President Trump specializes in disunity, even though he holds a job, when done well, that encourages unity.
The night before, rather than addressing the nation on the collection and use of data going forward, he attacked once again those who handled data in the 2020 election. The 2020 election has been challenged and litigated by every conceivable organ of government. Individually and collectively, those governance bodies said the election of President Joe Biden was not in question.
Did foreign actors engage in deliberate efforts to persuade Americans one way or another, sure, but that has been going on forever. We live in a contested global civilization. Propaganda is not new, and we need to work to minimize its effects in this hyper-technological age. But, competition both above and below board is a fact of life.
Interestingly, President Trump’s address came at a moment when many think civilization, as we know it, is being challenged by a rapidly evolving contrived civilization, birthed by agentic artificial intelligence (AI) that few understand.
Let me pause, my spell check didn’t know the word agentic. Here is what my search revealed: “agentic, acting independently to achieve a goal.” If you are intrigued, here is a broader explanation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Now would be a good time for the President to reassure the Nation that our institutions and laws are the equal of understanding and confronting the challenges from AI. What America got from the President was weakness—an attack on the integrity of our democratic processes. An assertion that our election institutions are not sufficiently strong to protect us from China.
Relatedly and unfortunately, the institution that needs to be strong, when the Executive is weak, is the Congress. It is not. President Trump and his Congressional collaborators have weakened the effective use of its power almost to the point of irrelevancy.
Finally, America’s foundation remains strong. Our institutions, while also weakened in the past, have always rebounded. The next election is important. Congress needs new leadership—an institution that, as intended, protects us all. Repeat: ALL.
10 Responses
Yes! Thank you. We all need to vote for those who we believe will be strong leaders.
Congress has shirked its duties for decades now, and abdicated its powers to the Executive and Judiciary. Executive fiat is not a Trump phenomenon. Remember “I have a telephone and a pen.”?
I think the federal government has grown beyond its ability to perform adequate oversight. The bureaucracy has taken on a life of its own. It’s time to return powers originally prescribed to the States and local governments back where they belong. We can start with the county schools.
Some 75%+ of Americans have called for Congressional term limits for almost two decades now. This is an Amendment whose time has come. While we are at it, let’s pass a balanced budget Amendment and major campaign finance reforms. I heard a good quote a few days ago: “Billions of dollars speak louder than millions of people.” If we don’t get big money out of politics, it will no longer be a government of, by, and for the people.
Well stated Mr. Robertson! I couldn’t have said it any better.
Susan Basham
Yes….
Trump is a idiot who is still talking about an election that he lost 6 years ago. Now he’s talking about mail-in ballots being corrupt. The only thing corrupt is Trump. How did a treasonous insurectionist, convicted felon tax cheat, draft dodger, wife cheater get into the WH?
And who is going to act to remove him? Not a MAGA Congress. Not 6 MAGA SCOTUS justices. Maybe Iran will remove him?
While I believe Mr. trump is unqualified to be our president, he is not an idiot. What he is is someone who can only see issues through a lens that benefits him. What he is is an habitual liar, a narcissist, a grifter, and someone who believes he is above the law. History tells us that these traits pre-dated his being elected President, but they have certainly intensified since. While American voters put him in office, twice, the GOP Congress has facilitated his behavior by refusing to exercise their Constitutionally mandated responsibilities. Ubfortunatly, the Dems in Congress have failed to crsft a convincing message beyond “vote to save democracy” and “we’re better than trump”. While both sentiments are correct, without a cogent plan neither are sufficient. However, trump has given American voters plenty of reasons to elect a Dem Congress; among them are the undeclared war in Iran, failure to improve the ircumstances of average Americans, the unbridled violence of ICE, and the corruption and self-dealing in his ad.inistration (and family). If voters actually listens to what tru.p says and look at what he does, they’re are plenty of reasons to vote Dem in November.
Trump’s moral character, judgment and integrity are so compromised, so deeply and obviously flawed, he’s actually unifying the opposition to his attacks on American institutions and democratic norms.
Love conquers hate, not by combat, not by force, but by the strength and attraction of its own being. This is why the Rev. Martin Luther King, assassinated because he spoke truth to power, could state with certainty, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
From beyond the spectacle of this administration, a spectacle showing us there must be a better way, love calls quietly to each of us, reminding us there is a better way, one that we find together.
Well put Michael!
I understand and am generally sympathetic with the several views expressed in the comments, and of course with the basic case made by my good friend Al Sikes. There is another dimension that has only recently caught my attention and that bears on all this, and may indeed help explain why it is not helpful to think of Mr. Trump as being simply “stupid.” In an insightful article in a current issue of a national magazine, it was pointed out that the American society is moving into an era that can be referred to as ‘Post-literary.’ Basically, large parts of the population have stopped reading books and even literary magazines, and many of the young and perhaps large segments of the older population now think and communicate in the short, spur-of-the-moment phrases used in text messaging, social media outbursts, etc.. There is often limited clarifying punctuation or literary pretense. Some scholars believe that we think in the same ways and with the same understandings as we communicate. It has been suggested that Mr. Trump exemplifies this post-literary way of thinking and communicating, which may help explain how he has such a strong following among so many today.
This is a subject that can be expanded upon, and has profound implications for our country’s future. Perhaps the good thinker Al will want to explore this in one or more of his future essays.
Certainly, Donald Trump has tapped into a segment of American Society that is not well read, and which has remained resentful of the rapid progress made by minorities and immigrants of color for the past century.
Trump has given them voice and status in American Society for which they will remain loyal to him despite any reasonable explanations. They remain his political base of Republican Party. They will do everything possible to reelect Trump‘s Republican “yes men“ in both houses of the Congress, every state House and every local election. They appear to be not the least bit concerned about maintaining American democracy.
Their loyalty is to Donald J Trump and not to our country or its constitution.The fascist element of project 2025 in Trump’s inner circle is well positioned to continue to plan and encourage fascist thinking and actions among a dangerously large portion of our white population.
The election of 2026 is in jeopardy. Listening to Trump‘s primetime speech is prima facie evidence of this immediate threat.
The Republican party has served as an incubator for this malevolence for many decades. Trump has popularized it, and his inner circle is positioned to implement it. The very act by that party to nominate Donald Trump again in 2024 to open the door for all this reflects the Republicans culpability in promoting Trump and Trumpism.
It hardly matters anymore whether Americans read more books or more literary periodicals. The right wing broadcast media has perverted American political integrity. Democracy is really hanging on a thread at this point.
The election of 2026 and Americans’ responses to the impending challenges to that election in the Congress, in the courts, and on the streets will determine whether we have a new fascist dictatorship to deal with starting in 2027.
Hopefully the vast majority of Americans will reject fascism and oligarchy as this minority plays out its hand in the coming months. Trump is wholly unworthy as an American , much less as a president. None of us needs to read the NY Times or the Atlantic or CNN to understand that. We simply need to vote with the better angels of our nature.