Donald Trump has become the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. But the ignorance and lawlessness of Trumpism will have a dangerous afterlife even after Trump has left Washington.
A collapse in political legitimacy means people think the normal rules don’t apply anymore, making the world a more difficult and even dangerous place for all of us.
Much as the South rejected President Lincoln’s election with a massive armed uprising, could President Trump’s many supporters rise up and overthrow a Biden-led government?
Trump has increased the appeal of American conservatism, even as he has complicated its meaning. His shadow will no doubt continue to loom large over the Republican Party.
Polls show that a majority of evangelicals back Trump. But that hides a growing divide between enthusiasts of the president and those who question his fitness for office, argues a moral theologian.
Donald Trump said followers of conspiracy theory ‘are very much against pedophilia.’ What he didn’t mention was the demonic imagery and language that peppers QAnon posts.
In appearing with Bible in hand at the time of crisis, Trump is signaling his position as defender of traditional values, while ‘othering’ detractors. Russia’s Putin and India’s Modi have done similar things.
Populist leaders can be a liability. Their optimistic bias and complacency, ambiguity, and ignorance of science undermine crisis management and put all at risk.
The audio version of a long-read article on how we’re living through the latest battle in a 300-year long ideological war over the meaning of humanity itself.
In the Trump era, one crisis – even one as grave as impeachment – is simply replaced by another. In more tranquil times such crises may spell the end of a presidency – but not so in the age of Trump.