Our man in the Oval Office is not a fan of either government, or its defining and controlling institutions. Elon Musk, who was tasked by Trump to cut through the unnecessary fat on the bones of institutional government, came up short of the goal and left the job, admitting it was probably a stupid idea.
Being a stupid idea has seldom slowed down Elon.
Yeah well, leaving the heavy lifting to adolescents without proper top secret credentials broke a few laws in the process, but it’s hard to cook an omelet without breaking eggs.
There are two problems with that explanation: Government is not an omelet, and if you’re flying seat-of-the-pants as president, you ought at least to have a pilot’s license.
Fortunately, democratic republics, such as the one we were entrusted with, do not normally respond to whim. They rely upon
institutions that restrain, rather than allow power to gallop through the bridle,
courts that say no,
central banks that resist pressure,
civil servants who outlast administrations,
scientists who insist on evidence, and
journalists who verify rather than flatter.
All of which seem to be in short supply lately.
Trump’s political instincts mirror his business career, treating any such restraints as illegitimate, hostile, or treasonous. That’s a road to bankruptcies in the business world, so it’s no surprise that he declared for such circumstances on six occasions. That conveniently left himself personally untouched, with a river of financially ruined contractors trailing behind.
Not once, not twice (as might happen), but six times, which defines a mafia-style of operation in the development world.
Then he had a book ghost-written for him, called The Art of the Deal.
Carrying that formula into the presidency, he attacked the judiciary when it blocked him, and undermined the legitimacy of judges who ruled against him as ‘corrupt’ the moment they enforced the law.
Targeting independent oversight, he fired inspectors general, closed ethics offices, and disparaged whistleblowers, because if you remove the referees, the games belong to whomever you claim a winner.
Any ghost-writer handy could rewrite that as The Art of the Steal.
Let’s look over a typical day-at-the-Oval-Office in his busy schedule, fueled by a dozen Diet Cokes:
He may assault the Federal Reserve, pressuring it to serve political timing rather than economic stability. Central-bank independence (and the Fed Chair) exists, precisely, to prevent leaders from inflating away consequences.
Bad idea, he muses, anything that prevents. We are not a prevent presidency. We are a charge ahead and damn the torpedoes presidency, the best ever since Lincoln, and maybe better then that some people have said.
He declared war on any portion of the press that called him out, branding reality-based journalists “enemies of the people,” and criticism as ‘fake news,’ understanding that a public that cannot trust its news cannot meaningfully govern itself.
Write that down, underline it with a sharpie, then call for another Coke.
Undermining elections is working so far, not only by denying outcomes but attacking election officials, procedures, and the very idea that the peaceful transfer of power (arguably the single most important democratic norm) is anything but optional.
Interestingly (at least to me), is that the MIT Election Data and Science Lab notes that voter confidence typically tracks electoral outcomes; the winning party’s voters become more confident, while the losing party’s trust sags. Nothing unexpected in that.
However, 2020 broke this pattern: despite Trump being the incumbent, his repetitive questioning of election validity led to the lowest recorded faith among sitting-party identifiers (44%) in Gallup’s history.
It is claimed that Josef Stalin said, “the people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
That might be why either the inability to see any changes connected to elections, or a general disappointment with results, has voter numbers sagging. Fact is, 40% do not vote in general elections, and (more depressingly) 60% stay home from midterms.
Yet, considering pilot-errors that often failed to land on the intended runway, the failure-rates are far beyond normal presidencies.
“Why do I no longer love you, Donald? Let me count the ways:”
Tariff abuse is certainly on the list, as tariffs were illegally applied to begin with, caused substantial international business disruptions, and abetted an insider trading scandal on world stock markets never before seen in history.
The 2025 tax and spending law hit the runway with an unexpected jolt as it extended tax cuts to billionaires, while reducing Medicaid and food-assistance spending. The CBO estimates the law will add $3.4 trillion to deficits over ten years, and projects 7.5 million more uninsured people in 2034 from the Medicaid changes.
Aggressive deportation procedures are actually illegal takeoffs, as an estimated 950,000 to one million left without judicial review, many of them with shaved heads and in chains. DHS agents roamed American streets, masked and unidentified, essentially kidnapping individuals who simply disappeared into unknown detention.
Unparalleled support for Israel’s Gaza-Lebanese-Iranian wars, understood by the world to be genocides. Original support began under President Biden, but Trump sits securely in the pilot’s seat at the present time. While millions die, America’s international support is in the toilet.
That’s hardly a complete assessment, but is enough to impeach any ordinary president and send him to jail. Consider that Richard Nixon was denied the presidency for a discovered break-in to Democratic offices.
Times change, and various presidents pilot the national political plane, some with more skill than others.
What is expected (and even demanded) is the basic skills to fly a plane and the moral authority to protect its passengers, both local and international, from harm.
A mid-term national election is nearly upon us. Trump is not on the ballot, so we know who will be piloting the plane for the next two years.
The critical issue for you, the voting public, as you sit comfortably back in the coach seats, contemplating a safe arrival, is this:
Who services this plane, and
what are their skills?
Are they capable of maintenance, fueling, de-icing, and keeping proper schedules?
Who sits in the control towers, and
are they competent?
There hasn’t been much competency shown recently in these metaphors for diplomatic affairs, military success, governmental spending, congressional attendance to bi-partisan issues, and our political responses to international circumstances.
Those individuals who support the national pilot, our president, are either on, or subject to those, on the Mid-term Ballot. The entire House of Representatives is up forchoice, as well as one-third of the Senate.
Donald Trump will remain president, but these are the people who will run the Congress.
It’s no small deal.
Democrat, Republican or Independent, get out and vote.