There's this argument that's going on for a while about how to treat Donald Trump. It's a little inside baseball, but I think it's still a meaningful and important question so I want to talk about it a little. To quote a friend on an internet message board I hang out on, it's the question of whether Donald Trump, as a Republican, is an aberration or a culmination.
In other words, when we talk about Donald Trump, do we talk about him as a unique and unprecedented threat to democratic values, or do we the emphasize the many points of continuity between Trumpian politics and the basic operating procedures of the post-Eisenhower Republican party?
Both perspectives are basically valid ones, and each perspective has its advantages and its disadvantages. My feeling is that the "culmination" argument is oriented towards contextualizing and correcting the damage done by Donald Trump's political career to America, and towards working to prevent something similar from occurring again. The perspective is most helpful at a time when Donald Trump himself no longer presents a threat. Now is not that time.
President Donald Trump will be the most dangerous man on the planet, and our overriding duty as dissenters will be to protect anybody he tries to hurt, and beyond that to limit or, if possible, prevent any damage he may attempt to cause.
On election day, Donald Trump was the most widely hated presidential candidate in recorded American history. We should do our utmost to ensure that, when he is inaugurated, he becomes, and remains, the most widely hated president in American history. Nothing he does should be accepted uncritically.
I'm not talking about a smear campaign. I'm not saying every time the guy takes a piss we should all mob up and start loudly telling everybody that that was clearly the WORST LEAK IN AMERICAN HISTORY. I am talking about denying him the patina of assumed goodwill that has, traditionally, come with the office of President. His actions have disqualified him from ever deserving the benefit of the doubt from us.
