President Donald Trump could threaten very fabric of democracy

by Mhairi Black
Posted on
6 years ago
2 min read

Some people still try to defend Trump and his deeply unwelcome visit. What his supporters usually say is: “It is important to respect the office of the president.” The answer to that is: “We will – when he starts to.”

He has treated the office and the people of America he was elected to serve with utter contempt, so he cannot be surprised by the level of respect he gets as an individual.

As a man, his character is so flawed and his issues so well documented there is almost no point in reminding you about his misogyny, his racism, his bullying, his unending lies and the way he generates hate at his rallies.

He is the leader who rips children from their mother’s arms and locks them in cages with no ID.

This is the president who phoned his doctor and dictated his own health report – which claimed his health was “astonishingly excellent”. It says a lot about him that his list of “pals” is mainly other bullies or strongmen – Putin, Jong-un, Erdogan.

The people he professes not to like are often women – particularly leaders like Nicola Sturgeon and Angela Merkel – and you don’t need to be an analyst to figure out what that may be about.

It baffles us to this day that even after the notorious Access Hollywood tape – with his foul boasts about sexually assaulting women – he still got elected.

Of course, like all narcissists, he can’t bear criticism. The Donald is fragile and the good-natured, peaceful and large protests we saw in London and Scotland will have irked him. Especially those in his mother’s country of birth – which he mentions every time he can as if he thinks it will make him more popular here.

In time, Trump will be history but he could leave a grotesque legacy. As president he has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices and he could frame that powerful body in his image. Because of the division of powers, they have a huge role on issues such as abortion, gay rights and social progress.

There is no set retirement age for Supreme Court justices. They continue until they decide to stand down or they can no longer carry out the functions. Trump appointees could make that court ultra-conservative, racist, anti-women’s rights, anti-abortion and anti-gay rights.

The list is chilling and presents an America that could slip into very dark times. That could well be his real legacy.

People who are elected president of the United States are not changed by the office – they are revealed by it. In Trump, we have a man who threatens the very fabric of democracy and all the improvements in social justice the United States has fought for in the last 50 years.

He is destructive and dangerous. That is why people protested in such numbers – it is about him, not his country.