FLASH
Shkruar nga Simon Tisdall
Trump's biggest enemy is Trump.
Tyrants have a hard time coming to an end, or so history suggests. Richard III and Coriolanus made bloody exits. More recently, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows, Slobodan Milosevic went to prison, Bashar al-Assad went into exile. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was killed on the ground in a sewer. Tyranny, from the Greek túrannos (“absolute ruler”), is usually fueled by arrogance and leads inevitably to hostility. Tyrants are destined for overthrow. Their downfall is a saving grace.
Tyranny, in its many forms, has returned to fashion, and everyone knows who is to blame. To be fair, to suggest similarities between the aforementioned despicable individuals and Donald Trump would be completely wrong. In key respects, he is worse. Measured by his willingness and capacity to harm the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, to cause global economic chaos, and to threaten nuclear annihilation, Trump is extremely dangerous – and more so every day.
In any notional league of tyranny, Trump tops the table, with Russia's Vladimir Putin following close behind. If these two narcissists formed a partnership, it might be called Monsters R US. Across the messy globe, the "strongmen" in love are lining up to join their club.
Yet like every tyrant, old and new, Trump must fall. How can hostility be peacefully and quickly resolved? As he marks 100 days back in power next week, such questions become urgent. Can the 47th president’s deliberate swing of a wrecking ball at democracy, laws, values, and the American dream be stopped? How can what is left of the rules-based international system be saved? Who or what will dethrone him?
Policy failures and personal misconduct usually do not bring down the presidency. The U.S. Constitution is inflexible: incompetence is protected; stupidity has a time limit. Trump is in office until 2029 unless he is convicted of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” or otherwise deemed unfit under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. M
Public support is certainly slipping. Last week’s nationwide demonstrations, worries about inflation and austerity, and anger over federal funding cuts, the culture war, and mass shootings reflect a deepening alarm about threats to an entire way of life. Polls show Trump is losing the middle class whose votes ended Biden’s interregnum. Yet despite his royal resemblance to another “tyrant,” King George III, a second American revolution is a long way off.
Many are seeking relief from the courts. Judges continue to challenge Trump’s dictates on deportations and other issues. A New York jury convicted Trump of 34 felonies last year, but failed to imprison him. His businesses are repeatedly accused of fraud. Now, it’s suggested that the “leading questions doctrine” tested by the Supreme Court could bring him to his feet. This requires the government to demonstrate “clear congressional authorization” when making decisions of “great economic and political importance,” explained American law professor Aaron Tang. It’s a kind of constraint.
Of all the tools in the toolbox for overthrowing tyrants, none are as potentially decisive as those offered by Trump’s own folly. Most people understand how worthless a “peace deal” that rewards Putin and betrays Ukraine is. Does Trump seriously believe that his support for mass murder in Gaza, threats to attack Iran, and reckless bombing of Yemen will end the conflict in the Middle East and win him a Nobel Peace Prize?
By almost any measure, Trump’s chaotic global tariff war is hurting American consumers, hurting businesses and reducing U.S. influence. It’s a boon to China and an attack on longtime allies and trading partners like Britain. Trump’s big tech boosters know it, as do many Republicans. But they dare not speak truth to power.
And then there is his greed – the open and shameless money-grabbing that has already brought charges of insider trading, oligarchic kleptocracy and countless unpoliced conflicts of interest from the 17 government watchdogs that Trump capriciously fired. His relatives and businesses are once again pursuing deals abroad. Corruption on this scale cannot go unnoticed indefinitely. Only avarice could be Trump’s undoing.
All of this leads to one conclusion: as a tyrant, let alone as president, Trump is actually very useless – and as his failures, disappointments and fantasies multiply, he will become increasingly dangerously unstable. Trump’s greatest enemy is Trump. Those who would save the US and themselves – at home and abroad – must use all democratic means to contain, thwart, subvert and overthrow him. But for now, the best, brightest hope is that, drowning in arrogance, Trump will destroy himself. / Adapted from “Pamphlet” from “The Guardian”
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