“How to Destroy a Government” by George Packer (Togo)
Ignorance and lack of attention cannot preserve institutional infrastructure. Trump's done a good job of tossing legitamacy in garbage. Can…
“How to Destroy a Government”—In The Atlantic’s April issue, George Packer (Togo 1982-83) reveals how President Trump is winning his war on American institutions, and argues that a second term will irrevocably harm what remains.
How to Destroy a Government
When Donald Trump came into office, there was a sense that he would be outmatched by the vast government he had just inherited.
The new president was impetuous, bottomlessly ignorant, almost chemically inattentive, while the bureaucrats were seasoned, shrewd, protective of themselves and their institutions. They knew where the levers of power lay and how to use them or prevent the president from doing so. Trump’s White House was chaotic and vicious, unlike anything in American history, but it didn’t really matter as long as “the adults” were there to wait out the president’s impulses and deflect his worst ideas and discreetly pocket destructive orders lying around on his desk.
After three years, the adults have all left the room — saying just about nothing on their way out to alert the country to the peril — while Trump is still there. (Go to The Atlantic for the rest of the article)
Not one journalist ever asked Trump what he meant by “Deep State.” During his campaign, he got away with a lot because he was considered a fool. He is not. He has used the power of the Exeutive to control the Senate and the Judiciary. That is effectively almost total control
Unfortunately, for the country, he can not control the coronavirus.
Ignorance and lack of attention cannot preserve institutional infrastructure.
Trump’s done a good job of tossing legitamacy in garbage. Can it be restored? Depends on where it went!