Deplorables R' Us

The news reports today that Trump is withholding emergency funding for victims of the devastating wildfires in California until the state removes environmental restrictions on logging. Every time it seems he can't be any more heartless, he finds it in himself to increase the dimensions of his coronary vacuum.

I started wondering...What if there were a "progressive" Trumpian character-? What if there were a president who was repugnant in every possible way, and utterly destructive to the institution of the presidency as it was conceived by the constitution - but - who championed some of my "do or die" issues-? What if such a character were in office and had muscled through truly game-changing climate legislation? What if they had made public education free through college, with payment coming from the Pentagon? What if they had offered a GI Bill-like-program for African Americans, as an act of reparation for slavery and to reduce the impact of institutional racism? What if they had appointed Supreme Court judges who promised to overturn Citizens United, enshrine Obamacare, Roe v. Wade, and same-sex marriage for the foreseeable future? What if they had compassionately settled every vetted Syrian refugee seeking asylum in communities across the country? Universal healthcare? Paid family leave? Equal funding of public schools? Two-state solution? Gun control...?

I sincerely believe that under those circumstances, I would be just like so many Trump supporters, who plug their noses at the ways he is destructive to the institutions around him, but who continue to support him, because they feel like he is delivering on the fundamental issues about which they feel most profoundly. Those on the left often look with disbelief at Trump supporters, believing they can hardly be human to continue to forgive his unconstitutional blasphemy; however, I see that I also would easily overlook a very high degree of monstrous behavior by a leader who was in any way effectively championing an agenda that served to deliver environmental protection and reduce wealth inequities. I would think to myself that it was only for four years, and if said leader could bulldoze some fundamental changes into the system, then decorum, political correctness, and constitutionality be-damned.

I am pretty sure this is a central problem. The institutions of government are intended to balance freedom and power. If we are willing to burn down the institutions in order to grasp our version of freedom or power, we are doomed to chaos, suffering loss of both, as the serpent eats its own tail.