“Is it going to be OK?”

 

Stephen Collinson and Shelby Rose 

CNN

Trump’s new threat


“Is it going to be OK?”

 

President Joe Biden said this week that European leaders kept asking that question during his recent foreign trip as they struggle to overcome their fears for US democracy following the Trump years. The evidence of recent days is that things are very far from OK.

A flurry of new books painted a frightening picture inside the Donald Trump bunker in the last days of his presidency as a paranoid, vindictive, conspiracy-addled wannabe autocrat desperately tried to cling to power. In “I Alone Can Fix It,” Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker report that the top US military officer, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, feared Trump would try to use the military to stage a coup. The top brass hatched a plan to resign one by one to thwart illegal orders. In other words, the uniformed military was ready to defy a civilian commander in chief — in a reversal of constitutional order — to save the rule of law.

Those who hoped Trump’s tyrannical threat passed when he left the White House on January 20 have been disappointed. Every day, the ex-President propagates lies that the election was stolen. In Arizona, his fans are holding a sham recount in a state he lost. Trump seems to be preparing a new run for president in 2024. And Republican state lawmakers are passing legislation that makes it harder for Democrats to vote and easier to steal elections.

On Thursday, the man who could be the next speaker of the House -- if the GOP takes back the chamber -- traveled to Trump’s New Jersey golf estate to pay homage to the Great Leader in exile. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has decided his path to power relies on millions of Trump voters who believe the ex-President’s lies. If that means palling around with a man who tried to destroy democracy, so be it.

A lot of people in Washington keep saying that recent revelations show how close the US came to disaster after the election. That’s only part of the story. Trump’s unhinged, malicious behavior actually shows the danger he will pose if he ever again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.