Carson Burch ’27 is a government major from Chesapeake, Virginia. He is a member of the History Club, Public Policy Club, Lutheran Students’ Association and Theodore Roosevelt Society. Outside of his studies and social life, he enjoys reading about historical and current events in addition to dinosaurs. You can contact him at ceburch@wm.edu.
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
In the 10 years that Donald Trump has monopolized American political culture, much ink has been spilled trying to put his activities and the state of our nation in a historical context (a trend which I myself have contributed to). However, there is one way to make at least partial sense of his presidency I feel has not yet been explored: machine politics.
For those who have not studied Gilded Age politics or taken Political Parties with professor John McGlennon at the College of William and Mary, a big influence on the political system in the 19th and early 20th centuries were political machines, or networks of special interest groups and political officials that worked together to benefit themselves through the political process. The most famous was undeniably Tammany Hall, which, under the leadership of men like Boss Tweed, worked to assure Democratic dominance in New York City by courting the votes of non Anglo-Saxon whites. This form of political organization was not unique to the Big Apple, however. Virginia was once under the thumb of a machine known as the Byrd Organization, and Richard Daley in Chicago had his own operation until his death in 1976. Although the most famous were Democratic organizations, Republicans made use of political machines as well: former President Chester Arthur rose to prominence in the GOP through his role in New York Sen. Roscoe Conkling’s operation.
One notable similarity between Trump and a machine boss is the love of patronage in the civil service. In the 19th century, most government jobs were subject to at-will employment, and the winning party would often dispense jobs to cronies. This “spoils system” defined politics at the time to a level unimaginable today. Former President James Garfield was even assassinated for refusing to hire a man who felt owed a federal job after working as a speechwriter during the 1880 campaign. Afterwards, the idea of civil service reform caught on, and the bureaucracy was increasingly run by professionals chosen for merit rather than their partisan loyalties. It’s hard to not see an attempt to undo this reform in the Trump administration’s actions, such as efforts to fire civil servants and make them more subject to at-will employment. In replacing these workers, the administration has made personal loyalty a key aspect of obtaining employment in the government, just as machines prioritized party affiliation above all else.
Using the government itself to assist in campaigning is also classic machine politics. Many machines required government employees to contribute their salaries, funded by taxpayers, or their time to campaign activities. Trump has done something similarly outrageous by using public money for campaign ads. This almost certainly violates federal laws which emerged partially to stop machines from abusing New Deal agencies, but Trump did it anyway, showing a plain contempt for good government.
Another key aspect of machine politics was borderline electoral bribery. Tammany often provided Irish-Americans with social support and jobs in return for their votes in election season. Trump’s promise to write a $5,000 check to all Americans if his party wins in November is something Boss Tweed would have probably regarded as a brilliant campaign strategy, as it similarly serves as a financial inducement to encourage a particular form of voting behavior.
The use of government to enrich both oneself and aligned special interests was also a key machine tactic we see replicated today. A big part of political machines was construction firms, which received grossly inflated contracts for public works projects in return for providing employment to loyal voters and contributing to campaigns, as well as land speculators who engaged in insider trading on property (one Tammany official even described this activity as “honest graft”). Similarly, southern machine leaders like Virginia Sen. Thomas Staples Martin relied heavily on clientelistic relationships with railroads. In today’s world, public office sure has been profitable for Trump and his associates: The Trump family has made billions of dollars since the 2024 election. Allies of Trump have also made a lot of money, with contracts for vanity projects such as the botched Reflecting Pool renovation conveniently going to Trump donors.
I doubt that Trump consciously set out to recreate Tammany Hall, mostly because it would require him to read books (a thing he is notoriously averse to doing). But I do think the political behaviors of his administration have resulted in him recreating the machine model as if by convergent evolution due to the opportunities for power and wealth it provides. Regardless of how exactly Trump settled on this method, the consequences will be very bad. If you think the government is corrupt now, imagine how much worse it could be when partisan affiliation is the main basis for federal employment and politicians openly bribing voters for support is normalized. The only thing that can stop it is for us, as citizens, to refuse to fall for these tactics and not let our votes be bought. I hope we can find the strength to keep going forward rather than “Make America Great Again” by reverting to an old form of corruption.
