The other day, I wrote about a New Yorker article by David Remnick in which he warns of the insidious normalization of Donald Trump and his twisted values that will take place over time. It appears this is already happening, as the following makes clear. To her credit, Fox's Megan Kelly would have none of the poison that Trump surrogate Carl Hibie was peddling.
Trump has tapped into a rich vein of, at its best, authoritarianism and, at worst, outright fascism. He has appealed to the basest instincts of a large segment of the American population and made himself, by his own boast, "their voice." The genie is out of the bottle and, while I think Trump may even come to regret it, I doubt he has the means to get it back into that same bottle. Once these things take hold of a society they're not easily erased. Liberal democracy is not as robust and resilient as we had once imagined. America stands on the edge of a very sharp drop. Elizabeth Warren and the ACLU have vowed to pull it back. I only hope they can find the way to succeed.
ReplyDeleteMy thought, for what it's worth, Mound, is that if, after four years of Trump the voters decide to continue down his dark path, the empire will crumble. If, on the other hand, Elizabeth Warren seeks and secures the Democratic nomination, the people will have a real voice for their concerns and have an opportunity at democratic redemption.
DeleteOne way or the other, people are going to take to the streets.
ReplyDeleteStability is something that will take a long time to return to the U.S., Owen, if ever.
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