To call Trump an averation of American history would be wrong. There’s been worse. The Confederates come to mind. And the many who were complicit in the slave trade. And Andrew Jackson.
But, Trump is our monent. A unique invention of our times. He belongs to us all.
To some he is the voice of the many. The spirited fighter driven by raw instinct with a sixth sense for saying out loud what others can only embarrassingly think. He is raw, crass, unpolished, and “the real deal.” Never mind that he lies, cheats, and is exclusively about winning. To his fanatical followers all of his misgivings are a small prize to pay for a renewed sense of greatness. To them he is indeed “the right man at the right time.”
To those that are with him – or tolerate him or have him as a useful idiot – I say: We got what we paid for, a con man par excellence.
Is there any doubt that this man is driven by nothing other than his sickening ego? Is there any doubt that this man will go to any extent, hurt anyone, and do whatever it takes to stay in power, stay relevant? Is there any doubt that in this man’s mind he can simply not comprehend the thought that he lost?
And most critical, is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that this man is a tool for Putin – or at least his useful idiot?
Think about it. Not a single time has this President ever never said anything negative about Putin. Most recently even in the face of overwhelming consensus that Russia is behind the hacks damaging government agencies he still refuses to say anything negative about Putin. And instead he deflects the conversation to imply China is behind the hacks.
He is the first president since the Civil War to entertain the idea of secession. He is the first president since the internment of Japanese Americans to consider instituting martial law. He is the first president to choose to be absent from public view in time of a dire national crisis, choosing instead to hide behind his tweets. And he is the first President to not concede – and worse yet intice others to join him in his malicious lie that he won the election.
It is yet to be seen how much more damage he can do in the 30 days left in his administration. But is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that this man can and is willing to create maximum chaos? Putin could not have planned it any better. I will leave to conspiracy theorists to determine whether the charge was given to him verbally, written or as an understood innuendo. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. The result is the same. Pure chaos. Destabilize and divide America in every conceivable way. Instill distrust. Avoid anything resembling normalcy or certainty. Keep people off balance, guessing, and obsessed with not knowing what is next. Welcome to the chaos culture.
The damage is done. Of course it is repairable. But it will take time – a long time. What this man has done to this country is nothing short of treason. It may take years to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s necessary to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. But that day will come.
In the meantime we will forge forward. We will work with the large number of people that are willing to work with others to get past this nightmare and reclaim some semblance of governance normalcy. It will not be easy. This will not be for the faint at heart. We will stumble. But we will prevail.
And thus, what to make of Trump? Don’t dismiss or underestimate him for a NY second. Evil morphs, adapts, resurfaces – and worse.
Stay vigilant. Strengthen institutional Democracy. Relentlessly name his misdeeds – and those of his cronies. And never ever forget. He may soon be gone, but his venom lives on. It always has and it always will. Goodness will prevail. But, for goodness to prevail good people have to remain hyper-conscious, active, connected, and good to to the core; and avoid vengeance and tit-for-tat.
Trumpism has no place in our collective future. Let’s make Trump part of our history, a history from which we will learn for the sake of our future – but history nonetheless.