President Donald Trump, his frustrated critics say, has "gotten away" with constant lies, race-baiting and boorishness. "No other president . . . ," the refrain goes, would have been able to attack the FBI with baseless accusations or mislead the public about who is responsible for failing to protect Dreamers or operate a bizarrely incoherent foreign policy or assemble a cabinet that most resembles the customers in the Star Wars cantina scene or--you get the picture. The sense of frustration is reinforced by the media's constant reminders that Trump still has the support of this hardcore base.
After 15 months, reality has caught up to Trump. The cold hard facts do not disappear simply because Trump is willing to say black is white and white is black. Consider:
Trump declares he wants out of Syria. It would be lovely if we could simply pack up and go, but the enemies of the United States and the war criminals get a vote, too. Bashar Assad steps up to use chemical weapons. Russia continues to support him. Israel and Hezbollah (as well as Hezbollah's patrons in Tehran) will clash militarily. Trump hasn't "gotten away" with attacking President Barack Obama's policies while duplicating them.
Likewise, Trump can refuse to learn that the trade deficit is not a bill to be paid (We're "down $500 billion," he proclaims). He can hire economic illiterates who declare a trade war is no big deal.
Here, too, others get a vote. The markets crash. Farmers are in an uproar.
Politically, has Trump gotten away with playing to our darkest impulses, taking direction from crackpot Fox News hosts, refusing to listen to experts and sullying the office he holds? Well, Republicans now anticipate the House majority will be lost and are scrambling to save the Senate.
That doesn't sound as if Trump has gotten away with anything.
Moreover, the GOP may have permanently turned off critical supporters, thanks to Trump. Reuters reports, "Older, white, educated voters helped Donald Trump win the White House in 2016. Now, they are trending toward Democrats."
No, Trump hasn't gotten away with much of anything. It's not realistic to expect Trump will be shamed into truth-telling or his cultlike base will figure out, hey, this guy really is a scam artist. However, there is a price for hiring incompetent and ethically challenged advisers, firing them and hiring Fox News figures to replace them.
Trump may be learning for the first time, after a lifetime of self-promotion, snake-oil salesmanship and puffery, that you really cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Unfortunately for Republicans, you cannot fool even an electoral majority all of the time.
Editorial on 04/21/2018