Something has gone missing from American politics. Since the beginning of the new administration in January, public debate focused on general ideas has largely disappeared. Yes, President Trump has a few issues he consistently supports, such as limitations on immigration and lower taxes; and yes, some members of Congress remain strongly wedded to a general theoretical position, which they sometimes promote at the tail end of news shows. But the existence of an integrated set of ideas stemming from a single principle, what some used to call “ideology,” is absent. In its place is the daily run of news stories and commentary focused on assessment of the president’s personality and character, on charges of misdeeds and scandals, on personnel battles and rumored changes of White House staff, and on temporary reactions to decisions that change with each particular policy. There is no public discussion about these matters that fixes a framework of debate, no connective tissue of thought that links what happens on one day to the next.

The mass media lead the way. Coverage concentrates on breaking stories and revelations that are fueled by inveterate ideological motives one day and aberrant tweets the next, but the content of the accounts has nothing to do with any ongoing theoretical conflict. Everything is an alleged report of one kind or another, meant to stir a sense of drama that will portend ill or good for the fate of the administration. A brief initial period of partial thematic orientation linked to Steve Bannon faded as he slowly saw his influence dwindle and his position finally terminated. There remains a new intellectual journal out there, founded to promote Trump’s revolution, but American Greatness has little to no guiding influence over administration policy debate. This is a presidency that has a few choice policy positions but no sustained ideological direction.