God help us all
In the past forty-eight hours the “President” of the United States has tweeted the following things: a drawing of a border wall that looked like it was made by a two year old. A video of himself singing while holding a pitchfork. The phrase “I know tech better than anyone.” And a photo of himself signing a blank sheet of paper into law. At least, as he tries to take the country down with him, he’s unintentionally providing some comic relief. But this isn’t funny.
I don’t know where we go from here. I mean, I have a fair sense of what the ending looks like. Donald Trump has no leverage left of any kind, and he’s rapidly demonstrating that he wouldn’t know how to put it to good use even if he did. He can either accept a resignation deal now in exchange for reduced criminal charges, or he can drag this out a bit longer until heightening public pressure forces the last of his allies to throw him overboard. Either way, he goes down, and he has a hard time avoiding prison. But what about us?
Donald Trump has now shut down the federal government because he’s in a bad mood. He’s made nearly fifteen percent of the stock market’s value disappear in the past three weeks because he’s been spitefully pushing mutually destructive trade policies. He’s suddenly recalling the U.S. military from various installations around the world, because certain foreign leaders have asked him to, and he personally owes them money. The one guy in his administration who could tie his shoelaces without committing a felony in the process? He just resigned in disgust. We now have no permanent Attorney General, Chief of Staff, or Secretary of Defense.
The thing is, we’ve only got to make it another two weeks before the cavalry arrives. House Democrats will begin setting Donald Trump on fire the minute they take control, making him – and more importantly his remaining political allies – realize that it’s over. Robert Mueller is preparing to fire a bazooka full of indictments and arrests. That’s the kind of momentum that tends to force things to an endgame rather quickly. We’ll get through this. But these next two weeks with Senile Grandpa Hitler in the White House are going to be something straight out of the Twilight Zone. Merry Christmas!
