Governance by Spectacle: How Deepfakes, Lies, Shutdowns, and Strikes Signal a New Era of Systemic Unraveling
Headlines from last week underscore deeper systemic emergence(s): fiscal coercion, AI propaganda, militarization, & judicial flashpoints reshaping U.S. governance. đpolycritical foresight analysis.
Oof, last week was a doozy. Iâm testing out a new format for paid subscribers where I recap the notable political news stories from the past week, and then offer a flash take through a polycritical foresight lens, looking at each in isolation and then synthesizing them collectively.
Do me a favor: let me know if you like this format as either a comment or response to this email. And if you do appreciate it, share it with a friend who might as well!
On a semi-related note: Iâm excited to host a Live on Wednesday, 10/8, at 12pm EDT/9am PDT with : âHow to Tell Strategic Stories that Clarify Climate Crisis.â RSVP here.
With all that said, off we go.
Stories to Watch
U.S. Government Shutdown & Mass Layoff Threats
Last week marked the beginning of a new federal shutdown as Congress failed to pass budget legislation before the deadline (which, to editorialize for a moment: good. the Democratic party needs to do everything it can to obstruct the Trump administrationâs unlawful, authoritarian squeezeâat minimum forcing them to compromise, and ideally halting their actions altogether).
The administration weaponized the standoff by threatening âirreversibleâ layoffs and altering federal employeesâ out-of-office messages to blame Democrats (despite Republicans controlling the executive, judicial, and legislative branches), sending legal and ethical alarms ablare. Essential services continued, but hundreds of thousands of federal workers faced furloughs and uncertainty, deepening public frustration and political brinksmanship.
Flash Take: This shutdown isnât just a fiscal crisis; itâs a stress test for the administrative state under conditions of executive brinkmanship. By weaponizing the shutdown as a tool for structural downsizing and narrative control, the Trump administration is signaling a shift from temporary budget impasses to governance through disruption. Polycritically, this event shows us how fiscal tools can be deployed as instruments of political consolidation, weakening institutional trust and amplifying downstream shocks across governance, markets, and public services.