Following the app rebrand last month, “Find Hub” is replacing “Find My Device” in Android Settings with the latest Google Play services update. more…

the once-partitioned space unfolds into a unified interior where vintage terrazzo floors meet bespoke installations. The post oikonomakis siampakoulis reworks 70s flat into open, art-filled home in central athens appeared first on designboom | archit

Trump’s inner circle has taken over one of the biggest crypto conferences in the world—drowning out protests from diehard bitcoiners who believe their “nerd money” shouldn’t be political.

The cloud has changed everything. It’s faster, cheaper, and easier to scale than traditional infrastructure. Initially, most companies chose a single cloud provider. That’s no longer enough. Now, nearly 86% of businesses use more than one cloud. This approach—called multi-cloud—lets teams choose the best features from each provider. But it also opens the door to new security risks. When apps, data, and tools are scattered across platforms, managing security gets harder. And in today's world of constant cyber threats, ignoring cloud security is not an option. Let’s walk through real-world challenges and the best ways to protect business data in a multi-cloud environment. 1. Know What You’re Working With Start with visibility. Make a full inventory of the cloud platforms, apps, and storage your business uses. Ask every department—marketing, finance, HR—what tools they’ve signed up for. Many use services without informing IT. This is shadow IT, and it’s risky. Once you have the list, figure out what data lives where. Some workloads are low-risk. Others involve customer records, credit card data, or legal files. Prioritize those. 2. Build a Unified Security Strategy One of the biggest mistakes companies make is treating each cloud provider as a separate system. Every provider has its own rules, tools, and settings. If your security strategy is broken up, gaps will appear. Instead, aim for a single, connected approach. Use the same access rules, encryption standards, and monitoring tools across all clouds. You don’t want different policies on AWS and Azure—it just invites trouble. Tools like centralized dashboards, SIEM (Security Information and Event Management), and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) help you keep everything in one place. 3. Enforce Strict Access Controls In a multi-cloud world, identity and access control are one of the hardest things to get right. Every platform has its own login system. Without proper integration, mistakes happen. Someone might get more access than they need, or never lose access when they leave the company. Stick to these practices: Use role-based access control. Limit permissions to the bare minimum. Turn on multi-factor authentication. Link logins across platforms using identity federation. The more consistent your access rules are, the easier it is to control who gets in and what they can do. 4. Use the Zero Trust Model Zero Trust means never assume anything is safe. Every user, device, and app must prove itself—every time. Even if a user is on your network, don’t trust them by default. This model reduces risk. It checks each request. It verifies users. And it looks for signs of abnormal behavior, like someone logging in from a new device or country. Zero Trust works well with automation and real-time monitoring. It also forces teams to rethink how data is shared and accessed. 5. Encrypt Data—Always Encryption is a basic but powerful layer of defense. It protects data whether it’s sitting in storage or moving between systems. If attackers get in, encrypted data is useless without the keys. Most cloud platforms offer built-in encryption. But don’t rely only on that. You can manage your own keys with tools like AWS KMS or Azure Key Vault. That gives you more control. To stay safe: Encrypt both at rest and in transit. Avoid default settings. Rotate encryption keys regularly. 6. Monitor in Real Time Security is not a one-time task. You need to watch your systems around the clock. Set alerts for things like large file downloads, unusual logins, or traffic spikes. Centralized monitoring helps a lot. It pulls logs from all your platforms and tools into one place. That way, your security team isn’t flipping between dashboards when something goes wrong. Also, use automation to filter out noise and surface real threats faster. 7. Set Up Regular Audits and Compliance Checks Multi-cloud setups are great for flexibility, but complex when it comes to compliance. Each platform has its own set of controls and certifications. Managing them all can be overwhelming. That’s why audits matter. Run security checks on a regular schedule—monthly, quarterly, or after every major change. Look for misconfigured permissions, missing patches, or unsecured data. And document everything. Also, make sure your tools help meet regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS. Automated compliance scans can help stay on top of this. 8. Prevent Data Loss with Smart Policies Sensitive data is always at risk. Employees might share it by mistake. Attackers might try to steal it. That’s where Data Loss Prevention (DLP) comes in. DLP tools block unauthorized sharing of personal data, financial records, or internal files. You can create rules like “Don’t send customer SSNs over email” or “Block uploads of credit card data to personal drives.” DLP also supports compliance and helps avoid lawsuits or fines when accidents happen. 9. Automate Where You Can Manual work slows things down, and mistakes happen. That’s why automation is key in cloud security. Automate things like: Patch management Access reviews Backup schedules Security alerts Automation speeds up your response time. It also frees your security team to focus on serious issues, not routine tasks. 10. Centralized Security Control One major downside of multi-cloud isa lack of visibility. If you’re jumping between different tools for each cloud, you miss things. Instead, use a centralized security management system. It collects data from all clouds, shows risk levels, flags issues, and helps you fix them from one place. This unified view makes a huge difference. It helps you react faster and stay ahead of threats. Final Thought Cloud providers have made data storage and computing easier than ever. But with great power comes risk. Using multiple clouds gives more choice, but also more responsibility. Most businesses today are not ready. Only 15% have a mature multi-cloud security plan, says the 2023 Cisco Cyber Security Readiness Index. That means many are exposed. The good news? You can fix this. Start with simple steps. Know what you use. Lock it down. Watch it closely. Keep improving. And above all, treat cloud security not as a technical box to check, but as something critical to your business. Because in today’s world, a single breach can shut you down. And that’s too big a risk to ignore.

