Does it seem normal that politicians too often say they support something their actions disavow? Well, your answer reveals one of two things or both. You either agree the implied contradiction is normal as a statement of fact. Or you might disagree that this type of contradiction should be considered normal. And, finally, you might accept both answers as true in the sense that both the act and the implied contradiction are simply a commonplace reality. The first answer reveals that you are a realist: “things are what they are.” The second, reveals you as a moralist: “things are not what they should be.” And the third, identifies you as an agnostic who can only represent his/herself as a cynic: “so what.” To put it bluntly, immorality often seems unavoidable in politics. Or, as my East-Philly uncle would say, “what ӓr yӓ gonna do.” Herein is the basic case for apathy.

Why do I find the title of this blog relevant? Janus was a mythological figure with two heads joined back-to-back, therefore seeing both the receding present or past and the future at once. In modern parlance, Janus is also that two-faced anomaly that presents contradictory facades: not just the past/future of mythology, but right/wrong, good/bad, amicable/hostile, and so on. Our current President, for example, presents us with this type of Janus façade. He will often appear to take two sides of an issue. For example, he declares himself as a “law and order President,” while ordering a violent attack on peaceful protestors exercising their First Amendment rights. He claims to be the best friend of black Americans while equivocating the violent clash between Klu Klux Clan and American citizens as a principled disagreement between good people. He claims success on many issues that have challenged his Presidency, like nuclear non-proliferation issues with Russia, North Korea and Iran, Covid-19 mitigation, unfair bilateral trade with China, continued US economic expansion, and the “greatest stock market in history.” In fact, these “successes” are either boldfaced lies or, arguably, distortions of reality. Some, nevertheless, believe the President. While admitting he is a boldfaced liar, they just shrug their shoulders, equating the President’s claims as “par for the course” in politics. They accept his contradictory personae as the modern version of a successful politician, that is, a two-faced Janus or, simply, “Trump being Trump.”

Throughout history, there have been men who have sought absolute power, which demands their every word or action be accepted as true, lawful, and normal. For centuries, they subjugated their people under the auspices of the “divine right of kings.” And, within the lifetime of many of us, they committed heinous crimes against the peoples they governed and started wars to subjugate others under their command. Lord Acton of England understood these actions as “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Was Lord Acton stating a law of nature or divine mandate? Or was he defining a predictable and unavoidable aberration of human nature? Perhaps so. Nevertheless, his statement does not and cannot deny our ability to withhold the exercise of such power—what President Trump terms as his “total authority.” Our Constitution and form of government does not empower any President to exercise such authority. Nor should we as American citizens. Such an abuse of power would dehumanize the body politic by denying the exercise of free will and self-government according to laws and norms acceptable to our society and individual consciences. The exercise of absolute power is the greatest danger to any society that values liberty and justice for all.

Notably, on the same day that the President was both establishing his credentials as a “law and order” President and ordering his motley crew of enforcers to attack peaceful protesters, he had previously received a call from President Putin. Of course, we have no knowledge of the substance of that call. But the timing is ironic, in the sense of my Janus analogy. Both men appear Janus-like in their Presidency: savior/prosecutor, restorer/destroyer. They promise greatness or empire while delivering death, destruction, and chaos that extends beyond their sovereign borders.

More specifically, President Putin is a master of multiple faces – many of which are self-contradictory. I mean, we know that he has many more significant roles than that of a hockey player, a pilot, a shirtless horseback rider, a conservationist, or a biker. He is possibly the richest and most powerful man in the world. While he serves as a dedicated representative of his people, he is also a ruthless and vindictive adversary to his enemies. He can be admired and feared at the same time. He may well be President Trump’s model, but they have little in common besides their Janus-like self-image. President Putin is both a student of Russian history and an historical figure in the continuing evolution of modern Russia. While his American Janus has only one purpose—to win or obtain enough votes to stay in power, President Putin assumes absolute power for a more patriotic purpose, the restoral of Russia’s greatness. His many faces are designed to identify himself with the people he governs—not to win votes. He dominates by consensus of the governed, not via an electoral college. Unlike Trump, he has risen through the ranks of power and has a firm knowledge of Russian history, governing principles, and its people (narodnost). Russians generally like and support him. The American President’s following is not based upon any substantive contribution he has made to American institutions or history. He is either admired as a cult figure or hated for the same reason. While Americans can disagree with the Russian President’s excesses, they must take him seriously as a Russian patriot and elected leader. His American mimic, however, hides behind a façade of power and bleak bluster a fragile ego. In place of substance or character, he presents the many contradictory faces that comedians worldwide ridicule.

