Despite all of the available evidence to the contrary, there are liberal and progressive optimists who still believe that the “guardrails of democracy” and America’s laws will protect the country and the world from Donald Trump.
Such hope is misplaced and dangerously naive. As political activist and analyst Amy Siskind documents every week, Donald Trump is a norm-shattering president who is attempting to remake American society (and the world) in the service of his own malignant reality.
Too many liberals, progressives and centrist Democrats — especially pundits and journalists — are unable to accept this reality because of an error in reasoning. Yes, Donald Trump is a singular threat to American democracy. But he would not have such great power if not for his allies and enablers such as the Republican Party, right-wing interest groups, billionaires like the Koch brothers, the right-wing media echo chamber and the tens of millions of Americans who have pledged their fealty to Trump’s political cult.
