The concerns that many people shared in November 2016 have proven to be wholly inadequate. That Donald Trump would turn out to be incompetent, bullying, vindictive, racist, sexist, and profoundly ignorant was obvious. That his policies would drive back decades of progress on the environment, on civil rights, on protections for consumers, and on foreign relations seemed like a given.
But what didn’t seem a sure bet was that the Republican Congress would join Trump in disassembling democracy.
Of course, all the signs were there, most particularly in the way Mitch McConnell moved to hijack the Supreme Court by simply ignoring the practices that had guided the Senate through two centuries. It was a clear reminder that the United States, like every other nation, depends not just on laws, but on regulations, rules, guidelines, and traditions. A clear reminder that every institution of the United States is far more vulnerable than we would like to think. From the courts to the regulatory agencies to the House and Senate, tremendous damage can be done by simply refusing to do things “the way they’ve always been done.”
At first that threat seemed muted because there were still many Republicans inside and outside of Congress who were willing to stand up to Trump. Paul Ryan was willing to say that Trump’s comments were “textbook” racism. When the news of Trump’s bragging about sexual assault made the news, John McCain was just one of many Republicans who proclaimed that he had lost both credibility and their vote. Even as he was holding the Supreme Court hostage, Mitch McConnell didn’t hesitate to say that Donald Trump was ignorant of the issues that mattered to America.
But one by one, Republicans bent the knee. One by one they dismissed any idea that Trump should be held to standards. Any standards. So that news that Donald Trump had bribed a porn star into silence just a week before the election didn’t generate an impeachment. Or a censure. Or a comment.
They settled into what the worst elements of their party had been saying for decades: The only problem with Watergate, was that Republicans didn’t have control of Congress.
Even months into 2017, it seemed Republicans had made a pact—they would ignore Trump’s misdeeds until they could pass the tax cut they wanted to badly. But then, having put any pretense of morality on hold for months, and having received all the fruits of destroying regular process, they learned two things. They could get away with it. They liked it.
Why go back to a bipartisan process when you can have things all your way? Why cooperate, when you can rule.
Things didn’t get better. They got worse. The leadership of the Congress may still look as if it’s in the hands of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, but the real leaders now are people like Devin Nunes, Mark Meadows, Matt Gaetz—those who are quickest to do Trump’s will and persecute Trump’s enemies. Those are the people who are steering Congress. They’re setting the priorities and steering the ship. A year ago, Paul Ryan urged his longtime pal Nunes to sit out the Russia investigation after his frantic attempt to generate a fake scandal around “unmasking.” Now Ryan is the one on the sidelines as Nunes gets the entire House to go along with his fictions and launches investigations aimed directly at crippling the FBI and the special counsel.
Masha Gessen published her rules for surviving an autocracy just a day after the election of Trump, and sadly, horribly, a year latter there is no other single piece of writing that seems so prescient. She warned that institutions would not save us, and they haven’t. That those who compromised with Trump would become his servants, and they have. That none of the language Trump was using which seemed so outrageous and over the top was beyond his efforts. It wasn’t.
Every new administration has ideas about how these things can be done differently and done better, but with Trump the idea of change wasn’t about improvement. It was simpler than that. Purer. Trump just set out to burn it down. Burn it all down.
And now the smoke is everywhere.
The state of the union is dire. The state of the union is that of a single party in power that does not want to surrender that power, and increasingly doesn’t see why they should let it slip away just because little things like special counsels, or federal judges, or fall elections say that they should. Every action that Republicans have taken has been a test run into new territory. Can we get away with this? And this? And this? And even this? Yes, yes, yes, oh yes.
Even Trump underestimated the situation. The only problem with shooting people on 5th Avenue would be setting up enough spectator seats for those Trump supporters eager to be there for the show trials.
Gessen warned that we shouldn’t trust in institutions to save us. That includes Robert Mueller. That includes the 2018 elections.
She also provided another rule: Be outraged. Stay outraged. Just because the press is so anxious to give Trump credit for being able to read a speech from a prompter without foaming at the mouth, don’t let slip your horror, your anger, or your resolve.
Because the best word for the state of the union today is simple unsustainable.