Our republic has survived numerous seemingly insurmountable threats. Can it survive Donald Trump?

Can we survive the destruction of our democratic institutions with a prostrate majority in Congress and a highly politicized Supreme Court?

Donald Trump can hug and kiss and praise the flag all he likes, but he and his supporters do not alone own it.

Donald Trump can hug and kiss and praise Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un all he likes, but this does not make these dictators our nation’s allies.

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Donald Trump can bolster anyone who supports his ever-changing policy initiatives and his indefensible wars in Iran and Venezuela, but this does not make them “patriots.”

Donald Trump can talk until he is as red as his tacky, too-long ties about how his two impeachments, 34 felony convictions, and his companies’ numerous bankruptcies were simply retribution schemes perpetrated by “far-left radical democrats,” but we know that no one is above the law.

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Donald Trump can falsify and distort data any way he likes to argue that human-caused climate pollution, the increasing cost of living, rising inflation, and “affordability” are merely “communist” talking points to scare people, but we know the truth behind his thousands upon thousands of lies.

No, Donald Trump has not “beautified” Washington, D.C. He is not a successful business executive who made his supposed fortune on his own. He has not earned vast amounts of revenue by ethical means alone since taking over the Oval Office. He has not been granted bank loans, tax breaks, and received exorbitant returns on his investments by following the rules.  

Donald Trump is the opposite of a “stable genius” and has been our worst, most corrupt, anti-American, self-serving grifter president in the history of the United States. During his tenure, he has alienated our long-standing allies, cozied up to international fascist leaders, and destroyed the standing of our nation around the world.

No, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling. But if we as a national community are to hold up the sky, we must remain ever vigilant, never to take our democratic republic and the constitution on which it is based for granted. We must become or remain active participants by never losing our voting power and engagement in the political process. We must remain informed, even when doing so seems uncomfortable, and at times, traumatic.

So-called “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is a right-wing fabrication intended to lodge blame against Trump detractors. PTSD (President Trump Stress Disorder), however, does affect millions, possibly billions, of thoughtful, informed people across the planet.

Standing outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September 1787, a woman named Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Constitutional Convention Delegate Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

Franklin’s poignant response: “A republic if you can keep it.”

We have suffered through numerous times when the founders’ concept of a democratic republic has faced seemingly insurmountable conditions – the Civil War, the end of Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, McCarthyism, unpopular wars such as Vietnam, and the continuing rise of right-wing populism, epitomized by the Trump presidency and the growth of the MAGA movement.

We have survived these “if we can keep it” moments before. Can we survive the massive destruction of our democratic institutions, with a prostrate majority in Congress and a highly politicized and compliant Supreme Court? Only time will tell if we come through this storm intact.

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