Trumpocalypse two

I have to admit that, around this point eight years ago, I was relatively relaxed about the prospect of Donald Trump ascending to the office of President of the United States. The fact that I was an old white guy living an ocean away helped of course, but I was also calmed by a residual faith in the essential immutability of government institutions; short of burning everything to the ground it is actually very difficult to effect significant change to the political landscape of an advanced society like the US or UK. This is usually immensely frustrating for those of us of a more progressive nature, but it is sometimes reassuring to know that not everything is lost just because the crazy people have temporarily taken charge.

Did my lack of concern turn out to be justified? I guess that I personally didn’t do too badly, but Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, hundreds of thousands of excess Covid deaths, and families separated at the border, were only a few of the reasons that those less privileged than I might beg to differ.

That said, the US government remained robust enough to see off the laughably incompetent coup attempt, and had Joe Biden directed his DoJ to be a bit more forceful in going after Trump for the many crimes he committed during his time in office then we might have seen the back of him. Alas, with typical liberal timidity, Joe let Donald off the hook, and now we are where we are.

I am thus somewhat less sanguine about how the next four years will work out, especially since the people Trump is recruiting suggests that his second administration will be a veritable carnival of reaction.

Are there any reasons to be hopeful? The fact that the congressional GOP couldn’t quite stomach Trump’s demand to shut down the government just before the holidays may be a sign that they won’t go along with all his insanity, though whether he will actually need their cooperation may well be a moot point. Putting obviously unqualified people in charge of big departments will make it easier for the career bureaucrats who know how everything works to maintain business as usual. And perhaps Trump himself will recall that being President is a pretty sweet gig, even with the checks and balances, and that wrecking the joint may be considerably more trouble than it is worth.

Or am I just whistling in the dark? Is this really the time that we go to hell in a handcart? I’m not quite ready to succumb to despair just yet; I’m still enough of a dialectical materialist to believe that human progress is a historical inevitability, and that any current difficulties are merely a bump in the road towards fully realised communism. I’ll stay as involved as I can in resisting the spread of Trumpism on these shores, and I’m sure it won’t be too long before my American comrades see it off as well.