How seriously should we take Donald Trump’s challenge? Are we in the midst of an existential struggle for the soul of the republic? Or is this politics as usual, perhaps in an extreme form, but no real threat to the foundations of our political order?
In the Feb. 18-19 Weekend Gazette’s regular Associated Press feature “Today in History,” it was noted that on Feb. 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as “provisional president” of the Confederate States of America. It was oddly comforting to be reminded that the United States was once confronted by a crisis arguably deeper and more dangerous than the one we face now.
Certainly a lot of what is going on in Washington, however fierce it looks, is normal politics. It is the sound of self-styled progressives getting used to the calamity that befell them in November. The GOP sweep – not just of the White House and executive branch, but of both houses of Congress and of most statehouses as well – has empowered a political movement that is pretty radical and is now in a position to realize an agenda that has been percolating in their quarters for many years.
Is such a thing “unprecedented”? CNN, Fox News and MSNBC have a stake in keeping the panic-pot boiling. But as political theater, what we are watching is not unique. LBJ’s sweep in 1964 was at least as devastating to Republicans as 2016 was to Democrats. So was FDR’s in 1932. There were plenty of experts in those cases who thought that the collapse of the opposition might be terminal. Its capture by forces that could never win a national election seemed practically to guarantee a permanent triumph of the liberal left.
I am reminded, too, of Francis Fukuyama’s notion that the collapse of the Soviet Union heralded the “end of history.” It didn’t take long for sin, in the form of resurgent nationalism, to restore the ancient rhythms of conflict.
So how bad is the current situation? No doubt it has brought the Reagan revolution against the New Deal to a spectacular climax.
But some of Trump’s appointments, particularly in the field of national security and foreign relations, have been encouraging. James Mattis, the new secretary of defense, is a good man. It is reassuring to have his hand close to the nuclear trigger (as James R. Schlesinger’s was when Nixon fell apart). General H. R. McMaster heading the National Security Council, Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and Nikki Haley at the United Nations are also good choices. These are not Trump toadies, ultra-loyalists. Neither is Vice President Mike Pence. These people had productive lives in and around politics before Trump, and some (Pence, Haley) will have political lives after he is gone.
Then there is another category of people leading this Republican revolution, people like Tom Price, in charge of framing policy for “replacing” the Affordable Care Act, and administering it in the meantime; Betsy DeVos, leading the way to alternatives to public education; Scott Pruitt, administering the federal government’s part of responsibility for the natural environment; Jeff Sessions, managing the scales of justice; and Rick Perry, directing the incredibly complex business of energy. (What an education we all, including Gov. Perry, are getting about this vast domain!)
These are not the kind of people Hillary Clinton would have chosen, but she did not win. It is the Republicans’ turn. We’ve got to live with it for a while, and see how it goes.
Trump has a base of support, and so far, at least, his followers seem quite happy with his performance. Their disgust with the federal government’s dysfunction over the past four decades is very intense, and there are powerful forces that will continue to feed it.
Some of the worst elements of Trump’s program will be derailed by events. What will it cost to build a “huge wall” along our southern border, and who will pay for it? What will it cost to replace the Affordable Care Act, and how will Republicans deal with the firestorm when they take coverage from millions of people?
Can Trump hold the GOP together? The Republicans have the political power to protect him, and so far they (McConnell, Pence, Priebus) seem inclined to do so. If that wall of support begins to crumble, one cringes to think what might happen. A wounded Trump, feeling cornered, might be seriously dangerous.
Martin Luther King Jr. taught that darkness cannot dispel darkness. Only light can. Similarly, hatred cannot overcome hatred. Only love can.
How can we love this man? Could we have loved Hitler? Consider Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a saint if ever one lived in the 20th century. He finally joined a conspiracy to assassinate the Fuhrer. Was that an act of love?
We seem cursed to live in interesting times.
Don Robinson, a retired professor of government at Smith College in Northampton, writes a regular column published the fourth Thursday of the month. He can be reached at drobinso@smith.edu.