An artist's illustration of an unlucky massive star approaching a supermassive black hole. Credit: University of Hawai'i Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. At any given time across the universe, massive cosmic bodies are releasing incomprehensible amounts of energy. Stars burn like celestial nuclear fusion reactors, quasars emit thousands of times the luminosity of the Milky Way galaxy, and asteroids slam into planets. But all of these pale in comparison to a new class of events discovered by researchers at the University of Hawai’i’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA). According to their findings published June 4 in the journal Science Advances, it’s time to classify the universe’s most energetic explosions as extreme nuclear transients–or ENTs. ENTs are as devastating as they are rare. They only occur when a massive star at least three times heavier than the sun drifts too close to a supermassive black hole. The colliding forces subsequently obliterate the star, sending out plumes of energy across huge swaths of space. Similar events known as tidal disruption events (TDEs) are known to occur on a (comparatively) smaller scale, and have been documented for over a decade. But ENTs are something else entirely. “ENTs are different beasts,” study lead author and astronomer Jason Hinkle explained in an accompanying statement. “Not only are ENTs far brighter than normal tidal disruption events, but they remain luminous for years, far surpassing the energy output of even the brightest known supernova explosions.” Hinkle was first tipped off to ENTs while looking into transients—longlasting flares that spew energy from a galaxy’s center. Two particularly strange examples captured by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission caught his eye. The pair of events brightened over a much longer timeframe than previously documented transients, but lacked some of their usual characteristics. “Gaia doesn’t tell you what a transient is, just that something changed in brightness,” Hinkle said. “But when I saw these smooth, long-lived flares from the centers of distant galaxies, I knew we were looking at something unusual.” Hinkle soon reached out to observatory teams around the world for what would become a multiyear project to understand these anomalies. In the process, a third suspect was detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego. After months of analysis, Hinkle and collaborators realized they were witnessing something unprecedented. An infrared echo tells us that a dusty torus surrounds the central black hole and newly-formed accretion disk. Credit: University of Hawai’i The ENTs analyzed by astronomers displayed smoother, longer lasting flares that pointed towards something very particular—a supermassive black hole accreting a giant, wayward star. This contrasts with a more standard black hole that typically acquires its material and energy unpredictably, resulting in irregular brightness fluctuations. The energy and luminosity of an ENT boggles the mind. The most powerful ENT documented in Hinkle’s study, Gaia18cdj, generated 25 times more energy than the most powerful known supernovae. For reference, a standard supernova puts out as much energy in a single year as the sun does across its entire 10 billion year lifespan. Gaia18cdj, meanwhile, manages to give off 100 suns’ worth of energy over just 12 months. The implications of ENTs and their massive energy surges go far beyond their impressive energy outputs. Astronomers believe they contribute to some of the most pivotal events in the cosmos. “These ENTs don’t just mark the dramatic end of a massive star’s life. They illuminate the processes responsible for growing the largest black holes in the universe,” said Hinkle. From here on Earth, ENTs can also help researchers as they continue studying massive, distant black holes. “Because they’re so bright, we can see them across vast cosmic distances—and in astronomy, looking far away means looking back in time,” explained study co-author and astronomer Benjamin Shappee. “By observing these prolonged flares, we gain insights into black hole growth when the universe was half its current age… forming stars and feeding their supermassive black holes 10 times more vigorously than they do today.” There’s a catch for astronomers, however. While supernovae are relatively well-documented, ENTs are estimated to occur at least 10 million times less often. This means that further study requires consistent monitoring of the cosmos backed by the support of international governments, astronomical associations, and the public.

