As with all things Trump, he is doing it right before our eyes. Susan Collins actually got it right. Trump sure did learn a lesson. He learned he can grab more power and suffer no punishment, indeed he will be rewarded. Trump has taken a much darker turn, more so than even we predicted, and done it with lightning speed.
Trump has blasted through laws prohibiting retaliation against witnesses, he has interfered with political prosecutions, he has walked straight into a State of the Union and turned it into a MAGA rally, he has put people who are “his enemies” in tremendous danger, and gone to a prayer breakfast and rejected the teachings of Jesus, among many other petty actions.
He has only just begun, according to CNN [1]
Trump’s pattern of behavior relies on an indifference to the health of US political and judicial systems on the part of the President and a willingness to destroy trust in institutions that could take decades to recover from his power plays.
Decades to recover? Who says the institutions have to recover at all? I also take issue with the idea that his behavior relies upon a national indifference to our political and judicial system. It appears that Trump’s own indifference to damage done drives a national indifference in favor of him.
The idea that justice is impartial is central to America’s economic and political stability and key to its global reputation. Warnings about the stigma of justice corrupted by strongmen leaders have long been a core US criticism of nations in the developing world. The US government has for instance advocated for American businesses in China that complained about politics weighing on the court system.
This is certainly true. As we lose our democratic charcter at Trump’s hands, we will lose our reputation throughout the world. We already have, and it will cost us here at home with more expensive goods, and less money coming in. People cannot trust American stability to trade fairly and stick with trade agreements.
When has Trump ever honored a contract? He didn’t with the Iranians, what makes other nations believe he’ll live up to trade agreements or treaties signed with his name?
But really, it is in the Justice Department where Trump is really stretching his power, reaching in to protect friends with secrets, secrets that could cause Trump problems, if not ruin him:
“What really unsettles me — a former prosecutor for almost 30 years — is when a person makes it through a storm, a criminal justice storm, and they learn nothing from the process,” former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin Wednesday.“I’ve talked to many people in the Department of Justice who still work there, career people, and they are absolutely upset, unsettled and angry that the head of the department is basically afraid of his shadow and will do anything for the President of the United States,” he said.
Trump’s power grab necessarily involves driving people out of government. At times, it seems that Trump would be happy to have less than 50 people working within the executive branch, all wholly loyal.
Trump has learned the opposite lesson that most presidents would learn having gone through impeachment. Rather than act with increased caution, he is doing all he can to ensure it never happens again by sucking up all power left around him, acting as recklessly as possible, inflicting revenge and anger upon those around him. It is a terrifying dynamic, one – to continue a theme – suitable only to promote the dictatorship, one that is quickly closing in around the capitol and White House.
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom