āTrump, in one spectacular week, has already shown himself one of the worst of our presidents, who has no regard for the truth (indeed a contempt for it), whose patriotism is a belligerent nationalism, whose prior public service lay in avoiding both the draft and taxes, who does not know the Constitution, does not read and therefore does not understand our history, and who, at his moment of greatest success, obsesses about approval ratings, how many people listened to him on the Mall, and enemies.
[ā¦]
There is in this weekās events the foretaste of things to come. We have yet to see what happens when Trump tries to use the Internal Revenue Service or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to destroy his opponents. He thinks he has succeeded in bullying companies, and he has no compunction about bullying individuals, including those with infinitely less power than himself. His advisers are already calling for journalists critical of the administration to be fired: Expect more efforts at personal retribution. He has demonstrated that he intends to govern by executive orders that will replace the laws passed by the peopleās representatives.
In the end, however, he will fail. He will fail because however shrewd his tactics are, his strategy is terribleāThe New York Times, the CIA, Mexican Americans, and all the others he has attacked are not going away. With every act he makes new enemies for himself and strengthens their commitment; he has his followers, but he gains no new friends. He will fail because he cannot corrupt the courts, and because even the most timid senator sooner or later will say āenough.ā He will fail most of all because at the end of the day most Americans, including most of those who voted for him, are decent people who have no desire to live in an American version of Tayyip Erdoganās Turkey, or Viktor Orbanās Hungary, or Vladimir Putinās Russia.ā
How to Respond to Donald Trump's Betrayal of American Values
For many of us it is difficult to share Cohenās cautious optimism that the idiot Trump will indeed fail, that the damage he will cause can be undone, and that all Americans will be secure in their rights and protected liberties.
[ā¦]
There is in this weekās events the foretaste of things to come. We have yet to see what happens when Trump tries to use the Internal Revenue Service or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to destroy his opponents. He thinks he has succeeded in bullying companies, and he has no compunction about bullying individuals, including those with infinitely less power than himself. His advisers are already calling for journalists critical of the administration to be fired: Expect more efforts at personal retribution. He has demonstrated that he intends to govern by executive orders that will replace the laws passed by the peopleās representatives.
In the end, however, he will fail. He will fail because however shrewd his tactics are, his strategy is terribleāThe New York Times, the CIA, Mexican Americans, and all the others he has attacked are not going away. With every act he makes new enemies for himself and strengthens their commitment; he has his followers, but he gains no new friends. He will fail because he cannot corrupt the courts, and because even the most timid senator sooner or later will say āenough.ā He will fail most of all because at the end of the day most Americans, including most of those who voted for him, are decent people who have no desire to live in an American version of Tayyip Erdoganās Turkey, or Viktor Orbanās Hungary, or Vladimir Putinās Russia.ā
How to Respond to Donald Trump's Betrayal of American Values
For many of us it is difficult to share Cohenās cautious optimism that the idiot Trump will indeed fail, that the damage he will cause can be undone, and that all Americans will be secure in their rights and protected liberties.
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