Awear Beauty is a new-age cosmetic brand with a philosophy that combines the art of skincare with the science of botanical brilliance. We approached the visual identity for Awear with the idea of creating a space where botanical expertise and science, sustainability and effectiveness can blend. We harnessed the shades of grey and white to create a very clean, premium and wise feel. The visual system is created that depicts the skin cells in a very minimalistic and elemental manner. The typography, placements and elements are created to aid the ease of understanding to empower the brand's ideology of cutting and clutter and being effective. The packaging design for the entire product range is designed with a centralised idea to create an experience for the user. Elegant, simplistic and highly functional. Sleek & premium design along with a minimalistic design pattern that replicates the skin structure conveys the scientific/technology-driven approach of the brand with grace.

Drones Set To Deliver Benefits for Labor-Intensive Industries: Forrester By John P. Mello Jr. June 3, 2025 5:00 AM PT ADVERTISEMENT Quality Leads That Turn Into Deals Full-service marketing programs from TechNewsWorld deliver sales-ready leads. Segment by geography, industry, company size, job title, and more. Get Started Now. Aerial drones are rapidly assuming a key role in the physical automation of business operations, according to a new report by Forrester Research. Aerial drones power airborne physical automation by addressing operational challenges in labor-intensive industries, delivering efficiency, intelligence, and experience, explained the report written by Principal Analyst Charlie Dai with Frederic Giron, Merritt Maxim, Arjun Kalra, and Bill Nagel. Some industries, like the public sector, are already reaping benefits, it continued. The report predicted that drones will deliver benefits within the next two years as technologies and regulations mature. It noted that drones can help organizations grapple with operational challenges that exacerbate risks and inefficiencies, such as overreliance on outdated, manual processes, fragmented data collection, geographic barriers, and insufficient infrastructure. Overreliance on outdated manual processes worsens inefficiencies in resource allocation and amplifies safety risks in dangerous work environments, increasing operational costs and liability, the report maintained. “Drones can do things more safely, at least from the standpoint of human risk, than humans,” said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm, in Bend, Ore. “They can enter dangerous, exposed, very high-risk and even toxic environments without putting their operators at risk,” he told TechNewsWorld. “They can be made very small to go into areas where people can’t physically go. And a single operator can operate several AI-driven drones operating autonomously, keeping staffing levels down.” Sensor Magic “The magic of the drone is really in the sensor, while the drone itself is just the vehicle that holds the sensor wherever it needs to be,” explained DaCoda Bartels, senior vice president of operations with FlyGuys, a drone services provider, in Lafayette, La. “In doing so, it removes all human risk exposure because the pilot is somewhere safe on the ground, sending this sensor, which is, in most cases, more high-resolution than even a human eye,” he told TechNewsWorld. “In essence, it’s a better data collection tool than if you used 100 people. Instead, you deploy one drone around in all these different areas, which is safer, faster, and higher resolution.” Akash Kadam, a mechanical engineer with Caterpillar, maker of construction and mining equipment, based in Decatur, Ill., explained that drones have evolved into highly functional tools that directly respond to key inefficiencies and threats to labor-intensive industries. “Within the manufacturing and supply chains, drones are central to optimizing resource allocation and reducing the exposure of humans to high-risk duties,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Drones can be used in factory environments to automatically inspect overhead cranes, rooftops, and tight spaces — spaces previously requiring scaffolding or shutdowns, which carry both safety and cost risks,” he said. “A reduction in downtime, along with no requirement for manual intervention in hazardous areas, is provided through this aerial inspection by drones.” “In terms of resource usage, drones mounted with thermal cameras and tools for acquiring real-time data can spot bottlenecks, equipment failure, or energy leakage on the production floor,” he continued. “This can facilitate predictive maintenance processes and [optimal] usage of energy, which are an integral part of lean manufacturing principles.” Kadam added that drones provide accurate field mapping and multispectral imaging in agriculture, enabling the monitoring of crop health, soil quality, and irrigation distribution. “Besides the reduction in manual scouting, it ensures more effective input management, which leads to more yield while saving resources,” he observed. Better Data Collection The Forrester report also noted that drones can address problems with fragmented data collection and outdated monitoring systems. “Drones use cameras and sensors to get clear, up-to-date info,” said Daniel Kagan, quality manager at Rogers-O’Brien Construction, a general contractor in Dallas. “Some drones even make 3D maps or heat maps,” he told TechNewsWorld. “This helps farmers see where crops need more water, stores check roof damage after a storm, and builders track