I spent much of this past week in Washington – talking with friends
still in government, former colleagues, high-ranking Democrats, a few
Republican pundits, and some members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. It was my first visit to our nation’s capital since Trump became president.
My verdict:
1. Washington is more divided, angry, bewildered, and fearful – than
I’ve ever seen it.
2. The angry divisions aren’t just Democrats versus Republicans. Rancor
is also exploding inside the Republican Party.
3. Republicans (and their patrons in big business) no longer believe
Trump will give them cover to do what they want to do. They’re becoming afraid
Trump is genuinely nuts, and he’ll pull the party down with him.
4. Many Republicans are also angry at Paul Ryan, whose replacement bill for Obamacare is considered by almost everyone on Capitol Hill to be incredibly dumb.
5. I didn’t talk with anyone inside the White House, but several who
have had dealings with it called it a cesspool of intrigue and fear. Apparently
everyone working there hates and distrusts everyone else.
6. The Washington foreign policy establishment – both Republican and Democrat
– is deeply worried about what’s happening to American foreign policy, and the
worldwide perception of America being loony and rudderless. They think Trump is
legitimizing far-right movements around the world.
7. Long-time civil servants are getting ready to bail. If they’re close
to retirement they’re already halfway out the door. Many in their 30s and 40s
are in panic mode.
8. Republican pundits think Bannon is even more unhinged than Trump,
seeking to destroy democracy as we’ve known it.
9. Despite all this, no one I talked with thought a Trump impeachment
likely, at least not any time soon – unless there’s a smoking gun showing
Trump’s involvement in Russia’s intrusion into the election.
10. Many people asked, bewilderedly, “how did this [Trump] happen?” When
I suggest it had a lot to do with the 35-year-long decline of incomes of the
bottom 60 percent; the growing sense, ever since the Wall Street bailout, that
the game is rigged; and the utter failure of both Republicans and Democrats to
reverse these trends – they gave me blank stares.
ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor's Professor of
Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at
the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in
the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten
most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written
fourteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The
Work of Nations," and "Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent,
"Saving Capitalism." He is also a founding editor of the American
Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary,
INEQUALITY FOR ALL.