Trump is the big threat to law, order

This election “is no longer about Donald Trump’s tweeting,” conservative historian Victor Davis Hanson told Fox News the other night. Nor is it about “a lockdown, the virus, the economy (or) foreign policy. It’s an existential question ... and I’m going to vote for civilization.”

Ah, the conservative warning of barbarians at the gate. It’s a hardy perennial. I recognize it because, as a conservative myself, I’m in sympathy with it — to a point. In “The Righteous Mind,” Jonathan Haidt observed progressives and conservatives are motivated by morality, but their hierarchies are different. Progressives tend to value care, especially for victims of oppression, while conservatives cherish order and sanctity. Order is no small virtue in a polity, and progressives shouldn’t discount it. Arguably, it’s the foundation for other virtues progressives treasure such as fairness.

The conservative battle cry in response to the dreadful news of the past three months is to point to the mobs toppling statues as evidence safety and security are threatened.

Disorder in the streets is an engraved invitation to a rightwing backlash. But there are two reasons the current conservative appeal to law and order is several tones flat. The first is that while there has been some rioting and looting, the vast majority of protests have been peaceful and the trajectory is toward less, not more, violence. The second problem with the call to defend the gates of civilization is this: Donald Trump is the barbarian.

An orderly society is not one that performatively hugs the American flag but one that upholds the rule of law for which it stands. Throughout his administration, Trump has demonstrated contempt for law. He has violated campaign finance laws by paying off a porn star, flouted legal subpoenas from Congress and other duly constituted authorities looking into administration actions, unlawfully diverted Defense Department funds to begin building a border wall, wrongly fired numerous inspectors general and encouraged police to rough up arrestees — among uncountable other violations.

In addition to respect for the law, a thriving civilization requires a certain minimum level of integrity and honor in its people, particularly in its leaders. This president is not just the most dishonest person ever to darken 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he and his enablers have made war on the very concept of truth.

The annihilation of truth permits the cultivation of group hatreds. Trump’s followers are led to despise supposedly criminal immigrants, “disloyal” Republicans, ungrateful allies, the press, the courts and the “deep state.” Conspiracy theories that any competent fifth grader can detect as bogus grace the president’s Twitter feed.

One of the most admirable features of our civilization is our dedication to human dignity. While imperfectly implemented, our basic commitment to human rights around the globe has been an aspiration shared by Democrats and Republicans. But with a barbarian in the Oval Office, we are now “falling in love” with Kim Jong Un, praising Rodrigo Duterte for extrajudicial murders, defending Vladimir Putin by suggesting we are just as guilty of murdering our enemies as he and giving the green light to China to build concentration camps.

So a statue or two may unjustly bite the dust, but the greater threat to law and order and yes, civilization, is the guy at the Resolute Desk.