Existential ‘Dred

Since each day feels like a month and each month feels like a decade, there’s no compelling reason to wait until we officially reach day one hundred of the new administration to assess their first 100 days in office. As Dana Milbank explains in WaPo (Gift Article): Trump is wrapping up 100 days of historic failure. He hasn’t gotten many bills signed. He hasn’t ended the wars he promised to end. He plunged the markets and created instability in the global economy. He’s offended our closest allies and dramatically decreased international tourism to the US. He’s been great for China and provided solace to Russia. He’s been losing court cases. His approval rating is dropping. But, in fairness, this is a presidency that seems determined to be judged not only by traditional measures of political success, but also by the amount of damage it can do. So it’s worth noting that, as Milbank points out, “Trump, whose 100th day in office is April 30, has achieved one thing that is truly remarkable: He has introduced a level of chaos and destruction so high that historians are hard-pressed to find its equal in our history. He has upended global structures that kept the peace for generations. He has aligned America with the world’s despots. He has slashed the federal workforce and impaired the government’s ability to collect taxes, administer Social Security and fund medical research, among many other things. He has abused his power in startling ways, using the government for personal vengeance and retribution against perceived opponents, harassing law firms, universities and the free press with an authoritarian flourish. He has shattered the guardrails that limit executive power, ignoring laws, eliminating inspectors general and other mechanisms for accountability and oversight. He has displayed gratuitous cruelty in the treatment of migrants and government workers alike. He has used the government to undertake breathtaking schemes of self-enrichment. And he has left a large number of his countrymen angry and frightened.”

+ The anger and fear, as it turns out, is somewhat bipartisan. Earlier this week, GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski answered a question from a constituent in way that makes it clear just how much has changed in the not yet one hundred days. “We are all afraid…I am oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real.” And here’s the famously reserved, conservative commentator David Brooks in the NYT (Gift Article) calling for an uprising. What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal. “It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.”