Coterie Politics: Shape of Things Present

There is a new political formation in the United States—let’s call it the coterie. It is rapidly becoming the most effective means for gaining and keeping political power. A tight group, it binds its members through strict loyalties and offers them the rewards—sometimes substantial—of close, usually exclusive access to a political leader. Coterie members perform most of the footwork in political campaigns and take a disproportionate role in the decisions of their leader once he is...