Will MAGA Trumpism induce dire structural changes –  or dead-end as a trashy, corrupt flash in the pan?

What if the elected felon managed to kick off two or three generations of Trump-style insurrections? So much for the sacred rule of law, honest elections, justice by fair trials, and noble traditions of civil rights.

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What odds that MAGA shipwrecks, mortified by cruelty, idiotic proposals, stupidity and incompetence?

The question du jour could not be more transparent: Is Trump, riding hard-edge political leverage, about to radically degrade America, even crown his “comeback” by ascending to authoritarian dictatorship? Or has fate and vanity lifted him up so high and so fast, that a hard fall is inevitable, departing in irredeemable disgrace after double failures. In short, does Trump the anything-goes, reality-show buffoon have (or will amass) enough clout to overcome 250 years of foundational American legal and institutional resistance to the crudest takeover? If so, then the US has been a fragile, paper-tiger far more vulnerable than its sole super-power status implies, easy pickings by hardly the world’s shrewdest, most devious politician.   

At this point the jury is out, though the history of democratic governments dramatizes that blundering, scandalized incumbents get tarred and feathered before exile. Is the savvy Ross Barken right, Donald Trump Is a Weak President Who Acts Strong, “potentially fueling a new speculative bubble and leading us down the road to economic ruin . . . As always, better to see what Trump does than listen to whatever he spews out.” Barken admits “substance in his rage, and laws are going to change in this country. But the tangible policy legacy of Trump, if set to swell in these next few years, will always be fainter than his reputation suggests.”

Will the future reward the crass Dumpster’s return to power – or does his re-election set forth a second high wire act, inviting the greatest fall in western history since Napoleon, Hitler, or Mussolini? Certainly, the unteachable Trump hasn’t changed since 2016 – and today’s gleeful St. Vitus dance again bespeaks a risk-taking monomaniac. If Trump’s frenzy isn’t a big enough tell, imagine his cabinet’s destined finale?

Certainly, after the Disrupter-in-chief spews out fire brands every which way, a history-shaking barrage of either the unspeakably damaging, the absurdly unworkable (manifestly illegal or unconstitutional), or the ludicrous red meat to his base (already betraying the majority, per polling). In short, will Trumpism end like Carthyism or Perotism or years of horrendous rightwing rejection of scientific advances (driving the Knowledge Economy) – or does MAGA terrorize democracy as we know it, per more than a few gloomy Jeremiahs?  Can Trump in the end hijack America as he so belligerently hijacked a national party?

First up is Never Trumper David Brooks’ apt conclusion to his essayHow Trump Will Fail:

The history of the world since at least the French Revolution is that rapid disruption makes governments cataclysmically worse. Trump, the anti-institutionalist, is creating an electoral monarchy, a system in which all power is personalized and held in his hands. That’s a recipe for distorted information flows, corruption, instability and administrative impotence. . . . there’s a big difference between people who operate in the spirit of disruption and those who operate in the spirit of reform.

[Trump] accurately identified problems on issues like inflation, the border and the fallout from cultural condescension that members of the educated class have been too insular to anticipate. But when it comes to building structures to address those problems — well, the man is just hapless and incompetent.

That Trump is expert in destroying his own pet projects needs no testimony. “Everything Trump touches dies,” declared ex-Republican Rick Wilson 2018’s book, with highly prescient, six-year old eviscerations: 

Everything about Trump’s opening [2016] speech was moral poison to anyone who believed in any part of the American dream. Everything about his nationalist hucksterism smelled like … a knock on the door of authoritarian statism. The right is merrily on board with a lunatic with delusions of godhood. There’s an odds-on chance that our grandchildren will hear this tale while hunched over guttering fires in the ruins of a radioactive Mad Max-style hellscape.

True then, even truer now

Two years later, Wilson’s worst fears were renewed by then WaPo columnist, Jennifer Rubin with “Everything Trump touches dies — including his presidency:” “Years of losses make him an extraordinarily unsuccessful real estate developer. . .  [and] failures were not limited to his casinos (which he drove into bankruptcy), but extended to everything else he touched. He brags about his wealth; in fact, his business record is distinguished by one failure after another. He has not paid taxes in 10 of 15 years in large part because he is a world-class failure in business.”

Then more up-to-date, here’s the right-leaning WaPo Trump critic, George Will, with Neither euphoric nor despairing be. Trump too shall pass. He quotes conservative Stephen Kotkin, disputing those who say Trump is “not who we are. Who’s the ‘we’?” No intruder from outer space, Trump embodies “something deep and abiding about American culture,” with a resume spanning “pro wrestling, reality TV, casinos and gambling,” now “everywhere, embedded in daily life. Celebrity culture. Social media. All of that looks to me like America. And yes, so does fraud, and brazen lying, and the P.T. Barnum, carnival barker stuff.”

Finally, we have the Ohio journalist, David DeWitt’s biting, realistic essay, “America’s love affair with confident stupidity has reached awful new heights,” as MAGA “stupidity continues to reach awful new heights. The bill will come due. The piper will need be paid. The damage will be extensive.” I can’t argue with any of the pundits I invoke, though hardly a George Will fan.  The brilliant Rick Wilson pinpointed the full horror of Trump threats, acutely foreseeing years ago today’s fruition, in spades. No doubt the damage from a second term will be immense, especially as lead Democrats seem struck dumb by two weeks of predictable, calculated outrage, flooding D.C. with jolts of shock and awe unknown in the US of A. Nearly all outrages, except bluster about seizing foreign lands, were central to his re-election blarney, including the worst move so far – his appalling, inexcusable pardons for even the most violent, convicted J6 criminals. 

That the U.S. government is overtly for sale, even at a discount, with the Transactionalist-in-chief at the helm is not open to refutation. Trump has alone surpassed all past presidential corruption put together.  Apparently, Trump’s latest, horrendous scam – personalized, arguably worthless “family” NFTs has banked tens of billions. Per Katty Kay’s speculations, the latest graft is to amass a bottomless treasure chest for his sons and grandson to continue the Trump family assault on decency and stability. So, when assessing the full revulsion of what MAGA is unleashing, we need look beyond his four year regime, if he lasts that long.  

Dreams by the Oligarch-in-chief naturally transcend his life span. What if the elected felon managed to kick  off two or three generations of Trump-style insurrections? So much for the sacred rule of law, honest elections, justice by fair trials, and noble traditions of civil rights, diversity, tolerance for others, rationality, and inclusion, soon enough degraded into mere historic footnotes. No predictions now from me, just prospects of disaster (or escape and restoration of rights) that demand full activist energy looking beyond 2028. Retaking the House in two years would be a modest necessary step in that direction. Much louder opposition to rampant authoritarianism is now a permanent obligation by all, especially tepid Democratic leadership. 

FALL FUNDRAISER

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