After Donald Trump announced his candidacy by describing Mexican immigrants as “rapists,” after he proposed a wall along the entire southern border, after he called for banning all Muslims from entering the country, after he said Senator John McCain was a war hero only “because he was captured,” after he attacked an American judge’s Hispanic heritage, after a tape revealed he bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy,” and after so many other revolting moments, journalists and Democrats and even some Republicans condemned Trump as manifestly unfit for the presidency.
Lo and behold, Trump is manifestly unfit for the presidency. Not even four months into his first term, and already there’s serious, bipartisan talk about impeachment. “This will not get better. It could easily get worse,” wrote New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, an anti-Trump conservative. “And as hard and controversial as a 25th Amendment remedy would be, there are ways in which Trump’s removal today should be less painful for conservatives than abandoning him in the campaign would have been.” “Loose Lips Sink Presidencies,” the Wall Street Journal editorial board declared in Wednesday’s paper, though refrained from defining “sink”:
Millions of Americans recognized Mr. Trump’s flaws but decided he was a risk worth taking. They assumed, or at least hoped, that he’d rise to the occasion and the demands of the job. If he cannot, he’ll betray their hopes as his Presidency sinks before his eyes.
Let us talk about those misplaced “hopes.” The 63 million Americans who voted for Trump had been thoroughly warned about the risks of doing so, yet they voted for him anyway. They were not all racist rubes. Trump won both white men and white women; he won those aged 40 and over; he won those who earned $50,000 or more; and he won suburbs, small cities, and rural areas. He also won the support of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who have been comically mealy-mouthed amid the latest revelations about Trump’s conversations with then-FBI Director James Comey.
If you are one of the aforementioned millions, you are not allowed any excuses. Indeed, many of you believe things are going just fine. But those of you who have a stake in the skidding stock market, and who get your news from the Journal rather than Breitbart, have come to realize the mistake you made in the ballot booth last November. You’re watching this scandal unfold and rightly shaking your head. But you do not get a pass. You do not get to claim that you thought the presidency would normalize Trump. You wanted Obamacare repeal, tax cuts for the rich, unregulated pollution, and an unfettered Wall Street. You, and especially you, are not forgiven. This catastrophe is not only Trump’s fault. It’s yours, too.