Okay, let's be clear: the past five years in this country have been dark. What some people, myself included, long suspected about an increasing leaning towards fascism have came to fruition. It may be the last days of the Trump presidency, but it seems clearer than ever that the man in the Oval Office right now is not a fan of democracy, or of traditional American values. Indeed, even his close former political allies now admit that he is unstable and dangerous to democracy.
From the time when Trump's ridiculous, practical joke feeling presidential run suddenly gained momentum and became like a wrecking ball, first destroying every other candidate in the Republican field, then destroying the well-oiled Clinton political machinery, and then doing it's best to destroy America's democratic institutions, this has been a time of depressing, sobering realities.
Indeed, if I would describe Trump's political impact in any way, a wrecking ball would indeed probably be the most apt description. For some, especially those who immediately took to Trump, this had a certain appeal. But once the wrecking ball started destroying some long cherished democratic institutions, this appeal of Trump as some kind of a wrecking ball grew increasingly thin. Many detractors had warned that this guy was not a fan of democracy, and that he had a decidedly authoritarian streak to him. Yet while they rang alarm bells when Trump would make what he referred to as "jokes" about being "president for life" and running for a third or a fourth or a fifth term, many of his supporters waved this off as somehow ridiculous.
Yet, things grew worse. He kept engaging in behavior that kept pushing the envelope, and more and more people felt that they could no longer support this man. As the country's name increasingly became tarnished with some frankly embarrassing actions and behavior, more and more people finally wised up and recognized the threat that this man posed. Still, though, he continued to have his loyal supporters, and many Americans still somehow, inexplicably, believed that Trump was being victimized and being treated harshly, being forced to endure what no other president had to endure before. The fact that the level of disrespect that many of his critics showed him directly mirrored the level of disrespect and disdain that he showed to anyone he felt stood in his way never seemed to occur to them, or to bother them in the least.
Through it all, his supporters kept being apologists for everything that he said and did, no matter how embarrassing or disgraceful or degrading to the country. When he showed an interest in dictatorial powers, suggesting that maybe he should be "president for life," they insisted that he was joking. Even when he kept mentioning running (and he always assumed that he would win) well beyond a second term, they kept claiming that he was not being serious.
Then, last week, he showed just how serious he was. He gave a speech and directed the crowd to go to the Capitol building, claiming that he would be going with them. That, of course, was just another one of his trademark lies, as he got into a limo to be driven in high style for the less than two blocks to the White House, while the crowd indeed marched to the Capitol building. The rest, of course, we all know about.
Call it the Capitol building putsch. Like the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, it failed. The Nazis failed to gain power after that, while the Trumpists failed to secure maintaining power beyond the inauguration scheduled for next week. In the end, he could not overturn an election. But he sure tried, didn't he?
Now, even many political allies are admitting that he was wrong, and that yes, he does have a decidedly authoritarian, even fascist, streak in him. Clearly, he is not a fan of democracy, and even they have finally gotten the message. Somehow, they managed to plug their ears and avoid that message despite more than four years (going back to his campaign) of relentlessly attacking the media and doing everything possible to attack democratic institutions. But the literal assault on the most iconic government building in the country - what some are now calling the "Temple of our democracy" - was a bridge too far, even for them.
Many Trump loyalists are finally turning on this president. That includes Chris Christie, who says that Trump's role in last week's Capitol insurrection was indeed an impeachable offense. Lindsey Graham, one of the most obnoxiously pro-Trump loyalists in Congress over the past four years, also turned his back on Trump in the aftermath of the Capitol attack. Ditto with Kelly Loeffler. And Liz Cheney. And Mitch McConnell, evidently, as he is seriously considering impeachment this time around. Even Vice-President Mike Pence seemed to have had enough.
One anonymous senior administration official, who admitted to dismissing the claims that this man was a fascist for years, has now finally conceded that his boss is, indeed, a fascist:
“This is confirmation of so much that everyone has said for years now — things that a lot of us thought were hyperbolic. We’d say, ‘Trump’s not a fascist,’ or ‘He’s not a wannabe dictator.’ Now, it’s like, ‘Well, what do you even say in response to that now?’”
Yeah, really, how do they respond to remaining willfully blind to that now, when our democracy has clearly been attacked, undermined, and severely weakened for years?
Is a simple apology enough? Not really.
But he went on:
“This is like a plot straight out of the later, sucky seasons of House of Cards where they just go full evil and say, ‘Let’s spark mass protests and start wars and whatever,’” the senior administration official said.
“I went through Access Hollywood, Charlottesville — all of these insane things. There’s some degree of growing accustomed to the craziness. It’s not like my heart is racing, like, Oh God, how am I supposed to react to this? It’s just more that I’m depressed. For people who devoted years of their lives to dealing with the insanity in an attempt to advance a policy agenda that you believe in, all of that has been wiped out. The legacy of the Trump administration is going to be that the president sparked an insurrection and people died because he tried his best to not abide by the Constitution and the tradition of a peaceful transition of power that’s been the norm since our founding. Nothing else is even going to be a side note.”
Well, that much I can agree with. Trump's legacy, or what passes for one, is clearly going to be dominated by his unprecedented greed, narcissism and yes, his authoritarianism. This man has always tried to force everyone else's hand to get what he wants. That works in the business world, evidently. Not so much in a democracy, which is why he relentlessly attacked it, and undermined it, and ultimately, seriously weakened it. We now know more than we ever did just how fragile our democracy is.
For now, Trump has been defeated. He effectively stood down, conceding not so much the election, but acknowledging that a new administration would soon be coming in. So evidently, our democratic traditions and institutions were strong enough to survive an authoritarian who tried to effectively end our democracy.
However, there are over 74 million Americans who did not get it, who supported Trump in this last election. Apparently, they are not big fans of democracy and/or do not really fully understand what democracy actually is. And they could bring into power someone who, next time, might finish the job of killing our American democracy. All it would take is someone a little smarter and more tactful than Trump, someone frankly more competent.
Unfortunately, I think that person is coming. What we do depends on what lessons we learn right now in the wake of the Era of Trump.
Below is the link to the article which I used in writing this blog entry, and from which I obtained the quotes from an anonymous Trump official used above:
Senior Trump Official: We Were Wrong, He’s a ‘Fascist’ by Olivia Nuzzi, Jan. 8, 2021
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