progress and find delays.” “The drone collects all this data in one flight, and it’s ready to view in minutes and not days,” he added. Dean Bezlov, global head of business development at MYX Robotics, a visualization technology company headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, added that drones are the most cost and time-efficient way to collect large amounts of visual data. “We are talking about two to three images per second with precision and speed unmatched by human-held cameras,” he told TechNewsWorld. “As such, drones are an excellent tool for ‘digital twins’ — timestamps of the real world with high accuracy which is useful in industries with physical assets such as roads, rail, oil and gas, telecom, renewables and agriculture, where the drone provides a far superior way of looking at the assets as a whole,” he said. Drone Adoption Faces Regulatory Hurdles While drones have great potential for many organizations, they will need to overcome some challenges and barriers. For example, Forrester pointed out that insurers deploy drones to evaluate asset risks but face evolving privacy regulations and gaps in data standardization. Media firms use drones to take cost-effective, cinematic aerial footage, but face strict regulations, it added, while in urban use cases like drone taxis and cargo transport remain experimental due to certification delays and airspace management complexities. “Regulatory frameworks, particularly in the U.S., remain complex, bureaucratic, and fragmented,” said Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst with SmartTech Research in Las Vegas. “The FAA’s rules around drone operations — especially for flying beyond visual line of sight [BVLOS] — are evolving but still limit many high-value use cases.” “Privacy concerns also persist, especially in urban areas and sectors handling sensitive data,” he told TechNewsWorld. “For almost 20 years, we’ve been able to fly drones from a shipping container in one country, in a whole other country, halfway across the world,” said FlyGuys’ Bartels. “What’s limiting the technology from being adopted on a large scale is regulatory hurdles over everything.” Enderle added that innovation could also be a hangup for organizations. “This technology is advancing very quickly, making buying something that isn’t instantly obsolete very difficult,” he said. “In addition, there are a lot of drone choices, raising the risk you’ll pick one that isn’t ideal for your use case.” “We are still at the beginning of this trend,” he noted. “Robotic autonomous drones are starting to come to market, which will reduce dramatically the need for drone pilots. I expect that within 10 years, we’ll have drones doing many, if not most, of the dangerous jobs currently being done by humans, as robotics, in general, will displace much of the labor force.” John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John. Leave a Comment Click here to cancel reply. Please sign in to post or reply to a comment. New users create a free account. Related Stories More by John P. Mello Jr. view all More in Emerging Tech

Nintendo Switch 2 games list – everything you can play right now Michael Beckwith Published June 5, 2025 9:35am Updated June 5, 2025 9:43am Mario Kart World – the Switch 2’s first must-have (Nintendo) The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally out now and there are over a dozen games available, but which are the most exciting and which can be safely ignored? While the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible, allowing you to continue playing through your backlog of Switch 1 games, chances are you’re more interested in checking out what’s new for the console. As it stands, the Switch 2’s launch line-up is solid. There may only be a small handful of first party Nintendo games, but Mario Kart World alone justifies a day one purchase and, if you don’t have a PlayStation or Xbox, there are lots of third party ports of excellent games you’ve missed out on. So, ahead of the Switch 2’s launch on Thursday, June 5, here is a quick rundown of every launch game available for the console, all of which can be pre-ordered now or purchased on launch day. Every launch game for Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour Will you be paying for this? (Nintendo) Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Essentially a glorified instruction manual, this interactive museum teaches you all the features of the Switch 2 through a series of mini-games. Shockingly, this isn’t a free add-on and costs £7.99. Mario Kart World The Switch 2’s big first party exclusive and the first truly new Mario Kart game since 2014 (not counting the mobile game). It’ll be hard to top Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but Mario Kart World aims to do just that by introducing a massive open world to drive around. Here’s our review in progress so far. