Everyone
who normalizes Trump will have to answer to future generations
By Dan
Rather
At some points words fail, or they are
starting to fail me. We have an Administration in freefall. Have we passed
through the circle of chaos? Are we at the circle of havoc?
The
real Donald Trump has stood up, once again. Let no one ever be fooled. Let there
be no doubt.
The
man who sends out a twitter tirade accusing a former President of crimes for
which he provides no evidence, the man who doubles down when everyone with any
sense pushes back, that man is our Commander in Chief.
Everyone
who normalizes Mr. Trump now, or has in the past, will have to answer to future
generations for their acquiescence, silence or sophistry—if, indeed, not
outright cowardice.
How
hollow do all those pundit plaudits (including from many progressives) sound
now for an average and disingenuous speech of someone else's words read from a
teleprompter to Congress and the nation a week before?
A
"presidential" Trump is a punchline to a joke no one wants to have
told. Conspiracy theories are corrosive in society at large. When they dictate
national policy, they can be lethal.
This
is a man who claimed widespread voter fraud with lies, innuendo, and no
evidence.
This
is a man who has taken a rhetorical blowtorch to our Constitutional principles
with lies, innuendo, and no evidence.
Those
who rose in Congress to applaud his turns of phrase bear responsibility.
Those
who cynically use his presidency to push forward unpopular giveaways to the
rich and well connected bear responsibility.
Those
in the press who meet insults with explanations bear responsibility.
Even
the most grounded of presidents must fight to keep themselves moored to the
real world. The Oval Office can be a bubble. Power attracts sycophants and
cynics.
But
I have never seen anything like this. The sheer level of paranoia that is
radiating out of the White House is untenable to the workings of a republic.
I
have a real question if President Trump actually believes what he is saying.
Even Richard Nixon, the most paranoid president to date, ruled for years with a
relatively calm hand.
This
Administration has been an off kilter whirlwind since the inauguration, and
news reports suggest that seething anger from Mr. Trump is only getting worse.
There
is a growing consensus that the President may be "unhinged." It's a
serious allegation, but even if it is not the case, Mr. Trump only has himself
to blame.
To
call a drama Shakespearean or operatic is usually an overreach. But I imagine
artists of the future, and even the present, will find ample inspiration in our
moment in history.
Doesn't
Steve Bannon strike you as an Iago whispering in the ear of an Othello-like
Trump, consumed by jealousy and paranoia?
As
the questions mount around Russia, as the circles of defense begin to falter,
the determination to create diversions will escalate.
But
if the President hoped he could create a distraction, I think he misjudged the
will of the American people.
We
have woken. We are paying attention. And we love our country too much to let it
falter without a fight.