2025 10-13 Matters of Democracy China and trade; Shutdown; Quid-Pro-quo; Ecomonics

analysis on the current political, administrative, and economic landscape as of mid-October 2025. Key developments center on the Trump administration's increasingly assertive agenda, which is being executed with less internal resistance and greater external compliance compared to the first term. The administration has initiated mass firings of federal workers amid a government shutdown, escalated a trade conflict with China, and pursued controversial domestic policies including the deployment of the National Guard, the cancellation of major renewable energy projects, and attempts to exert control over elite universities.

Concurrently, a government shutdown persists, with Democrats conditioning its end on policy "guardrails" to limit executive overreach. Redistricting battles are intensifying in Missouri and Ohio as Republicans seek to solid ...