Last night, Donald Trump formally announced that he is running for president again.
Trump’s presidency delivered an upward transfer of wealth at the expense of regular people, accelerated the planet’s rush to climate chaos, and turned cronyism and corruption into governing “principles.”
It pounded at the foundations of our democracy. It stomped on basic norms of decency and humanity. And its utter, willful incompetence in dealing with the COVID pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Trump personally instigated and intensified anti-immigrant hysteria. He spewed racism and misogyny. And he backed up his hateful words with despicable policies that made our country crueler, meaner, more unequal, and more unjust.
Trump encouraged a neo-fascist movement that led to an insurrection and continues its assault on American democracy.
Donald Trump does not belong in the White House.
He belongs in prison.
Too many postmortems on last week’s election are dismissing Trump as a used-up political figure. That is a far too relaxed assessment — both of Trump and of the authoritarian movement he has fomented. It is an over-reading of the election with its tight margins, an under-appreciation of the unique role of Trump in American politics, and a reckless dismissal of the potency of the racist, fascistic forces Trump has unleashed.
Trump, his presidential candidacy, and his movement constitute a real and present danger to American democracy.
They must be confronted and defeated.
For democracy,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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