How a Decade of Horrific Trumpian ‘Firsts’ Has Undone the U.S. — And the World

[Note: This updated essay extrapolates from factual events, ongoing news, and current social and political trends. Nothing that follows is ‘made-up’ or purely imaginary.]

Two widespread, hackneyed phrases, when mixed sequentially, inform us rather a lot in regards to the previous horrible decade: “It might probably’t occur right here,” and “There’s a primary time for the whole lot.”

Over the previous decade overconfident, denial-prone Individuals, positive of our ‘distinctive’ immunity to fascism, stored believing — regardless of overwhelming proof on the contrary — that Trump couldn’t presumably hold successful, and rising fascism couldn’t presumably topple our semi-democracy. “It might probably’t occur right here” — within the vaunted United States of America.

Mistaken — and mistaken once more. And once more.

A short anatomy of American collapse

How may we have now been so mistaken, and so typically? What the hell occurred, right here within the supposed ‘land of the free’?

Nicely, for starters, the large cut up between the so-called ‘political elites’ (together with the commentariat class) and the lives and beliefs of peculiar, on a regular basis Individuals got here into starker and starker aid. And it grew more and more damaging — and extra harmful.

Whereas left-leaning politicians and pundits airily ‘believed in’ and supported a extra inclusive, truthful society and democracy, right-wing politicians and pundits had been very busy rabble-rousing, getting down and soiled, scaring the pants off their ‘patriotic’ followers — and portray ever-darker photos of a ‘woke,’ wrecked United States in terminal decline.

And their fierce rabble-rousing and demagoguery labored all too nicely. They succeeded, tremendously, as a result of many Individuals really DO really feel like they’re ‘shedding their nation,’ as Trump typically put it.

Financial stresses and labor displacement had been rampant, family debt was exploding, and Whites had been beginning to lose their predominant place within the social and financial hierarchy. Uh-oh.

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Bear in mind, in 2008 (in what looks like one other universe) the U.S. elected its first, and solely, Black president — after which amazingly re-elected him in 2012, in a short-lived ‘triumph’ for the Democrats, liberals, and coastal ‘elites.’

However all through Obama’s presidency, he confronted implacable, vicious right-wing opposition that brazenly sought to disable his presidency and deny him any legislative victories. GOP politicians had been united of their scorn for Obama (and of their thinly-veiled racism), in addition to of their zeal to completely crush him.

Then alongside got here openly-racist Donald Trump — and the remaining, as they are saying, is historical past. It’s a really shameful, atrocious historical past, a lot of which remains to be to be written and understood (regardless of hundreds of articles, books, and commentaries).

Particularly in gentle of Trump’s stupendous comeback victory in 2024, and much more in gentle of the horrors and craziness that adopted his re-inauguration, a lot of the historical past of the previous decade must be re-evaluated and rewritten.

A protracted sequence of horrendous ‘firsts’

What components made Trump’s 2024 victory so astounding — and but additionally a surprisingly positive factor? To attempt to higher perceive all of it, let’s return to these two phrases: “It might probably’t occur right here,” and “There’s a primary time for the whole lot.”

Ever since Trump burst on the U.S. political scene in 2015, he’s been a norm-breaker, a rule-breaker, and a impolite, crude, typically merciless upstart. His rise has been chock-full of noxious, lethal (or wonderful, relying in your partisan stance) ‘firsts’ — particularly for a U.S. president.

He likes to insult folks and assault minority teams, and infrequently lapses into tantrums and vengeful rages. He appears to thrill in upsetting folks, particularly Democrats and ‘the libtards,’ and works additional time to gin up White rage and incite anti-government sentiment.

On this approach, all alongside he was a real ‘anti-establishment’ candidate, and continues to be a fiercely ‘anti-establishment’ president as nicely. The large drawback, although — and it’s enormous — is that the ‘institution’ he’s been undermining and destroying is our lawful ‘liberal democracy’ itself.

Or moderately, he’s continually sought limitless energy and glory for himself — just like the sociopath and complete narcissist that he’s … and the accelerating destruction of the U.S. and our system of presidency and legal guidelines is only one side of his self-centered drive to dominate and ‘personal’ the whole lot.

Trump’s horrendous ‘firsts’ proceed… and proceed

However both approach, Trump’s intense ‘anti-establishment,’ anti-democracy stance was a real first for an elected president, as was his loud, violence-inciting demagoguery.

Then, after he misplaced the 2020 election, true to type Trump refused to ever concede to Biden (one other horrible first), and as an alternative stored ramping up his Large Lie that the election was rigged and ‘stolen.’