In this context, my use of the classical Janus allegory is a simplistic derivative of its core message. The Romans, for example, used the Janus figure as a generalized symbol of transitions at doorways, gates, or the beginning of a new year. Here, I am applying it to two world leaders who stand as pivot points in modern history. One of these leaders reinterprets an historical past in his strategy to build a new future for his country. The other boasts about self-perceived attributes he demands his country validate. The first is a Russian patriot who dearly wants to incorporate Russia’s past governance into a future Russia, founded on law-based order, strong central government, and reflective of all ethnic and civil elements of the Russian people. The second is an imposter whose only interest in leadership is self-aggrandizement rather than the future advancement of his country or its people.

Henry Adams, writing at the beginning of the 20th century, foresaw Russia’s empire history as a premonition of a future threat to Europe. In part, his prognosis was realized, at least until the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics of Russia collapsed at the end of the century. Vladimir Putin is the leader who wants to restore that union and Russia’s influence on the world stage of the 21st century. Donald Trump, however, has no historical precedent and no strategic imperative for the nation other than cannibalizing its resources and power for his personal gain. His Presidency is out of sync with well established norms for the office he holds. It functions in violation of the American Constitution, in repudiation of Congressional oversight, and in constant conflict with the rulings of judicial courts. Trump’s knowledge of his country’s history seems so vacuous that it remains questionable whether he has even read the American Constitution. While Putin exercises the power of a tsar with both electoral and constitutional legitimacy, Trump assumes powers neither the electorate nor the American Constitution grant him. While Putin exercises near absolute power, Trump salivates for acolytes to bend a knee before his Resolute Desk. Both men are dangerous, but for different reasons. President Putin, though a careful strategist, could overplay his hand. The result might be Russia’s economic collapse or the onset of an unstoppable war. President Trump, however, has already accomplished the feat of establishing a corrupt and incompetent Administration and of single-handedly destroying America’s influence in maintaining global cooperation on all matters of health, peace, and justice.

While Putin is the prime agent of an ascending world power, Trump is the catalyst for a descending world power. Both men present Janus-like transitions to a new world order, neither of whom preclude the machinations of Xi Jinping to build a dominant world power.

It is time for Americans to face facts, not false façades. When Donald Trump touts his message of “make America great again,” he is referring to the America that emerged as the lone super power after a world war and as a pluralist society still deeply entrenched in the Jim Crow era. That America existed in his teens. His adolescence then appears to have informed his predominant policy tendencies: “America first” in foreign diplomacy and white privilege in domestic politics. Trump’s vision of America ignores the second half of the 20th century. It is recidivistic. It lends itself to myriad contradictory interpretations. And it ill-prepares him to address the real problems of our time.

Both Trump and Putin want to recapture their country’s “greatness.” Putin, mindful of the two catastrophic collapses of the Russian empire during the previous century, wants to reimagine a new Russia for the 21st century. He is attempting to build a more modern economy and provide the strategic reserves that future setbacks may require. Russia’s emergence from the 2008 Great Recession is evidence of his success. By contrast, Trump was oblivious of his responsibility to refurbish FEMA’s stockpiles after two natural disasters during his Administration. Moreover, he has tragically reversed the economic expansion he inherited by failing to address its most serious threat, a world pandemic. America is now in the grip of the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression as a result. His only plan for the foreseeable future is to win reelection. The price for ignoring his responsibility to address a national crisis is a huge increase in the national debt, massive unemployment, an unchecked viral contagion that has infected millions, and American deaths that number in six figures. There is a maxim that states “any leader ignorant of history is doomed to repeat it.” Putin, to his credit, understands this lesson of history. Trump, however, follows a different dictum, which I would characterize as “any leader ignorant of history and grossly incompetent can create a disaster unparalleled in history.”

This year, Americans face an historical pivot point. That point is Janus-like in that it demands we reprise history to guide our future. The history I reference here is our founding ideals and the purpose of our tripartite government. We must reject a rogue President, his corrupted Administration, and all Republicans complicit in his misconduct. We may well have to reinvent America, demand the next Administration right the ship of state, and undo the damage Donald Trump has unleashed on our democratic institutions, our foreign policy, and our national security. We must renew our quest for a more perfect union. America must have a renaissance or face an unheralded demise.
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< For more thoughts on specific threats to our democracy, refer to a year-old blog entitled “All Problems Solved.”
< For more thoughts on the impact of American democracy on the world, refer to a blog written in April of 2016, “American Democracy in a Dangerous World.”