We must be clear-eyed about the danger ahead
From Trump on down, the incoming administration has only contempt for the rule of law, the balance of power, and for Americans.
Even optimists like me need to be clear eyed about what’s ahead. Maybe, especially optimists. Because saving what we love, and continuing America’s historic expansion of human freedom is going to take hard work.
As Donald Trump’s incomprehensibly ill qualified and just plain bad nominees for major roles in the government started to roll out, I predicted Trump would have the shortest honeymoon of any president in my lifetime.
I was wrong to use that word, “honeymoon.” This is going to be an administration without love. Without empathy. Without compassion. Hostile to the idea of democracy in the same way some southern towns became hostile to the idea of swimming pools after 1954. Back then there were beautiful public pools in towns throughout the south. But after segregation was banned cities like Jackson Mississippi closed their pools rather than share them with their Black citizens. Now that non-white Americans are fully participating in our democracy, right wing groups like the Claremont Institute and the Heritage Foundation want to shut it down for the same reason. Power, like water, is something they are unwilling to share. And Donald Trump is filling his government with folks from these hateful organizations.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
From Trump on down, the incoming administration has only contempt for the rule of law, the balance of power, and for Americans.
A month before he takes the oath, and really, why bother with that- it’s not like his promises mean anything- he and his billionaire pals nearly crashed the government. Just as he did with immigration reform, Trump threatened legislators in order to destroy a bipartisan deal, this one to fund the government.
On cue, the great propaganda machine went into overdrive. Elon Musk, who was behind this particular Trump tantrum, blamed Democrats for refusing to bail out the feckless House Speaker after he himself tanked the Speaker’s original bill. Let’s just take a moment to record that this is the second big bill in less than a year that was negotiated in good faith only to have the Republicans walk away on orders from Mr. Trump. Why would anyone trust them again?
The revised bill Trump wanted? It would have gotten rid of the debt ceiling so that he could later double down on tax cuts, dig us into an even deeper deficit hole, and still Blame Joe Biden because the debt ceiling would have been lifted while Biden was still in office. Seriously, these people are as pathetic as they are dangerous.
Musk said shutting down the government is no big deal. His defense contracts would still be honored. He didn’t care that tens of thousands of government workers would not get paychecks during the holidays. Those last minute presents? Forget about them. The rent? Well, maybe, if they cut back on the holiday meal. It’s 2024 and we are once again in the mean-spirited world where the wealthy Ebenezer Scrooge condemns poor Bob Cratchit and his family to misery.
For years Republican liars have foghorn-leghorned Americans on the topic of Christmas. They repeated endlessly and everywhere that Democrats wanted to cancel Christmas. And now, they tried to do it themselves.
Democrats stayed focused. They continued to work with the feckless Republicans and delivered the votes to keep the government open. Trump and Musk did not get the debt ceiling give away they wanted. 34 Republicans, but no Democrats, voted against the bill and would have shut everything down.
But that is the ghost of Christmas present. The Ghost of Christmas yet to be is, as Dickens knew, far more frightening.
Donald Trump has promised to use the justice system to prosecute his critics. That has already led America’s corporate owners of legacy news organizations to pull critical editorials and to tell their employees they will not be defended in case of litigation. Kash Patel and Pam Bondi, his nominees to run the FBI and the Justice Department, are all in on retribution.
Donald Trump has promised to back away from the scientific consensus on public health. A resurgent bird flu and a new type of monkey pox are already circling. RFK promises to invite them in.
Climate change is accelerating. Yet Trump has promised to undo the progress we’ve made towards a clean energy transition.
Geopolitical risks, from the war in Ukraine to the disputed South China Sea, from North Korean nuclear threats to Israel’s inability to see an end to its war, all call for strong. thoughtful, and strategic leadership from America. Instead, Trump wants to turn the defense department over to a FOX TV host and to helm our intelligence agencies with a fan of Assad’s and Putin’s.
Scrooge had a change of heart. I hold no illusions about Trump. But maybe four United States Senators will wake on Christmas morning with new scruples and refuse to consent to the elevation of these terrible people. Maybe they will wake up and remember their oath.
And what horror is waiting to be born when, at the stroke of a pen when the President Trump- an insurrectionist barred from office by the 14th amendment before being rescued by the Supreme Court- pardons the other insurrectionists, the ones who stormed the Capitol and attacked the police on January 6th?
Think about that as you make your New Year’s resolutions.