by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
Whatever is wrong with Donald Trump is getting worse. And, yet, because of a combination of the Overton Window and the cult of personality associated with Trump, I don’t see any end game that involves Trump leaving office any time before Jan. 20th, 2025.
But we are definitely in a new era when it comes to the Trump Administration. When Trump looked up at the sun and called himself “The chosen one,” that brought the issue of his mental health to the forefront. The reason why the Muller Report freaked MAGA out so much was it was something they could not easily dismiss. Mueller was widely seen as an objective third party and had he done what we all believed he would do — indict the president or his son — they would face a real existential crisis.
That obviously did not happen. And, so, if it was anyone else in Trump’s position, they could shore up power and cruise into a second term of gutting the “administrative state,” bankrupting the nation and ruining the environment in peace. But now that Trump is slowly creeping towards being demonstrably mentally unwell, MAGA thought leaders again find themselves with a topic they would rather not talk about. Because they actually LIKE the cruel un-American policies of the Trump Administration, arguing with them about them is a moot point. In large part because they’re fucking racists, it’s not like you’re going to change their minds.
So what we all thought Mueller would do to Trump, Trump may do to himself. We aren’t there yet, but we’re slowly edging towards a situation where everyone is talking about how bonkers Trump is except for MAGA talking heads. Why Trump’s deteriorating mental state is so dangerous to the MAGA cause is as of right now, no one seems to be ready to step in an establish a Regency, even in private. So there’s a chance that there never will be one and Trump could, in fact, conspicuously lose his mind in some manner and the nation would have no recourse. Too many powerful, wealthy people have a vested interest in Trump staying president — even in an incapacitated way — and as such they will do everything in their power to keep him right where he is.
Really, the only thing that has subtly changed is it’s far more difficult for people to say they take Trump “seriously, but no literally.” I would compare Trump looking up at the sun and calling himself “The chosen one” as similar to when Jimmy Carter gave his famous “malaise” speech. That changed the mood of the country and set the stage for the Reagan Revolution.
We are now slowly reaching a crisis point. The crisis could be something like this: Trump finally loses his mind and instead of impeaching him over being a criminal and traitor, the House impeaches him over his tweets. This would give them plenty of opportunities to have shrinks testify that Trump is a threat to the country and should be removed. Things get a little surreal at this point in that if Trump really goes off the deep end, there’s a greater than zero chance that the Senate might actually convict him. The only reason this might happen is because it would position Pence to run not once, but twice for president. And so, there’s a least a chance that Trump will live to fight another day even though he’s completely bonkers. Republicans will continue to support him no matter what while Democrats will continue to delude themselves that he will “self-impeach.”
So, having said all that, for what I propose to happen, there would have to be a crisis. It would have to happen really quick and in a conspicuous manner. His ultimate downfall would be in days, not weeks or months. The entire country would have to be in shock at how bad things had gotten. It would have to be 9/11 levels of crisis. Otherwise, nothing happens. Trump coasts into a second term and we have four years of a very ineffective Regency. If it takes too long to fix, Trump can simply start a war with Iran and by the time we get around to remembering Trump being insane he has set the stage for someone like Tom Cotton to take over in 2025.
The reason I say all of this is Trump is an avatar for systemic cancer in American society. An alliance of plutocrats, Russians, misogynists evangelicals, gun nuts, racists and morons have an absolute interest in things staying just the way they are, no matter what. Even if the economy tanks, the Russians will hack the election, or Trump will bribe or bully individual Electors. And then there will be no political will to do anything about it, just like there’s no political will to do anything about Trump now.
It’s a great tragedy that the only if the president completely loses his mind in a spectator fashion will there even be a hint of the political will to get rid of him. And then that sets up Pence being president for over eight years and things just go from bad to worse.
I don’t know what to tell you folks. I guess turn out the light, the party’s over.
