Jermaine Fowler, author, historian and founder of Humanity Archive, helped me realize two important thoughts for this moment in U.S. political history. 1. President Trump is temporary, but legislators’ voting records are permanent. 2. Love him or despise him, Trump changed our lives and the way we view government.
Trump follows the well-worn playbook of every prior autocrat: 1. centralize executive power; 2. blame scapegoats for societal ills; and 3. make examples of the opposition and those with more real or imagined power.
We see the wheels coming off the clown bus that is President Trump’s decade-long authoritarian effort to rule America. Why? Loyalty is paramount with Trump, but it will also bring him down. He makes examples of the courts, universities, government agencies and even former loyalists (Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massey, Elon Musk) to keep everyone else in line.
As Fowler points out, this is how movements eat themselves. Not from outside pressure, but from the impossible math of loyalty. Trump will continue to demand more proof of loyalty and submission to his whims. These demands will become more absurd and opposition to Trump will grow as more people realize Trump is working only for himself, his family and friends.
Eventually Trump is gone but the damage done and the infrastructure he and collaborators in the Trump Party (aka the former Republican Party) created will remain. The losses include coarsened political debate, widespread distrust in politics and voting, a weaker federal government, and the ugly aftermath of a cultural civil war (purges, retaliations, broken relationships, etc.).
Those who voted for Trump and those in power who enabled him and his radical-right agenda will have to live with memories of the children they failed. Many will suffer flashbacks of how small they made themselves and recall the times they looked away. Trump goes but the muscle memory of submission stays. He leaves behind a “might makes right” hierarchy, weak-willed people looking for someone new to worship, and sycophants who have forgotten how to stand tall.
Trump can easily be replaced by someone smarter, younger and with more energy. Different name. Same demands. Same damage to democracy and our rights.
Can we live with what we became during Trump’s reign? Did we enable Trump or fight back against totalitarianism? More importantly, can we do the hard work going forward of righting the wrongs and defeating Trump’s legacy?
What is coming can be seen by studying the past – and it is truly horrifying if we are unable to stop it.
You should get a life. And be more responsible with the things you write about that people will believe even though most of what you say is total bad information.
I’m for standing implacably against the MAGA forces and doing the hard work of rebuilding. And I despise those who have bent the knee despite having the position and resources to stand up to the bully. I’ll never forget who they are.