Contrary to normal incumbency behavior, the administration downplays good news on crime and border crossings to sustain a sense of emergency. That manufactured crisis atmosphere is then used to justify extraordinary domestic deployments and hard‑power measures.
— If leaders suppress positive indicators to maintain emergency footing, it reframes how media and institutions should audit claims used to expand executive power.
Mary Harrington
2025.12.02
65% relevant
The piece argues the pandemic was used to justify sweeping technocratic remakes and that the resulting policies delivered surveillance and poor basic public services, echoing the theme that crisis framings are politically instrumental and that their misuse undermines competence and legitimacy.
Matthew Yglesias
2025.12.01
90% relevant
Yglesias argues the administration is manufacturing or amplifying a crisis (military deployments off Venezuela, Treasury comments about oil) to achieve political and economic ends; this directly mirrors the existing idea that leaders sometimes sustain emergency framings to justify extraordinary measures.
Matt Goodwin
2025.12.01
70% relevant
The author accuses Reeves of fabricating or exaggerating a 'black hole' in the finances to justify policy choices—the same dynamic described in the existing idea where leaders manufacture or sustain crisis narratives to expand power or justify contested policies.
Rafael A. Mangual
2025.11.28
75% relevant
Mangual highlights how the Guard deployment is being debated as part of a larger 'crime plague' framing and how critics immediately blamed the president for the deployment decision—this mirrors the idea that leaders and commentators manipulate crisis language and that such narratives shape policy and public perceptions.
Matthew Yglesias
2025.10.09
100% relevant
The article notes falling irregular crossings and crime while the White House pushes National Guard city deployments and touts strikes on Venezuelan boats.