Last Trump?

Andrew Sullivan and others have concluded that the Donald’s candidacy is a blast from the last trump, announcing the end of democracy. These underestimates the federal government’s blessed capacity for gridlock, and Trump’s chameleon capacity for compromise, change, and moderation.

The real worry is less that, if elected, Trump will make good on his promises; he won’t. The worry lies elsewhere. Trump’s campaign has been a masterpiece of scapegoating, blaming our economic stagnation on China and Mexico and our decline in global prestige on feckless political and media elites. You can be morally certain he won’t accept responsibility for his failure. And then who will Trump and his tribe find to blame?

If Trump isn’t the end of the world or of American democracy, he seems to be the end of the GOP as we know it. To that, we can say a hearty Good riddance. With its softening on moral issues (which Trump himself symbolizes) and its recent history of global adventuring, it’s become difficult to see what the conservative party still conserves.

What we’re hearing is not the last trump, but Trump may be an agent of divine judgment against the Party that has been most promiscuous in invoking God’s name. Here’s hoping He shakes the GOP down to the foundations, and keeps shaking until only permanent things are left standing.