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition This upgraded version of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is a great demonstration of the Switch 2’s more powerful hardware by offering an improved frame rate and HDR support. If you own the original on Switch you can pay a fee of £7.99 for the upgrade or get it free if you’re a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscriber. The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Both Zelda games will also be compatible with a new Zelda Notes mobile app (Nintendo) Like Breath Of The Wild, the Switch 2 version of The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom only offers visual and performance improvements, although there is the new Zelda Notes mobile app to keep track of and get hints on side quests. As with Breath Of The Wild you can either pay for the upgrade or get it free with Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most technically impressive Switch 2 games, with a performance comparable to the PlayStation 4 Pro. It also comes with the Phantom Liberty DLC and mouse support. Split Fiction Arguably the best co-op game of the current generation, Split Fiction is a more than worthy follow-up to It Takes Two. Thanks to the Switch 2’s GameShare feature, you and a friend can play together with only one copy. Hogwarts Legacy Although Hogwarts Legacy is already available for Switch 1, the new console will be getting an upgraded version that works similarly to the Zelda games. Not only are the graphics improved but you can even use the mouse controls for casting spells. Street Fighter 6 Street Fighter 6 is still going strong among fighting game fans and now Nintendo owners can join in the fun thanks to online cross-play. A standard version is available for £34.99, but you can spend an extra £15 for a version that bundles together all of the DLC characters. Hitman World Of Assassination – Signature Edition There is already a cloud version of Hitman 3 for Switch 1, but this will be the optimal Hitman experience for Nintendo owners going forward. This compiles all the content from IO Interactive’s modern Hitman trilogy alongside a seperate roguelike mode. Sonic X Shadow Generations One of Sonic’s better 3D outings gets an equally good remaster, coupled with an even better adventure centred around Shadow the Hedgehog, in Sonic X Shadow Generations. Unfortunately, Sega isn’t offering any sort of upgrade path for people who bought the Switch 1 version. Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut The Yakuza games have started to find a new home with Nintendo thanks to the Switch 1 port of Yakuza Kiwami and now there’s this updated remaster of Yakuza 0, which adds new cut scenes and an online multiplayer mode. It’s a timed exclusive so it’ll come to other platforms eventually. Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess It’s not for everyone, but Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess’ blend of action and real-time strategy gameplay is wonderfully weird and fascinating. It being on Switch 2 means it can make use of the console’s mouse controls and it comes with new content that’ll also be added to the PlayStation, Xbox, and PC versions. Deltarune The episodic successor to Undertale, it’s been four years since Deltarune’s second chapter launched. For the Switch 2’s launch, not only are the game’s first two chapters being ported to the console (as well as PlayStation 5), but chapters three and four are dropping at the same time as well, for all formats. Survival Kids We’re still surprised Konami opted to reboot this long-forgotten franchise, but as fans of the original Game Boy Color game we’re glad it did. Simply dubbed Survival Kids, it’s less a survival game and more a co-op puzzle adventure where up to four players must explore a series of islands. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S Sega’s second crossover puzzle game featuring Puyo Puyo and Tetris will find new life on Switch 2. So far only confirmed for Nintendo’s new console, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S offers a unique doubles mode for two teams of two to play against one another. Fast Fusion German studio Shin’en Multimedia continues to fill the F-Zero shaped gap in peoples’ hearts with the newest entry in its Fast series of racing games. Aside from online multiplayer and GameShare compatibility, Shin’en promises you can create hundreds of new racing machines by fusing vehicles together. Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster The original Bravely Default gets a much deserved second lease of life with a full Switch 2 remaster. Aside from HD graphics and quality of life updates, the remaster adds two new mini-games and reworks the original’s online features. Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition With the Switch 2’s mouse controls, strategy games like Civilization 7 will hopefully become more commonplace on Nintendo’s platform. If you already own the game on Switch 1, you can upgrade to the Switch 2 version for £8.99. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition Another upgraded port of a strategy game, this complete edition also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Nobunaga’s Ambition series. Aside from mouse control support and all of the original game’s DLC, this includes six new story scenarios. Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azuma Nintendo Switch 2 Edition A new spin-off for the Rune Factory series of role-playing/social sim games, Guardians Of Azuma has you battling monsters one minute and cultivating your own farm the next. It will launch for Switch 1 as well, which you can later upgrade to Switch 2 for a £10 fee. Suikoden 1&2 HD Remaster: Gate Rune And Dunan Unification Wars This compilation of two Suikoden remasters from Konami brings the role playing series to Switch 2 just a few months after its original multiplatform launch. Sadly, there’s no option for Switch 1 owners to upgrade to the new version. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Level-5’s own role playing life sim hybrid only just arrived on Switch 1 and other consoles, but it too is seeing a Switch 2 version at launch. There’s no exact UK price for upgrading from the Switch 1 version, but it’s only $2.59 (about £1.91) in the US, so expect something equally cheap over here. Arcade Archives 2: Ridge Racer For the first time ever, the original arcade version of Ridge Racer from 1993 will be playable on consoles. Although it was initially announced for Switch 2, it is launching for PlayStation and Xbox as well. Fortnite What else is there to say about Fortnite? You know what it’s about. It’ll be free to play as usual and make the most of the Switch 2’s hardware to look and run better than its Switch 1 counterpart. Fortnite fans on Switch will want to think about upgrading (Epic Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

