On November 28, 2016, shortly after that year’s
disastrous election, I wrote that those who believed Donald Trump could be
transmogrified into an honest and worthy public servant by the dignity of the Oval
Office were surely mistaken. I predicted that “our
beloved White House, this architectural emblem of American democracy, this
former residence of Abraham Lincoln, this site where Franklin Roosevelt hosted
Winston Churchill as they worked out their strategy for victory in World War
II, this elegant mansion -- will, for the next few years, be filled with a
skunkish stink.”
And all I can say now is “Pee-yoo!”
I expected that Trump presidency to be Horrible, Horrible,
Horrible. But it turns out I underestimated its Horribleness. Not even I
thought Trump was such a pathetic jerk that he would rob from his so-called “charity”
to pay his son’s seven-dollar Boy Scout dues. Good God. A small token gesture
with a powerfully putrid implication.
So, is American democracy doomed because of Trump?
Certainly, many of our European allies have worries along those lines, as was
revealed this week by the hacked emails of EU diplomats. Among their concerns
is Trump’s negative attitude toward Europe’s democracies (but not toward
Putin!), an attitude which “had created a lot of insecurity.”
But maybe our democracy will survive Trump after
all. I say this because of the comments of Judge Emmet Sullivan in what was
supposed to be Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing yesterday. Though Fox News
hosts were drooling all day Monday over the possibility that the Reagan-appointed
judge would toss out the charges against Flynn or otherwise throw shade on
Robert Mueller, nothing of the sort happened. Instead Judge Sullivan spent
almost two hours berating Flynn for the lack of patriotism and the tawdry character that
his actions revealed. General Flynn served on the Trump election team – he was
the one who led the “Lock her up!” chants against Clinton at the GOP convention – and later was
appointed by Donald Trump as the National Security Advisor. Yes, this dishonest,
self-serving man is the individual Trump appointed to oversee our national
security, mainly, it seems, because the general hated Hillary Clinton and openly
admired Donald Trump
Now that every organization associated with Trump
is under investigation, it is heartening to know that there are people like
Judge Sullivan who believe our democracy and its key institutions are worth preserving.
Certainly, the people running Fox News don’t believe this and neither do Mitch McConnell and
other members of the Republican leadership. They know Trump is a crook, but he’s
a crook that can benefit them, so he gets a pass.
My friend Jonathan put it
thus in a recent email:
“As for the Republicans in Congress and for those
in his administration. They are like hordes of great blood filled deer ticks on
an aging moose. They are getting what they need from their host — tax cuts,
deregulation, judges, lower immigration — and are just along for the ride. They
will hop off when the moose falls and wait for the next large ungulate to come
along.”
Well said, Jonathan: cogent, vivid, and true.
So the stench of corruption wafts from the White
House to the GOP leadership and throughout the offices of the Fox “News” corporation.
But, the good news is that if we can continue to count on key officials who
believe in our democracy and the rule of law, officials like Robert Mueller and
Judge Sullivan, our democracy should survive. In that case, maybe we will be all right after all.
Inshallah.
