What to make of the Trump administration backing down

This week, the Trump administration did a seemingly uncommon thing – it reversed course under pressure.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House subcommittee this week that the Justice Department would not go forward with its plans to implement a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.

Fellow Republicans in Congress who saw it as funneling federal money to the president’s supporters – possibly including Jan. 6 rioters – held up other legislation in protest.

For a president who claims broad authority over nearly everything, what can we make of his administration backing down?

The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum, a historian of modern authoritarianism, weighs in.

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