By Ronald T. Fox
We’ve” endured” two years of the Donald Trump presidency. I put endured in quotes since the damage he has caused to our democracy, fundamental norms and global standing has not yet fully played out. Things could get far worse. I can't help wonder whether American democracy, as we've come to know it, will survive the Trump onslaught.
Trump’s incessant attacks on human rights, freedom of the press and speech, honesty in government, public health and safety and the rule of law, has seriously degraded the quality of democratic life in America. In addition, his attacks on our closest allies, while embracing brutal foreign demagogues, and his abandonment of long-standing international treaties and agreements have severely tarnished America’s international standing as a bastion of democratic rule and leader of the free world. His manipulations of fear and hate has widened political divisions to levels not seen since the Civil War.
Two-thousand eighteen finds him reeling from what he has wrought. Slumbering Americans may finally be waking up to the Trump ship wreck, at least let’s hope so.
One of the best summations of Trump’s 2018 was published in the Opinion Section of the December 24, Sacramento Bee, written by the progressive thinker and activist, Sasha Abramsky. For over three decades, Abramsky has been a tireless advocate for social justice. He pulls few punches in his extensive writings lambasting compromises made with our cherished democratic norms. His latest book, Jumping at Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream, offers a personal, beautifully written and compelling exploration of the rise, and consequences, of irrational public fear, which he connects to our toxic politics and susceptibility to demagogic messages. It is a primer on the rise of Trumpism and where we may be heading if we don’t confront irrational fear.
I’m posting Abramsky’s opinion piece on Trump’s second year in office. It hits the proverbial nail on the head.
