From the moment Donald Trump declared his candidacy almost two years ago many people have been hoping that he would somehow evaporate. Crash and burn during the primaries. Lose by a landslide in the general election. Be undone by corruption charges, by the Trump University scam, by the grab-them tape, When he became president-elect, there was a sense of unreality and many Americans half-expected that some grown-up would walk into the room and tell Donnie to put away his toys and go off to bed.
No such grown-up has appeared, but wishful thinking is still very much present in discussions about Trump. He’ll get bored and give up. He’ll be removed as certifiably insane, based on the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. Or the latest dream – that he’ll be impeached once the current scandal involving the potentially treasonous conduct of disgraced National Security Advisor Michael Flynn spreads and reaches all the way to the top.
Indeed, Trump feels like an incubus. But getting rid of him won’t end the national nightmare – in fact, it may make it worse. A lot will need to happen before this evil can be exorcised.
Trump is a brilliant corrupter. He corrupted the conservative movement and the Republican Party, who have sold their soul and even their country in exchange for power. He corrupted the election process by first claiming it was rigged and then actually asking Vladimir Putin to rig it. He corrupted the Constitution by attacking the hallowed institutions and principles of American democracy, from the free press to separation of powers. He corrupted the presidency first by his disgraceful birther attacks on President Barack Obama and now by using the White House to enrich himself and his family. He corrupted America’s image as a beacon for the persecuted by instituting a refugee ban — in the process, corrupting America as the home of the brave by showing that Americans are scared of fake terrorist attacks. He corrupted America’s future by appointing an anti-education secretary of education – and corrupted his cabinet by filling it with incompetent buffoons and ideological hacks. He corrupted the US foreign policy on all fronts, from Russia and Ukraine to Europe and China.
He even corrupted America’s sense of itself – because bias attacks and taunting and bullying at schools increased dramatically since Trump emerged on the national scene.
In short, Trump unerringly corrupts everything he touches. He even corrupts his opponents: we are all corrupted – or at least corroded – by our deep loathing of him. To paraphrase Lord Acton, absolute Trump corrupts absolutely.
In this regard, he is very much like his favorite politician, Putin.
Putin corrupted Russia’s government and its institutions, as well as its economy, national ideology and image around the world. Putin absolutely corrupted what little had been decent in the old Soviet Union – education, science, social services and culture. In a very real way he corrupted the Russian intelligentsia, or at least a major part of it.
It was easy to do so in Russia, which had been a fledgling democracy with an immature civil society. You would think that the United States, the world’s oldest democracy with a solid system of checks and balances, would have been more difficult to corrupt. The truth is, however, that America and its institutions, too, had long been ready to be corrupted.
Thus, Americans in uniform didn’t repudiate Trump when he, a draft dodger who never served, cast doubt on the heroism of John McCain because the man had allowed himself to be captured by the North Vietnamese. The military was rotten long before Trump and from there it was only a tiny step toward a majority of military personnel voting for Trump – despite clear indications that he was in bed with the Russians. Security services had clearly been subverted by the time the FBI’s James Comey blatantly helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton – and got a kiss from Trump after the election. Mired in greed, American business stood ready to respond to Trump’s siren call of deregulation and tax cuts, knowing well that the bubble that is inflating on Wall Street will eventually burst with disastrous consequences.
Pro-Israel American Jews have been happy to disregard Trump’s attacks on Muslims and Mexicans that had distinct echoes of the past scapegoating of the Jews, and to ignore the rise of anti-Semitism and white supremacist bigotry among Trump’s followers. They sold out for Trump’s promise to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
Especially telling has been Trump’s corruption of America’s Evangelicals. Having focused on banning abortion, these so-called Christians embraced a thrice-married libertine. The guy is a compulsive liar and a greedy scam artist who has habitually cheated his clients and partners – as well as committing adultery. While many so-called “value voters” were convinced that Obama was an Antichrist, it is actually Trump who speaks with a forked tongue and spreads evil by playing on the vices, weaknesses, ambitions and resentments of men.
While Trump is guilty of corrupting America, removing him – or even putting him on trial if evidence is found of him colluding with a foreign power to subvert U;S; elections – would not eliminate the rot that has afflicted American society and its institutions and which facilitated his victory. Even now, he continues to be ardently cheered on by his cadres of supporters. His approval ratings may be at record lows for a president barely a month in office – but at 40% or so they are extraordinarily high for this particular president. His incoherent, embarrassing press conference last week was hailed by his supporters are a tour de force and his crowds in Florida were as large and enthusiastic as ever during his latest Nuremberg rally on Saturday.
Such movements as the one that propelled Trump to the White House are built on resentment and directed by the cynicism of their leaders. They actually thrive in opposition. You can see how Trump rallies his troops by accusing the establishment of lying about him and belittling his achievements. If he is removed it will only feed the resentment which cynical leaders will continue to exploit.
It is when they are forced to govern that problems begin. True, four years of Trump will cause an incalculable damage to the American democracy, the world economy, the environment and the world order. However, an economic or political disaster may be required to sober up the United States. True, It is the steep price to pay, but the bill for allowing the institutions of democracy to decay will have to be footed.
When institutions are corrupted to such an extent, they need to be rebuilt from scratch. This is what had to be done in Germany after 1945 and what will have to be done in Russia once Putin is gone. The United States won’t be able to avoid the same process. It will have to change its political class that has been either complicit with trumpism or utterly ineffectual. Both political parties will need to be revamped and there will have to be criminal investigations and trials, with the guilty doing real jail time or lustrated. Obama’s lame talk about looking forward, not backwards, will no longer do.
