It's appropriate that Trump and the Republican Party have no platform for the next four years. Donald Trump has done his job and now it's time to vote him out.
I never was, and am not now, a Trump supporter. As a freshly minted US citizen in 2005, my very first election was 2008, one of the most historic in American history. On election night 2016, when I, along with so many others, waited excitedly expectant that history would be made again with this country's first female president, the democratic process had other valuable lessons to teach us. No, America wasn't where we thought (and optimistically hoped) it was, but had to go into retrograde to reveal and expose deep problems we had papered over. Only the unique character of Donald Trump could expose...and expose he has.
First, in the exposure of deep and enduring issues of sexism, systemic racism and xenophobia. The theme that emerged for the election itself was "men who behave badly and the women who enable them." Bill Clinton's past indiscretions as well as Trump's came into full view. In Clinton's case, there were the various public acts of contrition, whereas with Trump, it was the unabashed celebration through his unofficial campaign/life slogan: grab 'em by the pussy. It was precisely this full-throated offense that helped propel women into action. Fed up with their continued mistreatment and unwilling to stay silent, women came forward and brought the fledgling #MeToo Movement to national prominence. Trump "saying the quiet part loud" had the unintended effect of having to confront it head-on. With systemic racism, Trump's myriad acts of defending racism, achieved a low with his "fine people on both sides" comment on the racist march in Charlottesville, VA. Then, with the country hunkered down due to his mismanagement of the Coronavirus, the killing of George Floyd electrified the #BLM Movement like never before. Finally, with his signature issue, the wall campaign, Trump has forced the country to confront the incongruity of being a nation of immigrants, while keeping others out. Immigration is not only essential to a country not replacing its population, but is precisely what has powered America's continual rebirth, including Trump's grandfather.
The second way that Trump has helped is in the (again, unwitting) revitalization of democratic participation. Americans, the beneficiaries of the world's first democracy, have been growing ever more complacent about it. Trump's win essentially came at the hands of voters in 3 battleground states not showing up, not from some great conservative surge. And the voter turnout hovered around 60%, consistent with the past number of elections. But Trump galvanized participation in the 2018 midterms, not only with huge demonstrations leading up, but resulting in the highest level in a century and a record number of women running and winning. We're still nowhere close to the 51/49 women/men ratio of our population, but this was very positive. A republic, if YOU can keep it. Again, thanks Trump.
The third way Trump has inadvertently assisted is perhaps his most profound. Ever since the founding of America, the most dogged issue for the Framers had to do with the monarch. Bringing the anti-King George fervor of the 1776 Declaration into the Second Continental Congress, they got rid of the king entirely with America 1.0. This resulted in an ensuing 10 years of chaos - the United STATES of America. Realizing they had thrown out the executive baby with the monarchical bathwater, they reformed this in 1789 with America 2.0. They created the executive branch and the presidency - the UNITED States. But much of the vestiges of monarchy remained. No term limits were set in the document and it was only because of Washington's example that his successors honored the 2-term protocol. It wasn't until FDR died in office in his 4th term, that we quickly amended the Constitution and made term limits the law of the land. Richard Nixon's resignation seemed to affirm that the president is not above the law, but it was not tested legally and delayed the needed legal confrontation. When running for office, Trump never released his tax returns, which has been a protocol, but not a legal requirement. Since taking office, he has tested multiple other issues and exposed many problems with the power of the executive branch. Whether it's in the ability to hire/fire the Attorney General and Inspectors General, intermix personal business with the office, involve family members, abuse the pardoning ability and so much more. And most recently by using government buildings for the RNC Convention. The Hatch Act, unbelievably, does not apply to the president and vice president. Without these tests, the flaws and weaknesses in the democratic process and specifically, with the presidency, would not have been revealed. And we needed the most combative and litigious person the country has ever seen to do so.
Trump has not been what many of us wanted, but what we needed. The above have been his truly singular contributions to exposing major issues in the American democratic experiment. And for that, we have to be grateful. But exposing deep problems because of one's inherent character defects means they are precisely the wrong person to fix those problems. And this is why we must remove Trump from office. Any further time there will likely take us to a place where, instead of reforming these glaring issues, we become consumed by them and destroy the entire American project. His unfettered impulses unchecked, he will run us into the ground as he has his casinos. We did go on this journey to avoid having a mad king, right?!
Thank you! But now it really is time to leave.
The first in a series of articles analyzing the election through the lens of the Human Fugue.
