Part I: Democracy in Crisis

Part II: Civil Society under Attack

Part III: What this means at Penn

Part IV: Where do we go from here? 

In a forum on the First 60 Days of the Trump administration we take the long view in order to make sense of the flood of directives, executive orders, cuts, erasures, and attacks and their impact on the state of US democracy. What the administration has itself described as a tactic of “flooding the zone” has already produced disorientation, perplexity, shock, fear, and massive disruptions. Following the format of a teach-in, this forum seeks to explain what is unprecedented about the last sixty days in the life of the United States, but also what belongs to a much longer and wider history. Countering feelings of confusion and disempowerment, we hope to build community and conversations across our campus.