by At the beginning of this election year, with Donald Trump leading the race to be the Republican presidential nominee, Americans should pause to consider what a second Trump term would mean for our country and the world and weigh the serious responsibility that this election imposes on its citizens. back.
At this point, most American voters should have no illusions about who Trump is. During his many years as a real estate developer and television personality, then as president and as a dominant figure in the Republican Party, Trump demonstrated a character and temperament that make him completely unsuitable for high office.
As president, he wielded power carelessly and often cruelly, putting his ego and personal needs before the interests of his country. Now, as he campaigns again, his worst impulses remain as strong as ever (encouraging violence and anarchy, exploiting fear and hatred for political gain, undermining the rule of law and the Constitution, applauding dictators). and they are increasing as he tries to regain power. . He plots retaliation, with the intention of evading the institutional, legal and bureaucratic restrictions that placed limits on him during his first term.
Therefore, our purpose at the beginning of the new year is to sound a warning.
Trump does not offer voters anything resembling a normal choice between Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, big or small government. It confronts America with a far more fateful choice: between America’s continuity as a nation dedicated to “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” and a man who has proudly displayed an open disdain for law and order. protections and ideals. of the Constitution.
If in 2016 various factions of the electorate were willing to look beyond Trump’s bombast in the hope that he could deliver what they wanted without causing too much damage to the nation, today there is no mystery about what he will do if he wins. , about the type of people he will surround himself with and the personal and political goals he will pursue. There is also no mystery about the consequences for the world if the United States re-elects a leader who openly displays his contempt for his allies.
Trump’s four years in the White House caused lasting damage to the presidency and the nation. He deepened existing divisions among Americans, leaving the country dangerously polarized; He so degraded public discourse that many Americans have become accustomed to lies, insults, and personal attacks at the highest levels of leadership. His disregard for the rule of law raised concerns about the long-term stability of American democracy, and his lack of a moral compass threatened to corrode the ideals of national service.
The Republic resisted Trump’s presidency for a variety of reasons: his lack of a prepared agenda, the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the efforts of appointees who attempted to moderate his most dangerous or unreasonable demands. Most importantly, it survived because of the people and institutions in his administration and the Republican Party who proved strong enough to stand up to his efforts to undermine the peaceful transfer of power.
It is instructive after that administration to hear the judgments of some of these officials about the president they served. John Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff, called him “the most flawed person I’ve ever met,” someone who couldn’t understand why Americans admired those who They sacrificed their lives in combat. Bill Barr, who was attorney general, and Mark Esper, former defense secretary, said Trump repeatedly put their own interests before those of the country. Even the most loyal and conservative of them all, Vice President Mike Pence, who took the stance that helped spark the insurrection by Trump and his followers on January 6, 2021, saw through the man: “On that day, President Trump too “He demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution,” he said.
There will be no people like this in the White House if Trump is re-elected. The former president has no interest in being restricted and has surrounded himself with people who want to institutionalize the MAGA doctrine. According to reports by Times reporters Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage and Jonathan Swan, Trump and his ideological allies have been planning a second Trump term for many months. Under the name Project 2025, a coalition of right-wing organizations has put together a thick playbook and recruited thousands of potential candidates in preparation for an all-out assault on the structures of the American government and the democratic institutions that acted as checks on the US government. Trump. force.
The bill relates to plans by Trump and his supporters to reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers so they can be fired if they do not fully embrace Trump’s agenda. He also plans to strip the Justice Department of its independence and use it to exact revenge on those who he believes failed to achieve a victory for him in the 2020 election or did not support his unconstitutional demands. There is more, including Trump’s threats to find ways to use federal troops against those who might protest his policies and practices. These ambitions demonstrate that the years out of office and the mounting legal challenges he faces have only sharpened his worst instincts.
Trump was impeached twice as president and since leaving office has been charged in four criminal cases: two related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, one over money paid to a porn star to maintain her silence and another for hoarding documents. classified after leaving office. and impede government efforts to recover them. No other sitting or former president has ever been indicted on criminal charges. Not only has Trump shown no remorse for these actions, but he has also shown no signs of understanding that these accusations are anything other than a political crusade aimed at undermining him. He goes on to claim that the January 6 insurrection has been distorted. “There was love and unity,” he said in an interview last August. And he has suggested that, if he is re-elected, he could use his presidential powers to pardon himself.
Trump’s forays into foreign affairs remain dangerously misguided and incoherent. During his presidency, he showed consistent admiration for autocratic leaders (including Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un) and disdain for our democratic allies. While in the White House, he repeatedly threatened to leave NATO, an alliance critical to Europe’s stability that he sees only as a drain on American resources; Now his campaign website says, without elaborating, that he plans to “finish” the process of “fundamentally reassessing the purpose and mission of NATO.”
It has announced its intention to leave Ukraine, leaving it and its neighbors vulnerable to further Russian aggression. Encouraged by an American president, leaders who rule with an iron fist in Hungary, Israel, India and elsewhere would face much less moral or democratic pressure.
Trump has made clear his conviction that only “losers” accept legal, institutional or even constitutional restrictions. He has vowed revenge against his political opponents, whom he has called “vermin” and threatened to execute him. This is particularly disturbing at a time of growing concern about political violence, with growing threats against elected officials in both parties.
He has repeatedly demonstrated a deep disdain for the First Amendment and the basic principles of democracy, chief among them the right to freely and peacefully express the dissent of those in power without fear of reprisal, and has made no secret of his willingness to expand powers. of the presidency, including the deployment of the military and the Department of Justice, to get their way.
Democracy in the United States is stronger with a formidable conservative political movement that keeps alive diversity of thought on important issues, such as the country’s approaches to immigration, education, national security, and fiscal responsibility. There should be room for real disagreement on any of these issues and many more, and there is a long tradition of that throughout the American experiment. But that is not what the former president is looking for.
Re-electing Mr. Trump would present serious dangers to our Republic and the world. This is a time not to sit on the sidelines but to re-engage. We call on Americans to put aside their political differences, grievances and partisan affiliations and contemplate – as families, as parishes, as councils and clubs, and as individuals – the true magnitude of the choice they will make in November.