It’s easy to look at President Donald Trump’s second term and conclude that the less power and reach the federal government has, the better. After all, a smaller government might provide Trump or someone like him with fewer opportunities to disrupt people’s lives, leaving America less vulnerable to the whims of an aspiring autocrat. Weaker law-enforcement agencies could lack the capacity to enforce draconian policies. The president would have less say in how universities like Columbia conduct their business if they weren’t so dependent on federal funding. And he would have fewer resources to fundamentally change the American way of life.Trump’s presidency has the potential to reshape an age-old debate between the left and the right: Is it better to have a big government or a small one? The left, which has long advocated for bigger government as a solution to society’s problems, might be inclined to think that in the age of Trump, a strong government may be too risky. Say the United States had a single-payer universal health care system, for example. As my colleague Kelsey Piper pointed out, the government would have a lot of power to decide what sorts of medical treatments should and shouldn’t be covered, and certain forms of care that the right doesn’t support — like abortion or transgender health — would likely get cut when they’re in power. That’s certainly a valid concern. But the dangers Trump poses do not ultimately make the case for a small or weak government because the principal problem with the Trump presidency is not that he or the federal government has too much power. It’s that there’s not enough oversight.Reducing the power of the government wouldn’t necessarily protect us. In fact, “making government smaller” is one of the ways that Trump might be consolidating power.First things first: What is “big government”?When Americans are polled about how they feel about “big government” programs — policies like universal health care, Social Security, welfare for the poor — the majority of people tend to support them. Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the government should be responsible for ensuring everyone has health coverage. But when you ask Americans whether they support “big government” in the abstract, a solid majority say they view it as a threat.That might sound like a story of contradictions. But it also makes sense because “big government” can have many different meanings. It can be a police state that surveils its citizens, an expansive regulatory state that establishes and enforces rules for the private sector, a social welfare state that directly provides a decent standard of living for everyone, or some combination of the three. In the United States, the debate over “big government” can also include arguments about federalism, or how much power the federal government should have over states. All these distinctions complicate the debate over the size of government: Because while someone might support a robust welfare system, they might simultaneously be opposed to being governed by a surveillance state or having the federal government involved in state and local affairs.As much as Americans like to fantasize about small government, the reality is that the wealthiest economies in the world have all been a product of big government, and the United States is no exception. That form of government includes providing a baseline social safety net, funding basic services, and regulating commerce. It also includes a government that has the capacity to enforce its rules and regulations.A robust state that caters to the needs of its people, that is able to respond quickly in times of crisis, is essential. Take the Covid-19 pandemic. The US government, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, was able to inject trillions of dollars into the economy to avert a sustained economic downturn. As a result, people were able to withstand the economic shocks, and poverty actually declined. Stripping the state of the basic powers it needs to improve the lives of its citizens will only make it less effective and erode people’s faith in it as a central institution, making people less likely to participate in the democratic process, comply with government policies, or even accept election outcomes.A constrained government does not mean a small governmentBut what happens when the people in power have no respect for democracy? The argument for a weaker and smaller government often suggests that a smaller government would be more constrained in the harm it can cause, while big government is more unrestrained. In this case, the argument is that if the US had a smaller government, then Trump could not effectively use the power of the state — by, say, deploying federal law enforcement agencies or withholding federal funds — to deport thousands of immigrants, bully universities, and assault fundamental rights like the freedom of speech. But advocating for bigger government does not mean you believe in handing the state unlimited power to do as it