THE ICK! FACTOR

Our democracy is being bent toward autocracy.

Will we survive Trump? Will we overcome what he extorts by force and threat? Or what  he cannot attain by stealth, subterfuge or rank seizures and firings? Will we be delivered from ick: his obsession with gold plate, his   self aggrandizement, his tastelessness, his bagginess, the orange pallor, — his oily ickiness? 

Despite the harm so far, and that has been considerable, there is reason, slight though it may be, to think that the damage this crabby old man has inflicted on the nation can be survived and reversed. We cannot depend on the Supremes: that we know. The 6-3 tilt has poisoned the Court. But the federal bench, from district judges to appellate courts, have often been something of a brake, though often temporary, on the worst actions of the Trump lickspittles — e.g. trying to send unaccompanied Guatemalan children back to Guatemala in the thick of night, shoving the impact of tariffs onto the backs of taxpayers, dicking around with our health by abetting the actions of the rabid, wackadoodle anti-vaxxer RFK. Or pulling books off library shelves. State and local courts have reversed his actions.

Trump is attempting to exert absolute power over every federal agency, mostly by appointing duds like Noem, Kennedy and Hegseth to cabinet-level posts. And by attempting possibly illegal outright firings of high ranking officials at the Fed, Health & Human Services, etc. Yes, Washington is a city in fear, not from crime rates, but because  of Trump’s intentional dictatorship in putting armed troops on the city’s streets. Much of what Trump attempts is likely unconstitutional, not that he cares. But our survival as a nation depends on protecting the sanctity of our constitution. That rests with the courts, and in the belief that there are still many thousands of dedicated people in government: what Trump terms the “Deep State”. He is correct. We the citizenry are indeed the deep state, which is as it should be.

In virtually every dictatorship, sooner or later, an underground arises to resist the dictator. The resistance here is, so far, above ground, visible to anyone who looks. Whether it’s gutting Medicaid, limiting access to vaccines and that will kill people, bullying the Fed, threatening Mexico and Greenland, crippling public radio and tv, drilling for oil in pristine land, letting goons in masks pull people off the street or out of their homes — whatever: there is strong pushback.

Taking the long view at a critical moment is never easy. Waking up every morning is an achievement; we never know what loony action Trump might take next. But taking the long view, one can believe that democracy is ultimately more resilient and more flexible than dictatorship which is always marked by ukase, stiffness and eventually the passing of the dictator.