Apocalyptic anxiety has simmered in American politics for centuries, and in recent years, that sense of dread revelation has come to a boil. The Washington Post warns that “democracy dies in darkness.” The postliberal political theorist Patrick Deneen famously argues that liberalism has “failed.” Standing against a blood-red backdrop in September, President Biden invoked a “battle for the soul of this nation.” And on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump told the crowd assembled at the Ellipse: “We’re gathered together in the heart of our nation’s capital for one very, very basic and simple reason: To save our democracy.” Adding to these tensions is a host of negative trends: skyrocketing overdose deaths, spiking crime, collapsing credibility among many institutions, and growing conflict abroad.
In early 2021, Tablet editor Alana Newhouse surveyed the American landscape and declared that “everything is broken.” Just before Thanksgiving this year, she returned to this theme as a way of articulating American political conflict.
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