Federalist : Three very bad things are likely, in
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Posted On: 12/27/2016 9:55:50 PM
Federalist :
Three very bad things are likely, in ascending order of magnitude:
Consider Trump’s effect on our political culture. People love a winner, and nothing vindicates like victory. I hoped Trump would lose because I wanted to see him—his style, his dishonesty, his braggadocio, blatant insincerity, and cruelty—discredited (that is also why I wanted Clinton to lose). Instead, they have been validated. Think for a moment about the Trump effect on all future elections.
Consider his effect on the Republican Party and on democracy in America. As someone Tweeted, the Republican Party is no longer the conservative party. It is the populist party. If you think populism is an unvarnished good, you need to reread Tocqueville and the Federalist Papers, and some Aristotle for good measure. Tyrannies can come in the form of mobs as well as individuals. The passion of a mob is not a wise principle for governance. Conservatism is premised on the importance of constitutional, limited government. America no longer has an organized, institutionalized voice for conservatism. Think about the danger to our system of government, trapped between dogmatic progressive fundamentalists and a populist mob with Trump at the head.
Consider Trump’s effect on the world. The President of the United States is still the most powerful position in the world, the Commander-In-Chief of the greatest military in world history and chief spokesman for an alliance of free nations that encompasses nearly half the globe. And now the presidency is occupied by someone who overtly admires tyrants and dictators, seems ready to cooperate with a new era of Russian aggression in Europe, and openly doubts the value of America’s historic alliances. This deserves its own post, but if I were editing the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, I would advance the Doomsday Clock one minute closer to midnight. I am not trying to be hyperbolic when I say that the Trump presidency could see the end of NATO, which would rewind the geopolitical calendar to 1939 and make global war more likely than at any time in three generations.
In the days after the election, I heard many people counsel calm and perspective. America will survive, they say. We’ve been through worse. It’s not the end of the world.
Three very bad things are likely, in ascending order of magnitude:
Consider Trump’s effect on our political culture. People love a winner, and nothing vindicates like victory. I hoped Trump would lose because I wanted to see him—his style, his dishonesty, his braggadocio, blatant insincerity, and cruelty—discredited (that is also why I wanted Clinton to lose). Instead, they have been validated. Think for a moment about the Trump effect on all future elections.
Consider his effect on the Republican Party and on democracy in America. As someone Tweeted, the Republican Party is no longer the conservative party. It is the populist party. If you think populism is an unvarnished good, you need to reread Tocqueville and the Federalist Papers, and some Aristotle for good measure. Tyrannies can come in the form of mobs as well as individuals. The passion of a mob is not a wise principle for governance. Conservatism is premised on the importance of constitutional, limited government. America no longer has an organized, institutionalized voice for conservatism. Think about the danger to our system of government, trapped between dogmatic progressive fundamentalists and a populist mob with Trump at the head.
Consider Trump’s effect on the world. The President of the United States is still the most powerful position in the world, the Commander-In-Chief of the greatest military in world history and chief spokesman for an alliance of free nations that encompasses nearly half the globe. And now the presidency is occupied by someone who overtly admires tyrants and dictators, seems ready to cooperate with a new era of Russian aggression in Europe, and openly doubts the value of America’s historic alliances. This deserves its own post, but if I were editing the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, I would advance the Doomsday Clock one minute closer to midnight. I am not trying to be hyperbolic when I say that the Trump presidency could see the end of NATO, which would rewind the geopolitical calendar to 1939 and make global war more likely than at any time in three generations.
In the days after the election, I heard many people counsel calm and perspective. America will survive, they say. We’ve been through worse. It’s not the end of the world.
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