He revealed the weakness of old structures, has accelerated their collapse, and showed how much could be accomplished when norms are ignored. But he offers no replacement capable of governing beyond his own presence and whim. Demolition creates space for change, but it also creates risk. Without a clear plan for reconstruction, the damage compounds.

History is not kind to figures who confuse destruction with creation. They are remembered not as founders but as transitional forces. Important and disruptive, but ultimately incomplete.

The real work ahead is quieter and harder. It is the work of rebuilding institutional capacity. Of restoring legitimacy not through volume or spectacle, but through competence and trust. Of creating systems that can adapt without breaking, change without erasing themselves, and govern without depending on singular personalities.

Healthy democracies are not held together by charisma. They are held together by people willing to do unglamorous work over long periods of time.

We do not need more demolition crews.

We need builders again.

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About Andrew Flynn

Andrew is a Mt. Lebanon commissioner, public finance and policy expert, volunteer firefighter, and community advocate committed to building safer, more resilient, and better-connected neighborhoods. Through public service and hands-on experience, Andrew works every day to make a positive impact in our community.

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