This Is What’s Behind Trump’s Relentlessness

By Jackson Lears and John Guida

Mr. Lears is the author of “Animal Spirits: The American Pursuit of Vitality From Camp Meeting to Wall Street.” Mr. Guida is an editor in Opinion.

One of the great questions of our time is how to make sense of the relentlessness of the second Trump administration. The relentlessness itself may be an expression of a particular, and deeper, American cultural current. Jackson Lears, a cultural historian and the author of, among other books, “Animal Spirits: The American Pursuit of Vitality From Camp Meeting to Wall Street,” explored that topic in a written conversation with John Guida, an editor in Times Opinion. It has been edited for length and clarity.

John Guida: There has been, in Trump 2.0, a near-constant hum of activity, from the war in Iran to the tearing down and potential rebuilding of the White House ballroom. A lot has........

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