His ongoing marketing campaign of lies by no means wavered (yet one more horrible first), and over the three yr interval from 2021–2024 the GOP, right-wing media, and most right-leaning Individuals ALL purchased Trump’s Large Lie hook, line, and sinker — and have become completely satisfied that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden was all the time an illegitimate president.

And it will get worse — a lot worse. One other terrible Trumpian first was the way in which he fought to truly overturn that election, and incited an enormous crowd to interact in overt revolt on Jan. 6, 2021.

Because the January 6 Committee convincingly confirmed, Trump knew precisely what he was doing. He very deliberately incited his supporters to aim a violent coup at our Capitol — as a way to cease the ultimate tallying of Electoral votes, and attempt to illegally reinstate Trump as president. That’s one other main first — and a really shameful one — in American historical past.

However Trump, by no means one to be ashamed or outdone, all the time stored upping the ante — and over the previous few years has loudly and constantly portrayed himself because the harmless ‘sufferer’ of an enormous ‘Deep State’ conspiracy. He has by no means admitted any wrongdoing or any errors in judgment, and as an alternative stored piling on together with his ‘harmless sufferer’ nonsense.

He even praised the violent Jan. 6 rioters and their ‘peaceable’ protest, and insisted he would pardon all of them — who he labeled ‘political prisoners’ — if he was re-elected.

After all, that’s one of many first issues he did after his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.

Undermining the rule of regulation and efficient ‘regulation and order’

Trump’s ‘persecuted sufferer’ technique actually hit pay grime when he started getting indicted in 2023 for his quite a few abuses of energy, election interference, incitement of violence, obstructing justice, and illegally hoarding tons of of federal paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago property.

Trump was then already operating for president for the third time — he began his ’24 marketing campaign very early — and was itching to get even with Biden and all of the ‘libtards’ who supported him and his priorities.

Right here once more, amazingly, Trump was capable of capitalize on all his indictments, and really efficiently portrayed ALL of them as unlawful ‘persecution,’ not lawful prosecutions. He painted all of them as scurrilous makes an attempt to wreck his presidential marketing campaign: vile ‘Deep State’-led assaults meant to destroy him … and once more ‘steal’ the upcoming election … and once more deprive loyal Individuals of their rightful, proud selection (Trump, in fact!) for president.

Even additional, Trump deeply frightened and infuriated his base by claiming that “After they’re coming for me, they’re actually coming after YOU.”

Subsequent, right-wing paranoia and rage catapulted to a complete new stage after Trump’s staggering 34-count conviction for falsifying enterprise information as a way to affect the 2016 election, in his so-called ‘hush-money’ case. The fitting and virtually your entire GOP hit again arduous on the ‘institution,’ accusing the Biden administration and our complete judicial system of blatant corruption and anti-Trump bias.

And the Trump marketing campaign raked in over $50 million after bombarding his supporters with hysterical emails screaming in regards to the ‘persecution’ and ‘illegal conviction’ of Trump, and the way the ‘Biden Crime Household’ was ‘weaponizing’ the Justice Division and waging ‘lawfare’ towards Trump.

Thus Trump turned a convicted felon — but as soon as once more he managed to show it to his benefit. Wonderful!

Revenge and retribution

This was yet one more extremely harmful first in American presidential politics. However he didn’t cease there, both.

Throughout his marketing campaign, Trump and his allies constantly knowledgeable the American public, fairly instantly, that Trump’s new time period can be devoted to vengeance, retribution, the entire demolishing of the executive and legislative ‘Deep State,’ and the formation of a way more highly effective and limitless ‘Imperial Presidency.’

One way or the other, nobody fairly believed that Trump may, and would, do all this stuff — and even worse — if he turned president but once more.

One way or the other, even after a few years of watching and listening to Trump in motion, most Individuals nonetheless didn’t ‘get’ what was actually taking place, and who Trump actually is. (Denial is a horrible, primitive factor.)

What was taking place, over the course of a few years, was that america was being primed for overt, blatant fascism and authoritarianism. And Trump turned, initially, the unlikely automobile for this rising fascist takeover — however as his outrageous actions and success in outmaneuvering our legal guidelines and our justice system turned extra apparent, he quickly turned the potent and inevitable face of the accelerating (horrible) political transformation of the U.S.

Thus Trump turned — a literal inevitability. His amassed litany of wonderful, horrible firsts, and his astounding capacity to twist the reality, spin his personal ‘alternate actuality,’ and tie the ‘institution’ in knots virtually assured his election victory. He turned the last word populist hero for unsung, ‘common,’ powerless Individuals — who beloved and lived vicariously by his rebellious actions and indignant anti-government tirades.

