Civil Commotion

Though sane and decent people everywhere were left aghast by Trump’s appalling photo-op last evening, his base was elated.

A few hours after the dystopian spectacle, I spoke on the phone with Robert Jeffress, a Dallas megachurch pastor and indefatigable Trump ally. He sounded almost gleeful.

“I thought it was completely appropriate for the president to stand in front of that church,” Jeffress told me. “And by holding up the Bible, he was showing us that it teaches that, yes, God hates racism, it’s despicable—but God also hates lawlessness …”

“I will never forget seeing [Trump] slowly & in-total-command walk … across Lafayette Square to St. John’s Church defying those who aim to derail our national healing by spreading fear, hate & anarchy,” wrote Johnnie Moore, the president of the Congress of Christian Leaders.

In an email to me, Ralph Reed, the chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, heaped praise on Trump for his visit: “His presence sent the twin message that our streets and cities do not belong to rioters and domestic terrorists, and that the ultimate answer to what ails our country can be found in the repentance, redemption, and forgiveness of the Christian faith.”

The sad truth is that the squalor that is Donald Trump is who the Evangelical Right really are; he can’t speak Jesus — but his barely-hidden malice, his automatic recourse to force, his conviction that science needlessly complicates matters, his disdain for expertise, that’s who they are, too.

Last evening’s stunt was, surely, this squalid administration’s lowest. Seriously: Tear-gassing and shooting rubber bullets at peaceful demonstrators in order to walk to a church and take a photo of the First Felon holding a Bible? I understand that Trump’s evangelical base is so stupid that it is certain to be charmed, but … seriously? It’s like a bad cartoon that won’t end.

Again: November’s goal must be the annihilation of the GOP, its irrevocable ruin as a political party. Your Republican senator bears responsibility for the disaster of the Trump administration. Your Congressperson bears responsibility for the disaster of the Trump administration. Your sheriff and town councilman who never uttered a word of objection bears responsibility for the Trump administration — and all must be put out of office.

What do you know? A group of demonstrators in Brooklyn rallied to defend a Target store from looters.

In Philadelphia, however, a pack of dummies without brains enough to take the business sign off the van decided that hitting the Target store would be just the thing. Notice the race, too; looters are opportunistic.

As long ago as Trump’s first year in office, I speculated that he was unlikely to leave office gracefully if he were defeated in 2020, that he would claim fraud and try to remain in office by force. There are, after all, historical precedents for that sort of thing — though not in this country.

I’m enjoying pointing-out the other people who have awakened to the very real danger.

No losing U.S. presidential candidate has ever failed to graciously concede. Even Al Gore, who many (not me) believed was cheated of victory, did so. This isn’t some mere nicety of etiquette, but goes to the heart of the kind of democratic society we constructed. A democratic culture requires accepting the legitimacy of opposing sides, and even their having power. This must not be taken for granted. It’s why Trump’s 2016 statement that he’d accept the result only if he won was nightmarish.

He actually didn’t think he’d win. But more importantly, had no power to do anything about it if he’d lost. This time is very different.

Trump is all but certain to be defeated in November, and he has no intention of leaving office without a fight. When he loses he will do what he always does: concoct a pack of garish lies and summon his toadies. What is more, those morons who think he is a Great Man will undoubtedly rally to his side. We are on our way to an unprecedented Constitutional confrontation.