The seminal moment in Donald Trump’s downfall
For the Confederacy it was Gettysburg. For Hitler it was the bomb detonated in his bunker on July, 20 1944. For Nixon it was the Alexander Butterfield revelation about the tapes. Historians are fond of identifying seminal moments in the chronicles of regimes where tipping points are reached and empires inexorably start to crumble. While it isn’t always (or perhaps ever) possible to identify such moments as we live them, there are clear indications that last week may have marked just such an event in the political life of Donald Trump.
The twin revelations of the New York Times op-ed and Bob Woodward’s new book yielded key insights into the disastrous inner workings of the Trump White House. The dreadfully partisan Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings confirmed just how low the Republicans are willing to go in approving so toxic a candidate. The magnificent speech from President Barack Obama – reminding us all of what a real President looks like – each have served to whittle away at the Trump pirated presidency, yielding his worst public relations disaster since its maculate inception (Editor’s note: no, this is not a typo. See the definition of “maculate”).
It couldn’t have come at a worse time for Donald Trump. With the November midterm elections less than two months away, the American people are now in a unique position to do something about this midair plane wreck of an administration. With a potential Democratic majority in both houses, such a new Congress could conceivably pass laws to force Trump to yield up his tax returns, limit his power to harm the Mueller investigation, and dare him to try to veto it. What’s more, they may very well be able to impeach – and convict – Donald Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors, see him out of office and put him safely behind bars.
The irony of such a Democratic coup is it will finally put the truth to the lie perpetually and shamelessly advanced by the Squeaker-in-Chief. After January, when the new Congress is formally sworn and consecrated, it may finally be the case that all the troubles Donald Trump will face from that point forward will actually and truly be at the hands of the Democrats.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.