“The times, they are a-changing . . .”

We Americans elected a President who describes himself as a “stable genius . . . like, really smart”—a claim no other President has made. Whereas his immediate predecessor incessantly quoted from the U.S. constitution and urged us to “form a more perfect Union,” President Trump’s “genius” has focused elsewhere. Although he provided some short-lived tax breaks for the middle class, his overall tax policy shifts over 500 billion dollars of wealth from the lower and middle classes to the super wealthy. This policy will increase income/wealth inequality, thereby exacerbating the divide between the very rich and every other American. Moreover, his signature positions are also divisive. He has often derided Congress for its failure to fund his wall or repeal Obamacare and complained about the courts impeding his immigration bans. Berating all who oppose him, he proceeds to alienate various ethnic and racial groups and to disregard both the healthcare of all Americans and the livelihood of black or brown immigrants. Obviously, he shows no interest in bringing people together. In place of unity, the President offers discriminatory exclusion and dispassionate indifference.

In contrast to past Presidents, President Trump differs in his approach to government. Our democratic republic is not “a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere” (President Reagan). His mission, as he sees it, is to save a failed system—or “drain the swamp”—for, as he attests, “only I can fix it.” His attempts to do so have met with more than a little backlash. For example, he states how “sad” it is that there is resistance to his bending the Justice Department and intelligence services to do his bidding. But, as former President Nixon found out, our system does not put the Presidency above the law. Likewise, he wants control over the public media, even suggesting the press become more subject to libel suits. But his frequent claims of fake news and threats of libel suits are really sad attempts to violate the First Amendment (freedom of the press). The Federal Courts have frequently ruled that his immigration bans violate the Fourteenth Amendment (the equal protection clause). Obviously, his actions reveal his ignorance of or enmity for our Constitution and the rule of law.

Perhaps President Trump’s real objective is not to save our American system. Whether he fully realizes it or not, he seems to want to destroy it. For example, he shows no respect for the coequal branches of government: he supports sycophant Republicans for Congressional seats and nominates judges more preferential to his authority to the Federal Courts. He appoints Cabinet Secretaries who promise unwavering loyalty to him and often oppose the very purpose of the Departments they manage. They are against funding public education, clean air and water, national wildlife preserves, national parks, fair housing practices, work place safety rules, bank regulations, a robust diplomatic corps, international agreements, and multi-lateral trade agreements. Pundits tell us that this Presidency is not normal. But “normal” only implies its divergence from past Presidencies. It is not a true characterization. This Presidency can only be compared with Andrew Johnson, who deliberately worked against the hard-fought American Union, and with Richard Nixon, who thought himself above the law. In other words, a true characterization of the Trump Presidency is impeachable.

Not only does President Trump disregard the implications of our constitutionally established system of checks and balances and of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. He also is cravenly abusive of the emoluments clause and dismissive of Article II, Section 4, regarding treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors. He insists that his “fighting back” at the Justice department and FBI are not “obstructions of justice” and that “there is no collusion” with the Russians. Yet he has persistently—and suspiciously—attempted to derail the criminal investigations into the Russians “influence campaign.” And he repeatedly defends the Czar-like Russian leader. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin continues his attempts to infiltrate and subvert our democracy and to isolate American influence around the world. He would undo what King George tried to prevent. And Donald Trump is his accomplice.

Now in a new year, Americans seem even more perplexed by a government radically incoherent and untethered from its moorings–that is, embroiled in lies, incompetence, a growing moral morass, an undiscerning dismemberment of everything “Obama,” and, most significantly, a willful disengagement from American history and ideals. The question remains: what do Americans want? Do we still believe in the mythic land of the free, where all “are created equal” and with “certain unalienable rights?” If so, then maybe we should protest with more purpose and vote for our ideals. In America, we create our future at the ballot box and in our hearts and minds. We are still a nation founded upon principles defined in our founding documents and coded into our laws. If we choose to believe in them, then we can and will progress with this American experiment in Democracy.

Last year I wrote about “The New Age of Bafflement.” I cannot make this earlier blog more relevant than its inherent prescience. (If you can spare the time, you might want to reread it.) Without a doubt, technology and social media have accelerated change in every aspect of modern cultures and societies. Along with that change we have experienced job dislocation, growing divisiveness in nearly every medium, and uncompromising gridlock in our politics. But how we experience change is more about us than the nature of change. American have overcome environmental cataclysms, civil strife, and world wars. We should be well equipped to adapt America’s core values and systems into this brave new world. President Trump, by contrast, seems intent on dragging America into past divisiveness quandaries which we had worked diligently to overcome and, in many cases, did overcome. Do we want to revisit long lines in emergency wards, polluted air in our cities, oil spills like Exxon Valdes that required a 2.1-billion-dollar clean-up, despoiled lands in our National Parks, an onslaught of new age “robber barons,” racial-gender-ethnic discrimination, and a disregard for the poor, the sick, and the elderly?

President Trump’s agenda is not to “make America great again.” His vision for America is extreme and dangerously radical. He would make his Presidency imperial and subservient to his economic empire and to the wealthy who share his perch at the top of the economic pyramid. If we become cynically resigned to Trump’s America, then we put this self-governing experiment in jeopardy and abandon America’s lead role in a fast-changing future. Instead, our nation will sink into the quagmire of incoherence, incompetence, and the erratic autocracy of this President’s Administration. As the eye of the media storm he creates, he focuses attention on himself, while tearing apart America’s institutions. He is the evil wizard of chaos, who would rebrand America into his likeness.

While Congress seems reduced into complicity, many of us appear bamboozled by a chameleon who in the guise of populism steals our birthright and our future. How has Trump duped the electorate and cowed Congress to his will? How, indeed? I am still baffled after all these months.