Fascinating conversation: I just listened to a discussion on Donald Trump involving long time conservative David Frum and Sam Harris. What did Trump do that resonated deeply, according to Frum? A) The pain felt by rural America, B) That America’s trade policy is not working well for most Americans, and C) Immigration does impose often invisible economic and cultural costs on many Americans in the bottom 30-40% of Americans.
None of this suggests that Trump should be President. He is massively incompetent and disorganized, and has failed to make appointments. The U.S. has great power to end human life through it’s nuclear arsenal. Trump is erratic and therefore dangerous. It’s like being in a car with a hopelessly drunk driver. Trump is not a strategic visionary. He makes impulsive bad decisions, and digging out of his messes by blaming others. Trump is not Hitler. He is filled with bitterness and rage. His advisors are filled with rage–none of them are fully functioning people. Millions of people filled with rage are delighted to see Trump be rude to the snobs out there. His followers don’t care about detrimental effects to themselves.
Republicans are running in lockstep to support Trump, who many Republicans once despised. Trump has a direct connection to the Republican base, which has emasculated every Republican institution, including FOX News and Paul Ryan. They have all struck a devil’s bargain with Trump out of fear.
How bad would a scandal need to be to lead to impeachment? We already know that Trump has a $600M debt to Chinese Banks, and we already know that Trump has deep financial ties to Russian sources. We already saw Trump looking highly incompetent at a press conference. That wasn’t enough. As long as FOX News finds it better to support Trump than impeach him, Trump will stay. We already know he is a crook and has surrounded himself with people who have no right to be in government. We don’t know the details, but we know there are major problems.
Frum states that there is not going to be an external solution such as impeachment. Trump’s existence as President is a judgment rendered upon us for our failure to be better committed (as citizens) to the political process. We need to be better citizens. How? According to From, we need infinite effort to force Secretary of the Treasury to force Trump to release his tax returns, including disclosure of connections to foreign bank accounts. We also need an investigation into Trump’s connections with Russia. From argues that these things would convince Trump to resign “for health reasons.” Perhaps someone will leak at least a state tax return, if not a federal return (there are severe federal penalties for leaking anyone else’s federal tax return).
From has no doubt that Trump has already much richer as a result of being President (discussed at the 40 min mark). The U.S. now has one of the loosest bribery laws of any country, allowing for this. The two Trump sons are currently cutting contracts all over the world, making money based on their father’s election.
