Eight years ago this week a piece was published on this blog containing a detailed analysis of the candidate who had emerged as the GOP frontrunner for the 2016 Presidential Election. Regular readers may remember the August 2015 posting entitled The appeal of a narcissist. Probably the most pertinent and prophetic statement contained therein was made in the final three sentences:
“Hold onto your hats people. We are still over five months away from Primary season. We have yet to see the full unbridled dystopian specter of an America led by the likes of a Donald John Trump!”
It is August 2023 and we all know about that dystopian specter and version of an America led by the reality show host named in the above excerpt. It wasn’t enough that the nation was allowed to languish for four years in the control of an ignorant, arrogant and neglectful faux billionaire infatuated with authoritarianism that never possessed any real experience at let alone any competence in governing. Nor was it enough that the man equivocated on domestic extremism and gave authoritarian foreign leaders with interests opposed to that of the United States and its allies seemingly so much of the cooperation they sought. It wasn’t even enough that some 600,000+ Americans died mostly due to a badly mismanaged pandemic where public safety took a back seat to his need to look good while promoting his brand of wishful thinking not to mention his asinine “alternative facts.” The coupe d’ gras for the 45th President’s reign of error however came on November 3rd, 2020 when he and his MAGA movement were roundly rejected at the ballot box by a decided majority of voting Americans. His defeat was both in a very secure popular vote as well as in the Electoral Vote Count. Undaunted by the will of the voters in his quest to retain power, he authorized and pushed an administrative coupe d’ etat which culminated in a violent attack on the Nation’s Capitol and the inner sanctum of the American democratic process on January 6th, 2021 in an attempt to halt the constitutionally mandated process to officially elect the winner of the 2020 Electoral College vote. In an open public display of true colors of the 45th President and his MAGA followers, they showed the nation and the world the full unbridled dystopian specter of an America led by the likes of the candidate who emerged as his party’s frontrunner eight years ago. Let it be duly noted that at the end of that day the American Republic remained standing, institutions of government intact.
How many times have politicians, political scholars and media pundits asserted the claim that in America no person is above the law? This concept is often touted as what elevates America as being a nation of laws and not of men or women. When the issue of accountability in government has been raised in past administrations it was dismissed at the executive level with the assertion that the only accountability that matters is at the ballot box on Election Day. The 45th President was held accountable by the voters in precisely that fashion on November 3rd, 2020. With a hard core refusal to accept that result and with total disregard for the will of the majority, the defeated incumbent authorized the organization and execution of an orchestrated campaign to defraud the American public with false claims of mass voter and election fraud and actively sought to overturn the legitimate electoral vote count in an effort to selfishly retain power. Despite the lack of any demonstrable evidence for any fraud claims that could withstand scrutiny in a court of law, his team of attorneys and administration staff pressed his case for overturning the 2020 election result during the course of which several state and federal laws in multiple jurisdictions were clearly violated. Accountability and legal liability go with the territory of being the one in charge regardless of to whom, what or where the blame may get shifted. Also, violating clearly delineated legal boundaries has moral, ethical and especially legal consequences. As of this posting, the 45th President has been charged with 91 felony counts over four indictments. He has also become the first POTUS, sitting or former, to surrender to law enforcement and bond out of custody.
The public persona of the 45th President preceded him decades before he entered the political arena. Fifty years ago, he learned a strategy that would serve him well and became his mainstay practice of dealing with legal problems which frequently beset his personal conduct and business failures. He became very good at doing the dance of deny, deflect, delay and not put anything in writing. This strategy has successfully shielded him from assuming any real accountability for harm or damages to others he may have been liable for and has to date safeguarded him from suffering any real untoward results any of his failures, personal and professional. In his 1461 days as POTUS (less the 300+ days he spent on the golf course), he never actually assumed any accountability for any negative results. Claiming full responsibility for Covid-19 then immediately denying any fault isn’t something that can be taken seriously. His pattern of malignant narcissism has long raged in full view of all as he continues to demand all benefit and refuses to accept any liability. He certainly never had to face any severe consequences from anything other than the normal course of ceding power to his legally elected successor. Many of us have been left wondering if he will every be held accountable for his numerous violations of federal and state laws, particularly the ones he willfully transgressed as POTUS. What will follow in the next several months will be a true test of American jurisprudence as a new precedent or perhaps several will likely be established.
As with all narcissistic characters, especially if they are accustomed to commanding the public spotlight, the fact he is still front page news serves his ego quite well. He is even fundraising off this whole messy thing. The downside for him is that he no longer controls the frame of the proceedings. His standard practice of deny/deflect/delay is no longer serving him in this latest most grim chapter of his life and career. In spite of everything, his devotees who must believe in something still follow him without question. They look to him for their salvation because, as he himself has stated, he is their retribution. As these legal proceedings play out over the next several months, the true nature and colors of the long arm of American law will be on full display in contrast to the true character of the former President and his codefendants. Many of us whose faith in the U.S. legal system has fluctuated from perpetual wavering to outright loss in oblivion will believe it is still alive, kicking and viable when the 45th POTUS is appropriately punished if he is in fact convicted on any of the 91 felony counts he currently faces. The wheels of justice grind slow but true. The esteemed defendant may be the retribution for his followers but he is facing a huge amount of the same which he has brought upon himself. In a larger sense however, the future of the grand American experiment hangs in the balance. We’ll see how well the once most powerful person in the land and on the planet can do on an even legal playing field. When everything works and nothing in terms of outcome is certain, when guilt and innocent are decided and justice is meted out appropriately, the essence of the American ideal will be once again validated . All any one of us can do in the meantime is hope against hope.
Thank you for reading.
Nailed it again. Spot on! Our politics have same relevance as WWE these days. Actors. Stars. Clowns.