It is safe to predict that the second Trump presidency will go down in American history as the most divisive ever. Everything to say about its first six months has already been said: all we can do is keep track of the carnage.
The most visible damage has been to the institutional infrastructure of the US itself. The devastation to the federal government, the courts, the education system, the media and many other sectors crucial to public life has been nothing short of terrifying.
The Department of Education has been gutted, and close to 7 billion dollars for school lunches and after school programs have been cut. In the President’s efforts to weaken and humiliate centres of higher education, Columbia University has been forced to pay the administration $200 million for allegedly failing to prevent antisemitism, the grounds given for the freezing of state funding in March. There have been reports that Harvard is ready to pay $500 million for the same reason (although the university is said to be reconsidering). The Presidents of Columbia and the University of Virginia have already stepped down, and more heads are due to roll.
National Public Radio and television, the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia have lost all government support, which was over $5 billion. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which administered the funds, is closing, and many local radio stations, especially in rural areas, are in danger of shutting down.
Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok / Source: Wikimedia Commons
Federal medical insurance and food assistance programs (the so-called SNAP program) have lost significant amounts of support. Combined with the decimation of the Department of Health by Robert F Kennedy Jr., and its subsequent rejection of many vaccines, hospitals are likely to be hit this winter by a flood of patients suffering from anything from measles to whooping cough to influenza to COVID.
Funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been cut by 20%, causing a shortage of emergency workers. Recent flooding in Texas, and the inability of the agency to adequately respond to the crisis, caused 120 deaths, and led to the resignation of FEMA’s director – right at the beginning of wildfire season.
Most spectacularly, masked agents from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) continue to appear unexpectedly in restaurants, schools and courts. Citizens and undocumented immigrants alike are arrested, deported and sent to foreign prisons without due process – the signature of a police state. Although there have been isolated cases of resistance to deportations, the populace is generally compliant.
Meanwhile, the judiciary continues to roll over in acquiescence. Though lower courts have ruled against the deportations and firing of federal employees, in a series of ‘emergency rulings’ the Supreme Court has allowed the administration to proceed while it deliberates the merits of the cases. One particularly damaging Supreme Court decision ruled that judgments handed down by Federal District Court judges, just two ranks below the Supreme Court, apply only to the state in which the judgment is made, thereby undermining attempts by civil rights organizations to bring cases against the administration.
All this is not to mention the gratuitous insults that occur when the President’s ire is running particularly high: see his decision to withdraw the name of a gay rights advocate from a Navy vessel, his accusations of treason by ex-President Obama and Hilary Clinton, or his extraordinary statement during a TV interview that Presidents may not be bound to honour the Constitution. ‘You’ll have to ask a lawyer,’ he said. ‘I’m not a lawyer.’ (In the same interview, Trump held open the possibility of becoming president for a constitutionally-barred third term, and of taking military action against Canada and Greenland.)
At moments like these, questions of Trump’s intelligence or sanity become irrelevant. Whether he is stupid or canny, whether his actions are governed by impulse or a secret plan – nothing matters except the extent of his solipsism. Even if millions of Americans have become immured to the daily headlines, these outrages remind us that we are being governed by a capricious, power-obsessed narcissist.
And no one seems able to stop him.
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The opposition to Trump’s ever-increasing hold on the government has not grown in the last months. Street protests – even against Trump calling out the National Guard in Los Angeles – have fizzled. Trump’s opponents haven’t come even close to finding ways to make their opposition felt.
No one from the Democratic party has emerged to express the outrage that their constituents feel. If anything, the Party is even more splintered, to the point where the recent winner of the New York City Democratic mayoralty primary – Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim progressive – is being opposed by the Democratic ex-Governor and the current Mayor, also elected on the Democratic ticket. Rather than unifying behind a newcomer who was the clear choice of the electorate, party hacks continue to jockey for power.
At the moment, there are only two faint hopes for opposition against Trump – faint because both require Trump’s supporters to turn against him.
The first has to do with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Given his supporters’ lack of concern about Trump’s own record of sexual abuse, his friendship with a society pimp might not be expected to raise eyebrows. But the key element seems to be Epstein’s predilection for minors: in a list of the far Right’s Cardinal Sins, paedophilia is near the top.
The reasons for this obsession aren’t totally clear. A recent New York Times article attempted to get to the bottom of the question, citing ‘Pizzagate’ – Hilary Clinton’s supposed involvement with a Satanic cult – and the absence of child labour laws during the 19th century. But the real reasons may be buried in America’s Puritan past. The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s erotic fantasy of the Salem witch trials, probably comes closest to explaining paedophilia’s attraction–repulsion in the US.
Whatever the reasons, the issue troubles MAGA voters. Although the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, closed down the House to avoid a vote to release Epstein-related material, the controversy continues. It is led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, heretofore one of Trump’s staunchest supporters. The Epstein case has given license to Greene and other far-Right Republicans to complain not only about the administration’s lack of transparency, but also Trump’s stance on the war in Ukraine and cuts in benefits like healthcare and food stamps that would hurt their lower MAGA constituents.
At times, Trump has seemed a bit rattled. He’s made contradictory statements about how much Epstein material the Department of Justice possesses and whether it will be released, using a Justice Department investigation into Obama’s supposedly treasonous behaviour to distract attention. And he is suing The Wall Street Journal over its claim that he sent Epstein an erotic doodle. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s jailed partner in crime, has said that she will testify before a Congressional committee only with a guarantee of presidential clemency – which puts Trump in an even tighter spot.
Questions abound. Is the dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the Epstein case indicative of a more sweeping mood on the Right? Is Taylor Greene’s sudden righteousness sincere, or is she jockeying for power and influence? Does anyone really think that Trump will allow the Justice Department to reveal damaging information about his sexual conduct?
A second, potentially more significant gripe concerns inflation. Though recent statistics indicate only a modest increase in inflation rates, Middle America is not doing well. Pharmaceutical and housing costs remain high. Job growth has slowed significantly. Sky-high tariffs promise to drive up prices. Coupled with millions losing their healthcare and food stamp benefits, price increases may tip the scales and convince some of Trump’s MAGA supporters to think twice about their hero.
Or they may not.
The real danger is that Trump has no coherent vision for the future of the country. Armed only with his intent to destroy American institutions and prevent foreign goods (and people) from entering the US, sooner or later he will run out of things to do. Boredom is his greatest enemy, and our greatest dread.
Like his supporters, Trump has a distressingly short attention span. When his satisfaction in ‘getting the better’ of his opponents or inflicting pain on his enemies becomes repetitive, pleasure may turn into anger; and if his constituents complain too loudly, he may grow angrier and more isolated. Then there’s no telling what he will do – except that it will be imperious, vindictive and arbitrary. It may also prove to be irreversibly destructive.
We have 3 ½ long years of this dread to look forward to.
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