U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 9, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
In an article published by The Bulwark on October 9, Never Trump conservative Bill Kristol examines the "guardrails" in U.S. democracy and warns that they're in trouble.
"The American Founders were very much on the side of good fences," Kristol emphasizes. "Good fences are what we tend to call guardrails. And they make for good, free government…. But the guardrails can crumble, and the guardians of the guardrails can falter. And in 2025, they’re crumbling — and we're faltering. Party loyalty has overwhelmed congressional resolution to defend its prerogatives against the executive. Foolish and half-baked doctrines have undermined the willingness of the Supreme Court to check the executive."
Kristol continues, "State and local governments have a limited ability to stand up to their big brother in Washington. And it turns out that non-governmental institutions can be seduced and intimidated into going along with an overreaching executive rather than resisting it. So the most visible guardrails aren't doing the guarding."
The United States' federal government, Kristol notes, also contains "internal guardrails" within its executive branch.
"Once the executive branch becomes large and powerful," Kristol explains, "it turns out that free government and good government depend on guardrails within the executive that check the excessive centralization, politicization, and personalization of government power. These include laws and rules and regulations that guard against the politicization of the military, and protect the career civil service. They include norms and traditions of independence or quasi-independence for the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the intelligence community. They include provisions for inspectors general and protections for whistleblowers."
Kristol warns that while the United States' "guardrails" haven't disappeared altogether, they have been seriously undermined.
"All of this means that our guardrails are in bad shape," the Never Trumper laments. "Yes, those grand institutional walls of Congress and the Supreme Court are crumbling. But the less visible fences within the executive branch itself are also being taken down.
"As both James Madison and Robert Frost knew, this will not end well. Good fences make for — are needed for — a free government and a just society," he adds.
Bill Kristol's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.