Trump is doing ALL the terrible issues he promised to do

And now, as of early 2026 — after Trump’s been again within the Oval Workplace for simply over a yr — we all know, with out the shadow of a doubt, precisely what Trump’s second presidency shall be like …. for it’s precisely what he threatened/promised it could be.

He has rapidly, and seemingly effortlessly, steamrolled once more over a lot of our hallowed (and weak) political guardrails, and has already enacted a lot of his threatened ‘strong-man’ agenda — which we wrongly (so, so wrongly) assumed to be bombastic hyperbole.

Right here’s a partial read-it-and-weep itemizing:

• He has pulled the U.S. out of NATO, embarrassed and weakened our European allies, and given huge tacit (and even overt!) assist to Russia and Putin, and different despots as nicely. Famously, Trump has all the time admired and sucked as much as vicious ‘strong-man’ dictators.
• He made good on his risk to ‘cancel’ Biden’s financial and environmental initiatives, and undid our dedication to scrub power and mitigating local weather change. Funding for ‘inexperienced’ tasks was aborted or minimized, whereas fossil gas subsidies had been continued and expanded. Thus, Trump has unilaterally ensured that the U.S., and the world, will by no means meet our agreed-on world emissions targets.
• He has once more began constructing out The Wall at our southern border, and has clamped down forcefully — and at occasions, fairly violently — on unlawful immigration and on immigrants basically. His promised nationwide ‘sweep’ to spherical up unlawful immigrants has proceeded quick, and is now incarcerating tons of of hundreds of migrants in rapidly constructed ‘short-term’ internment camps.
• He has continued down his well-worn demagogic path towards heavy racism, misogyny, ‘other-blaming,’ paranoia, and elevated persecution of minorities, ladies, and LGBTQ+ of us.
• He continues to incite his followers towards the ‘libtards’ and towards liberal democracy itself … which led, in fact, to escalating partisan violence, and growing assaults on anybody talking out towards Trump and his hateful insurance policies.
• Talking of undermining liberal democracy — Trump and his minions are working arduous to weaken/hamstring all branches of presidency besides his personal, the Govt department — which he and his Congressional loyalists have labored furiously to develop and make impregnable. Underneath Trump, the U.S. presidency has turn out to be a real authoritarian ‘strong-man’ regime that may be a ‘presidency’ in title solely.
• Widespread, ongoing protests over Trump’s victory in lots of American cities solely resulted in widespread crackdowns, brutal suppression of dissent, and oppressive restrictions on liberals’ (however not right-wing) freedom of speech.
• Trump and his allies have very efficiently undermined the rule of regulation within the U.S., and have deeply tarnished our federal justice system — maybe past the purpose of any restore or resuscitation.
• Crackdowns on ladies’s rights have intensified, with Trump’s full approval, and overt oppression of ladies in search of abortions — and their medical suppliers — has accelerated throughout the nation.
• Lastly, Trump, his MAGA minions, and his loyal crimson state legislatures have been working feverishly to restrict and management voting and the vote counting course of, as a way to make sure that Democrats and liberals won’t ever once more be capable of win a significant nationwide election.

All hail King Donald

The results of all these disastrous societal shifts? Our local weather targets, our justice system, and lots of of our rights are in tatters, and the 2024 election was in all probability the final actual election the U.S. will expertise for the foreseeable future.

The U.S. is now nicely on its strategy to turning into a reactionary authoritarian dictatorship and ‘one-party’ nation, much like North Korea, Russia, and different despotic regimes.

Plus, it’s now turn out to be very doubtless — virtually a certainty, in truth — that Trump won’t ever depart the White Home.

Together with his stellar observe file of beating the Feds and the ‘libs’ at virtually each flip, he’s now engineered — with main assist from tens of millions of ‘conservative,’ ‘patriotic’ Individuals and well-funded right-wing assume tanks — the entire dismembering of our lawful authorities and society.

Concurrently, in fact, he doubled-down on a large social and political revamp ‘in his personal picture.’

That picture is of an smug, vengeful, and cruel ‘winner’ and power-hungry All-powerful Ruler … our newly enthroned ‘Eternally President.’

Ominously, over the previous decade the world has turn out to be a a lot darker, far more harmful and unstable place — largely due to Donald Trump (and his fellow despots).

All Hail King Donald — or undergo the results!

. . .

Creator’s end-note: It’s nonetheless unbelievable to me that that is really the place we at the moment are within the U.S. I deeply want it was totally different, and I didn’t have to put in writing what I’m writing. By no means in my wildest goals did I ever assume the U.S. may fall this far, this quick… however right here we’re, so I proceed to put in writing my despairing, miserable ‘takes’ on our (terrible) scenario. Rattling it to hell, and rattling the Orange Menace!

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This publish was beforehand printed on Rome Journal.

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