Wreckage was telegraphed long before Trump took office

Departing the White House aboard Marine One on Wednesday, Donald Trump flew over an uneasy capital sewn tight by armed troops and razor wire. The seat of the federal government was a crime scene awash in a pandemic, and Trump was fleeing to Joint Base Andrews for a last ride aboard the presidential jet to his Palm Beach country club.

As he stood on the tarmac near Air Force One amid a small crowd of aides and loyalists, a military band and several hundred fewer Army cannons than he probably wanted, the first president in modern history to skip his successor’s inauguration promised there would be a second act.

“What we’ve done has been amazing by any standard,” he allowed. “We will be back in some form.”

Perhaps. But Trump is now a private citizen and no longer has access to the nuclear codes or the national psyche. A profoundly lonely man who spent months neglecting his duties while fomenting an insurrection now faces a future beset with financial and legal perils. His psychological shortcomings leave him indifferent about his legacy, but it should still concern the rest of us.

The four signature policy achievements of Trump’s presidency were a massive tax cut that largely benefited the most affluent Americans and major corporations, a more conservative federal judiciary, a wave of environmental deregulation and a more pugnacious approach to China. The tax cut didn’t provide the economic boost its advocates claimed, and there was much less to the White House’s deregulation boasts than met the eye. U.S. stances toward China are likely to remain hardened in substance even if they become more sophisticated in form. Reshaping the court was a long-lasting accomplishment.

Only the fisticuffs with China required a Trump presidency to be fully realized. Any Republican in the Oval Office, working with former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a Republican House of Representatives, would have been able to get a tax cut, a smattering of deregulation and a conservative court. Trump’s ineptitude helped undermine the same team’s attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. He largely stayed out of the way on the other policy wins, except China.

The trade-off for empowering Trump to get this little set of touchdowns? Mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant loss of life, economic devastation and social unrest. A shameful crackdown on immigrants that tore families apart and turned the U.S. border with Mexico into a militarized zone. The weaponization of racism and bigotry alongside the enfranchisement of white nationalism. Rampant, unchecked financial conflicts of interest. Public corruption and disregard for the rule of law. A cast of White House characters reminiscent of Bond villains. Environmental degradation. Civic fissures and street violence. Yawning income inequality. Reputational loss overseas. Incessant propaganda. The Capitol under siege and democracy in play. Two impeachments.

All of this wreckage was telegraphed long before Trump became president. The only surprises were how easily Trump corrupted the people, institutions and processes surrounding him. His legacy, on balance, is abhorrent.

Even if Trumpism doesn’t march on with Trump’s kids, it will remain with us for some time. The Frank Sinatra standard, “My Way,” boomed from speakers as Air Force One departed for Florida on Wednesday. It was hilarious to hear Trump’s presidency end with a paean to guys who march to their own drummers, sans regrets. But I’m not in Trump’s base.

Trump’s hardcore base — maybe 25 to 30 million of the 74 million people who voted for him — like the “My Way” ideal of him. They’re loyal to the macho gunslinger who pretends to upend institutions and norms on their behalf, even if he fails to bring back their jobs, pads the wallets of the most affluent among them and makes it easier for white people to rampage. That magnetism, built on lies, is what gives the president’s legacy some traction.

What’s indisputable is that Trump and his enablers shredded a number of quaint notions about racial and economic equality and progress in the U.S. They also weakened the foundations of democracy and tore us apart from one another. So we have work to do. Fortunately, voters chose the dedicated public servant to be president and sent the dangerous bully packing.