Every four years, pundits proclaim that "this is the most important election of our lifetimes." In 2016, we now know, it was actually true. The election of Donald Trump to the presidency was an asteroid strike that profoundly altered America's political and cultural landscape. Six years ago, Trump offered a devil's bargain to evangelical Christians: If they gave a thrice-married, biblically illiterate New York City libertine their vote, he'd deliver Supreme Court justices who'd overturn Roe and promote a conservative Christian agenda. Trump delivered, with help from Mitch McConnell and Democrats who stayed home in 2016 or voted for Jill Stein because of their distaste for Hillary Clinton. Trump appointed three Federalist Society-minted justices who, last week, gleefully erased Roe — triggering a war between the states over abortion whose consequences we can only dimly glimpse.
But Trump's legacy goes far beyond the 6-3 court now detonating decades of precedents. The Jan. 6 committee hearings have further revealed the 45th president in all his plate-flinging, foaming-at-the-mouth, narcissistic glory — his contempt for democracy, institutions, and traditions; his use of lies, intimidation, and violence to achieve his ends; his animating belief that winning is all that matters. Over four exhausting years, our titular national leader's madness infected the country like a virus. Threats and acts of violence against political enemies have become routine. Hatred, bullying, and "alternative facts" have been validated; meanness is in the air. The red/blue divide Trump deliberately deepened feels increasingly irreparable. In the immediate future, there will be prosecutions of Trump allies and perhaps Trump himself, and then payback investigations by Republicans — and if they control the House, the impeachment of Joe Biden. Beyond that, we can count on nothing, except that Trump's poisonous impact on this nation will linger long after he's dead.
This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 criminally underrated cartoons about Pete Hegseth’s war crimeCartoon Artists take on USS Hegseth, rats leaving the sinking ship, and more
-
Can Mike Johnson keep his job?Today's Big Question GOP women come after the House leader
-
A postapocalyptic trip to Sin City, a peek inside Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour, and an explicit hockey romance in December TVthe week recommends This month’s new television releases include ‘Fallout,’ ‘Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era’ and ‘Heated Rivalry’
-
‘These accounts clearly are designed as a capitalist alternative’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Boat strike footage rattles some lawmakersSpeed Read ‘Disturbing’ footage of the Sept. 2 attack on an alleged drug-trafficking boat also shows the second strike that killed two survivors who were clinging to the wreckage
-
Is a Putin-Modi love-in a worry for the West?Today’s Big Question The Indian leader is walking a ‘tightrope’ between Russia and the United States
-
Trump pardons Texas Democratic congressmanspeed read Rep. Henry Cuellar was charged with accepting foreign bribes tied to Azerbaijan and Mexico
-
‘It is their greed and the pollution from their products that hurt consumers’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
‘It’s critical that Congress get involved’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
