David Atkins writing at Washington Monthly on March 31 had a short summary of what everyone knows. Here’s but one paragraph:
...The United States is being led by a president who “won” an election with the open help of the Russian foreign intelligence service, which hacked the private campaign and personal emails of the president’s political opponents and released them through an organization led by a man hiding in an embassy on the run from rape charges. The president lost the popular vote by over 3 million ballots, but has proceeded to govern as if he had won a gigantic mandate and with the most aggressive partisan tactics in modern political history. The ensuing investigation into the president’s campaign ties to Russia quickly morphed into an obstruction of justice probe, as the president fired James Comey and then openly admitted to journalist Lester Holt that he did so to squash the Russia probe. A large number of the president’s associates are under indictment or have pleaded guilty to charges related to collusion with Russia during the campaign….
Read the whole thing. It’s not that long, but it’s damning. Atkins has done a masterful job summarizing what everyone knows about Trump. If there’s anything left to say, it’s how the government Trump presides over is just as corrupt and incompetent as Trump is, as is the party that supports him, and the media that fawns over him.
The fact that this is being treated as ‘normal’ is the most disturbing thing about the whole spectacle. Thank Atkins for doing more than just looking at the outrage of the day. The only thing I would quibble with is his last sentence, where he’s referring to the dozens of people around Trump who know the truth about Trump, but do nothing:
At some point a sense of patriotism and pride in democracy must overtake personal ambition and fear of recrimination before it’s too late.
There are no signs that any of them will ever do so. Trump corrupts everything he touches. It’s why personal loyalty is the only thing he demands from them — and gives none back. He’s a user, and that’s it.