Our nation's defense is up to us
Trump is the crime wave
There are questions you can type into your browser and get a ready answer, such as "Why does looking at the sun make you sneeze?" or "How did Mussolini die?"
Others are harder, such as "How can people be so vicious as to let an ignorant, bigoted sociopath wreck our democracy?"
For someone obsessed with appearances, Donald Trump is the king of bad optics. His advisor Stephen Miller constantly seems so angry, someone might need to tell him his underwear is too tight. Jeanine Pirro, US attorney for the District of Columbia, is a self-caricature. FBI Director Kash Patel looks like the winning answer in a game of "Spot the Looney." Trump himself looks like the result of a hotel putting its free breakfast buffet in a circle and neglecting to mark the exit.
The problem is far from merely optical. Trump is attempting a takeover of the Federal Reserve; attacking science; undermining public health; weaponizing DOJ; destroying FEMA; using talking points from Vladimir Putin; handing ambassadorships to unqualified cronies who failed in the first jobs he gave them; and running up huge deficits.
His attacks on the Smithsonian Institution raise the question of how it is in the president's wheelhouse to impose his vision of American history on museums. Erasing the unsavory aspects of our past to shore up our self-image is of a piece with his photoshopped memes that portray him as a war hero. Qualities essential in a wise leader include humility, reflection, service, and restraint, all alien to him.
Trump's low impulses make him a terrible role model. Many of his right-wing allies made much of the fact that a mass shooter in Minneapolis was transgender. It is just as senseless to engage in group blame against a minority on account of a crime by one member as to blame all straight white cisgender men for the crimes by serial killer Ted Bundy.
The right's denials notwithstanding, the ready availability of assault weapons facilitates horrific, preventable crimes. Trump's followers, like him, are quicker to hate than to help. No one is made safer by exploiting a tragedy to score points in the culture wars.
We are in a fight for America's soul. The fact that Democrats have finally decided to fight fire with fire does not make us arsonists.
The arsonist is Trump. A convicted felon who incited an insurrection to overturn the results of a free and fair election and immediately pardoned the insurrectionists upon his return to the White House cannot credibly claim the mantle of law and order.
Trump talks about a crime wave in the nation's capital and blue states while ignoring higher crime rates in red states. If anyone is fomenting disorder, it is Trump.
He undermines our national security. He insults our allies and gives aid and comfort to our enemies. He steals healthcare and nutritional assistance from the working class to give tax cuts to the wealthy. He considers no election legitimate that he does not win. He creates chaos in order to exploit it. His deployment of the military in our city streets should be recognized as laying the groundwork for more attempted election theft.
Calling Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson a "diversity hire," as Trump's partisans do, reflects the racism underlying many of their policies. Jackson has better credentials than most others on the federal bench.
Speaking of credentials, not only did Maryland Governor Wes Moore earn his Bronze Star, but I don't see an embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins when I look at him as when I look at Trump.
Jackson and Moore represent the best of us. They are striving to help people. Trump and his allies represent the worst. They are hurting people and our country.
But pointing out that Trump is lawless and tramples the Constitution is insufficient. We deserve not just the absence of tyranny, but the presence of justice.
We must advocate our vision and our proposals clearly and vividly. From protests to education to litigation to voter registration and electioneering, there are many ways to advance freedom.
There can be no thriving democracy with single-party rule. The point of defeating Trumpism is not to install a different single party, but to open space to restore sane conservatism in place of the personality cult the GOP has become. Then we can resolve our differences more constructively.
If we do not work together to thwart this madman, we will become just another place that future tourists can visit to see the ruins.
Richard Rosendall is a writer and activist who can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2025 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.