It is tempting to indulge in schadenfreude at the escalating chaos surrounding Trump in the wake of last week’s events. Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI Director Comey, followed by a fusillade of lies from his spokespeople about his rationale, and culminating in Trump’s admission to Lester Holt that he fired Comey because of the “Russia thing,” may mark a turning point in his presidency. If polls are to be believed, many of his supporters now support an independent investigation into possible collusion of the Trump campaign with Russian interference in our elections. Republican lawmakers are gingerly beginning to step away from the train wreck in the Oval Office. We should be clear that this does not represent a sudden outbreak of courage, but rather a recognition that Trump’s volatile and irrational behavior threatens the Republican legislative agenda. Continue reading “The danger of Schadenfreude”
The path to American autocracy runs through the Justice Department
The path to American autocracy runs through the Justice Department. As Conor Friedersdorf and Ben Wittes detail in a frightening article in The Atlantic, while we are rightly concerned with the erosion of our civil liberties by our national security apparatus, the investigatory and criminal justice powers wielded by the Justice Department pose a far greater threat to the majority of Americans. Continue reading “The path to American autocracy runs through the Justice Department”
100 Days In
April 27, 2017
As we reach the 100th day of Trump’s presidency, we awake each morning feeling like strangers in a strange land. Efforts to analyze Trump’s tenure thought the conventional lens applied to the 44 preceding presidents are futile. Although political commentators delighted in their takedown of The White House press release riddled with inaccuracies, laughing at the absurdity of a comparison between Trump and FDR; viewed another way, Trump’s impact has indeed been consequential. In 100 days, Trump has radically altered our country’s place in the world and shattered its compact with its citizens. Trump has derided decades’ long alliances with Western Europe, casting grave doubt on our commitment to NATO and emboldening Putin’s dream of reasserting Russia’s place as a global superpower. Trump has cozied up to authoritarians like Erdogan and el-Sisi, played footsie with wannabe Nazis like LePen, while shunning centrist democratic leaders like Angela Merkel. Continue reading “100 Days In”