What Has Trump Wrought?

 Because of the Trumpublican Party's coup attempt on the Electoral College, we still do not know who will be inaugurated this coming January 20. Most likely it will be Joe Biden, but there still exists a path to a 2nd term for Trump.

But besides all of that, it might be helpful to look at what Trump's first four years have wrought--assuming that he doesn't do anything significant between now and January 20th. His Presidency has destroyed reality, he has deeply damaged what is left of our democracy, and he has undermined The Constitution. 

It is rather obvious how Trump has destroyed reality. Building on previous efforts of popular conservative talk hosts, Trump has created a cult following who live by the motto: 'Trump said it. I believe. That settles it.' Here we should note that that motto is based on a religiously conservative Christian bumper stick I have seen on occasion. Only instead of Trump being the one who said it, it is the Bible. And that tells us the pedestal on which his cult members,  especially with many of them being conservative evangelicals, have place him. Thus, to his cult followers, what the Bible is to spiritual truth, so Trump has become to political truth.

We should note that, in some cases, his cult members believe what Trump says without demanding any evidence and/or despite what the evidence says in other cases. We only need to bring three examples to support what was just said. 

The first of those examples is climate change. Trump called it a hoax. Now in calling it a hoax, he went against vast majority of climate scientists as well as scientific organizations. In calling it a hoax, he is ignoring all of the early warning signs that point to man-caused climate change. And he does that, and he is not alone, for one reason: he cannot accept the changes that recognizing the reality of man-caused climate change requires. And it is not that the denial of climate change started with Trump, it didn't. But that denial became government policy with Trump as appointee after appointee to government scientific positions consisted of  lobbyists or high ranking corporate executives for energy companies. 

So despite how the number of category 5 hurricanes since the year 2000 compare to previous 20-year periods,  the rate at which the sea level is rising, the accumulation of CO2 in the oceans, the vanishing of the polar ice caps, the thawing of the permafrost and the rising atmospheric temperatures with increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere, Trump calls man-made climate change a 'hoax.'

There is also Trump's dangerous denial of the seriousness of the Covid-19 virus. Trump deserved mixed grades during his administration's first few months of dealing with the virus. Could he have acted more quickly? Yes. But so could some other politicians and even Dr. Fauci was late in recognizing the seriousness of the pandemic.

But when the end of April rolled around and we knew how deadly the virus could be, in order to help his image by trying to restart the economy, Trump modeled behavior, recommended personal behaviors that caused people to doubt the seriousness of the Covid-19 virus. He told people that they did not have to wear masks or socially distance themselves from others. He publicly supported the restart of college football and some of the stadiums have had quite a few people in the stands. Then there were his campaign stops where he and his audience went without masks and they ignored all social distancing rules. And this kept occurring even after he had to be hospitalized with the virus. Besides the number of White House staff and Secret Service agents who contracted the virus, many states that saw his campaign stops experienced spikes in the number of confirmed cases. And with those spikes have come an almost overwhelming of medical facilities by those infected with the Covid-19 virus. Also, despite the tremendous surge of over 100k confirmed cases on a daily basis in the nation along with 700+ deaths, Trump has greatly minimized the threat of the virus with his words. He has even complained that the public is tired of hearing about Covid-19.

The effect that Trump's assessment on the virus and the behaviors he has modeled have produced a significant number of people who refuse to follow the basic rules of wearing maks and practice social distancing. And they refuse to follow those rule because they don't take the virus seriously. However,, a South Dakota nurse reported that some of the people she and her colleagues have seen at work are in denial that they have the virus even to the point of death.

One only needs to consider Trump's words and actions during the Presidential campaign to understand that he has destroyed reality. Both during the 2016 and 2020 elections, Trump claimed, without providing any evidence, that him losing the election meant that the election was rigged. And despite the fact that neither the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, nor the Judicial system as it hears a plethora of complaints filed by the Trump campaign have evidence of any widespread fraud, Trump and his cult followers insist otherwise simply because of what Trump said.

Trump has accomplished this coup over reality by isolating his followers from outside influences. His authoritarian personality has compelled him to be aggressive against any complaint or criticism. And while his cult followers regard his hostility to criticisms and dissent to be a show of strength, nothing could be further from the truth. He has called the Mainstream Media the enemy of the people and he uses imprecise working definitions of terms and even slander to induce fear in his followers of the Democrats. Thus, his cult members are stuck in an echo chamber because, according to Trump, they cannot trust anyone else by him and themselves.

Trump's post-election behavior has not only been an attack on reality, it has been an attack on democracy. By pursuing groundless litigation against the elections in the battleground states where he lost in conjunction with his pre-election accusations, he has led an attack on the faith that people had in our elections. In addition, he is trying to be reelected despite the election results. Again, neither the Justice Department nor Homeland Security nor the many court cases that have been filed have provided evidence supporting Trump's challenges to the election results. And yet, he sticks by his claims and refuses to concede the election. 

 But not only that, his running mate and Secretary of State speak confidently of a 2nd Trump term despite the election results. He has protesters in the streets who are convinced that the election was stolen. And what is the reason for that belief? It is because Trump claimed before the election took place that the only way he could lose was if the election was rigged. Again, we have the basic tenet of his cult followers: 'Trump said it. I believe it. That settles it.' 

So where do his adamant claims about rigged elections leave us? If the election stands with the Electoral College votes reflecting the election, Biden will be the next President with many of Trump's 70+ million voters believing that the election was rigged in Biden's favor. However, if there is a delay in the certification of election results so that the Electoral College does not reflection the popular election, then Trump could win a 2nd term and those supporting Biden will understandably, and correctly, believe that the election was stolen from them. Ironically, before the election, Trump accused the Democrats of trying to steal the election.

Finally, Trump has led an attack on The Constitution. Not only has he publicly stated, before the election, that he might run again in 2024, some of his support groups are going against The Constitution. In a recent announcements, some militia groups stated that they would not recognize a Biden Presidency. There is no doubt that that is partially due to  Trump's insistence that voter fraud took place. And it is partially due to his campaign smears of Biden as being a Socialist. But here is the kicker. Initially, The Constitution stipulated that our nation was to be defended from foreign invasions and domestic insurrections by the nation's militias. The reliance on these militias, not the 2nd Amendment, was a check against government tyranny according to the Federalist Papers.

However, The Constitution is clear in stating that the militias are to be under the command of the President of the United States. Thus for a militia to reject the presidency of a man selected by the election, means that that militia has transformed itself from a militia to a politically armed gang. And oddly enough, that is what Hitler relied on when he was rising to power.

The above is just a partial picture of what Trump's Presidency has wrought in this nation. It would be wise for us to try to undo the damage as much as possible and to start undoing that damage even before Biden's Presidency starts, that is if it is given a chance.