I thought we’d get by with Trump; I was wrong
It is customary this time of year for opinion columnists to review their performance and offer a mea culpa where appropriate. My list is long enough that I thought I’d get an early start.
My biggest mistake is actually four years old, which can be explained but not, as it turns out, justified. On the eve of Election 2016, I wrote that we’d survive as a nation no matter who won, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. I did not say we’d be fine. Mere survival seemed a fairly safe bet and, so, I gambled all my chips on our system of checks and balances.
Writers often say they write the books — or columns — they need to read. Though I had been consistently critical of candidate
Trump since the first rumor surfaced that he might run for president, I had become convinced six weeks before Election Day in 2016 that he was going to win. This insight was based upon my familiarity with his base — the folks Clinton fatefully called “deplorables.” But I thought we’d get through it OK. That proved to be a mistake.
Every time President Trump did something objectionable, which was more or less daily, Twitter would remind me of my earlier error. The checks and balances conceived by the creators of our republic and in which I had placed my faith weren’t nearly as strong as I had believed. They’ve only eroded further under Trump, leaving us at the end of his term, literally, not surviving.
No one could have predicted the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken nearly 295,000 American lives so far. In retrospect, it’s not surprising that Trump mishandled matters during the early stages of the virus when swift, decisive actions might have made a difference. We now know that he is that bad a human being and that lousy a leader. We’ve come not to expect just worse from him but the worst. If once I thought that he’d be at least rational — or I viewed his rallies as harmless sideshows — I’ve been thoroughly disabused of such notions.
Not much could be worse than hosting superspreader events and refusing to wear a mask or urging people not to fear the virus because, after all, he caught it and was treated by the best doctors in the world.
In the meantime, as the physical health of the nation worsens, the bonds of trust between leaders and citizens are nearing an irrevocable breaking point. Trump’s call to overthrow the 2020 election, which gained traction through a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, R, against four swing states, has exposed the underbelly of the GOP. There’s nothing some Republicans won’t do to hold onto power, even at the expense of the country’s dwindling chances to unite in common cause. Seventeen additional Republican attorneys general joined Paxton’s suit, while 126 Republican House members signed an amicus brief supporting Paxton’s request that the Supreme Court overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The court dismissed the request Friday night. (The suit filed by Paxton, by the way, came just weeks after learning he was the subject of a federal investigation into allegations that he improperly used his office to help a political donor.)
It is utterly mind-boggling that we’ve reached this point. Republicans continue to stall essential COVID-19 relief funding, while the amicus-brief signatories apparently would rather cling to a possible Trump run in 2024 than act with character and courage. Worst of all, people whose minds have been warped by lies, conspiracy theories and disinformation would rather risk death and/or harm to others and themselves than wear a mask for a few more weeks.
For Pete’s sake, people: What is wrong with you?
What’s wrong is Trump, was Trump, forever-will-be Trump. His overthrow-campaign is almost certainly doomed because there simply is no evidence to support his claims of voter fraud. Facts still matter. But the mess he’ll leave behind in less than 40 days won’t be tidied up soon, if ever. I’d like to un-write that column. To anyone who may have read it and found solace in my words, I apologize.