If we make it through this dark period of history with democracy intact, it may be because the administration’s incompetence outweighed its depravity. Once again, this week we were confronted with these two competing realities.

On one hand, Donald Trump is using the power of the state to attack his political opponents, undermine the rule of law and scapegoat the most vulnerable. On the other, he and his band of misfits continue to elevate incompetence to a new art form.

In a new escalation of his weaponization of government, Trump directed the Department of Justice to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s leading fundraising platform. If Trump is successful in undermining ActBlue, it will only encourage further targeting of opposition institutions.

Meanwhile, we learned of a second case in which a man was sent to a Salvadoran gulag in express violation of a court order. In this instance, a federal judge…

You’re reading a sample of what's included in our premium membership — on Fridays, Marc revisits the week’s top stories with his personal insights on where these developments might lead. Today, Marc dives into:

• Recapping a week of administration blunders and pro-democracy victories
  
  
• A big-picture look at the institutions under attack and lessons on how to defend them
  
  
• The law students fighting back where Big Law folded
  
  
• A new line crossed in the tug-of-war between Trump and local officials