Trump’s falsehoods aren’t strong enough to break us

Is America fragile? Brittle? Breakable? Can it be undermined by a man with so little self-esteem that he fabricates his own approval ratings? Until recently, I would have dismissed such questions out of hand. Now they seem like serious issues.

Backed by a majority political party with which he has little in common except a love of power and an antipathy for government, ensconced in the White House where he is surrounded by relatives and other sycophants, on the verge of controlling the Supreme Court and supported by the least thoughtful and most gun-worshiping Americans, Donald Trump seems prepared to tear down the columns that have undergirded American democracy for 240 years. He defiles every value dear to the hearts of patriotic Americans and plays only to the basest instincts of his true believers, whom he refers to as the “American people.”

As I write, it is George Washington’s birthday. I can’t help reflecting on the contrast between the leaders we commemorate and our current pygmy president, who appears to believe that his election victory affords him dictatorial power. Anyone who opposes him – Rosie O’Donnell, Sen. McCain, Hillary Clinton, Khizr Kahn, Meagan Kelly, Judge Curiel, Alicia Machado, Elizabeth Warren, liberals – deserves, he feels, the foulest debasement possible from the man who holds the loudest microphone in the world. His enemies list would make Dick Nixon weep with envy. But will his sluggish mind and stark contempt for human rights lead him to warp our democracy in ways that will make it unworkable?

If he succeeds in convincing another 20 percent of Americans that the gibberish he concocts is as respectable as the truth coming from more research-oriented sources, the answer could turn out to be “yes.” Trump’s disregard for verifiability and for the American press and the First Amendment, along with his ability to persuade exultant Republicans to support his disinformation campaign, bring any number of nefarious activities into the realm of the possible. Re-reading Orwell’s “1984” will bring you up to speed on how he plans to get there.

Government by the people and for the people is difficult to attain and even harder to sustain. Those whose understanding is insufficient to grasp that simple fact are supporting Trump with a fervor available only to those who feel as much passion for exclusionary politics as he himself displays. They will support him with their guns if he is impeached or if they start to lose the argument.

Even if America and the American idea survive Trump’s onslaught, many of us will perish from embarrassment before it is all sorted out. Maybe we’re the lucky ones, but, in the meantime, we urge you, out of love for your country, to increase your resistance. And by all means remain hopeful. When the truth of Trump’s fiction concerning jobs that aren’t coming back and his devotion to tax breaks for the wealthy are revealed to his core constituents, they are likely to join our cause.

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 7:22 AM with the headline "Trump’s falsehoods aren’t strong enough to break us."