There’s a strange sort of energy in the air these days. You can almost feel it—the wheels coming off the rickety jalopy that is Trumpism. The man himself, once a master of chaos and distraction, is looking more and more like a washed-up carnival barker whose tricks have lost their shine. The legal walls are closing in, the rallies are less electric, and the “movement” has become less about a future and more about clinging to a bitter, grievance-soaked past.
But let’s not kid ourselves: while Trump has been busy turning the federal government into a shell of its former self—gutting agencies, stacking departments with yes-men, and driving out career professionals—he’s also unwittingly created a rare opportunity. Nature, as they say, abhors a vacuum. And what we’ve got, right now, is a vacuum the size of Pennsylvania Avenue.
If you’ve ever read Dr. Russell Ackoff—and if you haven’t, now would be a good time—he talks about something called “idealized design.” The gist? When the system you’ve got is broken, don’t just patch the leaks and slap on another coat of paint. Instead, ask yourself: If the current system disappeared overnight, what would you create to take its place? Not what’s possible within the old constraints, but what’s ideal given what we now know.
Well, look around. Thanks to the Trump wrecking ball, a lot of the old constraints are gone—obliterated, really. Agencies like the EPA, Education, even the Post Office, have been hollowed out to the point of absurdity. The courts are in crisis, the CDC is a shell, and the State Department looks like a ghost town. There’s nothing left to “fix.” So, what if we stopped trying to resuscitate the corpse and started imagining a new body politic altogether?
Here’s the opportunity: We get to ask, “What do we want government to look like, now?” Ackoff would tell us to ignore the nostalgic call for a return to the “good old days.” Instead, let’s design forward. A government that’s transparent, accountable, and explicitly built to serve all its people, not just the one percent or the loudest megaphones. What would a Department of Justice look like if it truly prioritized justice? What about immigration—not as a problem to be “solved,” but as a vibrant source of national renewal?
The Trump era, for all its destruction, has left us with a blank page. The lesson is not to cower in fear or yearn for the status quo ante. It’s to seize the moment, roll up our sleeves, and start sketching out the kind of institutions we wish we’d always had. It’s the ultimate act of resistance: refusing to settle for less than the ideal, and demanding a government worthy of the people it serves.
Let’s not waste the vacuum. Let’s fill it—creatively, bravely, and with the best of what we can imagine.
Systems Savvy 