A lot of lies and invective came out of Trump’s Pensacola Speech. His endorsement of Roy Moore got most of the attention, yet only some of the media noted, and that with painful circumspection, the irony of a credibly accused, sexual molester of women cheering on a credibly accused, sexual molester of children. What struck me, though, was the re-emergence of one of Trump’s themes that had been muted for a while. In Pensacola, he returned to the claim that the system is rigged against him. “This is a rigged -- this is a rigged system. This is a sick system." It was not a passing reference. He dwelled on it. "We have a rigged system in this country and we have to change it. Terrible. Terrible."
This is the guy who won the election. This also is the guy who, it now seems certain, did rig the election in a conspiracy with a foreign adversary. So, why return to this theme now? Why turn up the vehemence? Why expand the theme from the election to the “system,” telling his undiscerning disciples that the entire system, meaning our democracy and the rule of law, is rigged and sick?
Combined with his unrelenting and increasingly venomous attacks on the free press, this smells of insurrection. Discredit the system and all that’s left to hold onto is the cult of personality that defines Trump’s voters. He is reminding them that everything is broken, that he is the only one who can fix it, and that he must be allowed to do so. He is giving his base, the Republican base, and the basest of the Republican establishment a rationalization of a grab for power. Whenever it comes, he already will have provided the justification.
It is not clear what will trigger it. It is not clear what form it will take. And it is not clear who or what can stop him.
Early on, Trump did nothing that the Republican Party did not allow, though that never was much of a limitation. And now, he has the Republican Party in tow, with the coup de grace coming when the party folded over bringing a credibly accused child molester into the Senate as one of their own. In fact, Republicans are leading the way for Trump, dispelling any lingering doubt of their amorality. Republicans gladly will help Trump put our democracy into receivership.
The press will be of little help. It repeatedly drops its guard and rarely throws a punch. The press literally begs Trump to attack it, and what little he knows includes the fact that, if you say it often enough and with an emotional hook, a lot of people will believe the most ridiculous of absurdities.
Pensacola was Trump telling us that he is ready to move up from Don the Con to Dear Leader.
With Mueller closing in, Trump will be at his most treacherous, Republicans will be at their most complicit, and his base, his disciples, will have been primed for the end game. Democratic officials, office holders, and rank and file must be vigilant and ready to get loud and persistent at the first hint of a move.
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” That quote has been credited to multiple people, but the words stand on their own, independent of provenance, and never have they been more apt.
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