pleases. Ultimately, the most important way to constrain government has less to do with its size and scope and more to do with its checks and balances. In fact, one of the biggest checks on Trump’s power so far has been the structure of the US government, not its size. Trump’s most dangerous examples of overreach — his attempts to conduct mass deportations, eliminate birthright citizenship, and revoke student visas and green cards based on political views — have been an example of how proper oversight has the potential to limit government overreach. To be sure, Trump’s policies have already upended people’s lives, chilled speech, and undermined the principle of due process. But while Trump has pushed through some of his agenda, he hasn’t been able to deliver at the scale he promised. But that’s not because the federal government lacks the capacity to do those things. It’s because we have three equal branches of government, and the judicial branch, for all of its shortcomings in the Trump era, is still doing its most basic job to keep the executive branch in check. Reforms should include more oversight, not shrinking governmentThe biggest lesson from Trump’s first term was that America’s system of checks and balances — rules and regulations, norms, and the separate branches of government — wasn’t strong enough. As it turned out, a lot of potential oversight mechanisms did not have enough teeth to meaningfully restrain the president from abusing his power. Trump incited an assault on the US Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 election, and Congress ultimately failed in its duty to convict him for his actions. Twice, impeachment was shown to be a useless tool to keep a president in check.But again that’s a problem of oversight, not of the size and power of government. Still, oversight mechanisms need to be baked into big government programs to insulate them from petty politics or volatile changes from one administration to the next. Take the example of the hypothetical single-payer universal health care system. Laws dictating which treatments should be covered should be designed to ensure that changes to them aren’t dictated by the president alone, but through some degree of consensus that involves regulatory boards, Congress, and the courts. Ultimately, social programs should have mechanisms that allow for change so that laws don’t become outdated, as they do now. And while it’s impossible to guarantee that those changes will always be good, the current system of employer-sponsored health insurance is hardly a stable alternative.By contrast, shrinking government in the way that Republicans often talk about only makes people more vulnerable. Bigger governments — and more bureaucracy — can also insulate public institutions from the whims of an erratic president. For instance, Trump has tried to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a regulatory agency that gets in the way of his and his allies’ business. This assault allows Trump to serve his own interests by pleasing his donors.In other words, Trump is currently trying to make government smaller — by shrinking or eliminating agencies that get in his way — to consolidate power. “Despite Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the size or inefficiency of government, what he has done is eradicate agencies that directly served people,” said Julie Margetta Morgan, president of the Century Foundation who served as an associate director at the CFPB. “He may use the language of ‘government inefficiency’ to accomplish his goals, but I think what we’re seeing is that the goals are in fact to open up more lanes for big businesses to run roughshod over the American people.” The problem for small-government advocates is that the alternative to big government is not just small government. It’s also big business because fewer services, rules, and regulations open up the door to privatization and monopolization. And while the government, however big, has to answer to the public, businesses are far less accountable. One example of how business can replace government programs is the Republicans’ effort to overhaul student loan programs in the latest reconciliation bill the House passed, which includes eliminating subsidized loans and limiting the amount of aid students receive. The idea is that if students can’t get enough federal loans to cover the cost of school, they’ll turn to private lenders instead. “It’s not only cutting Pell Grants and the affordability of student loan programs in order to fund tax cuts to the wealthy, but it’s also creating a gap where [private lenders] are all too happy to come in,” Margetta Morgan said. “This is the small government alternative: It’s cutting back on programs that provided direct services for people — that made their lives better and more affordable — and replacing it with companies that will use that gap as an opportunity for extraction and, in some cases, for predatory services.”Even with flawed oversight, a bigger and more powerful government is still preferable because it can address people’s most basic needs, whereas small government and the privatization of public services often lead to worse outcomes.So while small government might sound like a nice alternative when would-be tyrants rise to power, the alternative to big government would only be more corrosive to democracy, consolidating power in the hands of even fewer people (and businesses). And ultimately, there’s one big way for Trump to succeed at destroying democracy, and that’s not by expanding government but by eliminating the parts of government that get in his way.See More: