When It Comes to Undermining America, We Have a Winner

Opinion|When It Comes to Undermining America, We Have a Winner

Capitalizing on Democratic weakness, President Trump is winning his battle to undermine democracy in this country.

But he has not won the war.

A host of factors could blunt his aggression: recession, debt, corruption, inflation, epidemics, the Epstein files, anger over cuts in Medicaid and food stamps, to name just a few. Much of what Trump has done could be undone if a Democrat is elected president in 2028.

But for federal workers, for medical and scientific researchers, lawyers in politically active firms, prominent critics of Trump — thousands of whom have felt the sting of arbitrary firings, vanished paychecks and retracted grants, criminal inquiries and threatened bankruptcies — the 2028 election may prove too late to repair the damage.

And that’s before we even begin to talk about the anti-immigration crackdown.

Trump’s assaults are aimed at targets large and small, some based on personal resentments, others guided by a more coherent ideological agenda.

The brutality of Trump’s anti-democratic policies are part of a larger goal, a reflection of an administration determined to transfer trillions of dollars to the wealthy by imposing immense costs on the poor and the working class in lost access to medical care and food support, an administration that treats hungry children with the same disdain that it treats core principles of democracy.

Trump has succeeded in devastating due process protections for universities, immigrants and law firms. He has cowed the Supreme Court, which has largely failed to block Trump’s violations of the Constitution. He has bypassed Congress, ruling by executive order and emergency declaration. He is using the regulatory power of government to force the media to make humiliating concessions. He has ordered criminal investigations of political adversaries. He has fired innumerable government employees who pursued past investigations — and on and on.