The Winter of Our Discontent

The view from K Street is eerie. We seem to be at one with our ancient forebears on the day after the winter solstice: Will the sun extend our day, as in the past, or will we be plunged into more darkness?

In every way possible, the end of the Donald Trump presidency magnifies all its troubling elements with no countervailing values: petulance, vindictiveness, delusion, and indifference to all needs but his own, including the viability of this democracy. The unprecedented refusal to acknowledge the election results and the bewildering support from career politicians whose very existence depends on a fair electoral process cast a pall over our country and its demoralized citizens.

Trump’s obsession with a lost election and his resulting withdrawal from the duties of office occur in the midst of a rapid expansion of the coronavirus throughout the country, near-fatal fissures in the European Union, regional wars in the Caucuses, and political turmoil across South America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. Even Trump’s congressional supporters are wondering if MAGA ends with an America diminished at home and abroad, undermined in its ability to marshal its resources to confront the virus, weakened in its capacity to sustain its military missions, and unconcerned with the fate of Americans in need of help.