Trump dedux: Brainless bluster

The rule of law is as foreign to Donald Trump as the habit of celibacy. I care about one and not the other. He may become president again. That scares me.

I try to not wet my pants in public. It is unseemly for a distinguished old man. There are also serious consequences with failure to control myself. Dry cleaning is expensive, and no one will sit with me at dinner. Everyone decides to take the next elevator. I’m holding my own, but it’s hard and Donald Trump doesn’t make it easy.

He and his parrots across the country, including enablers in Iowa, share a vision of our country that is un-American. I didn’t think it could be more frightening, but then some guy named Mike Johnson crept from beneath the backbench in the House of Representatives to become speaker. He and Trump are the Bobbsey twins of our time, two separate heads, one shared thought: Make America Grate Again.

Mike Johnson does fly a flag outside his office door. The problem for me is that it’s the same flag the terrorists carried when they desecrated and destroyed parts of the Capitol, threatened Mike Pence, and left at least 114 police officers injured and one dead.

If Trump were elected again, our democracy would be in danger. That is not hyperbole, not partisan paranoia, but legitimate worry from what we, including some Republicans, have learned about his discussions on intentions if he became president again.

On Inauguration Day, he would say, "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” But he intends to weaponize the FBI to deal with “my enemies.” He threatens to use the military as well. That is not democracy.

Dealing with Trump’s enemies is not why the FBI and military exist. They are not the personal playthings of a president. Getting even with political enemies is the game of banana republics and the addiction of dictators. Trump has talked about using the Secret Service as if agents were his private militia.

The Secret Service was established by Abraham Lincoln and began protecting presidents in 1901. (The Agent who was shot protecting Ronald Reagan was a friend. He didn’t care about politics. He was there to protect, not run political get even assignments.)

When presidents leave office, they and their spouses (only one) receive lifetime protection. I don’t know how many agents that requires but we must certainly spend a million or two dollars a year to keep the Donald safe with round the clock Secret Service presence. It’s the law and I hardly begrudge him it as long as he remains a former president.

As appalling as all that is, the chatter from his advisers often involves cutting good government activities, including Social Security. Almost 70 million of us, including Trump voters, receive Social Security payments. To talk of cutting that while continuing to cut taxes on the rich whenever possible is enough to keep me alone on elevators. The revulsion to Trump should be bipartisan and total.

Norman Sherman of Coralville has worked extensively in politics, including as Vice President Hubert Humphrey’s press secretary.