America Has Survived Worse Than Donald Trump

The United States of America was founded in the midst of a bloody revolution, fighting a war against the most powerful nation on Earth. Thirty years later, that same enemy was boarding American ships, bombarding a major port city, and burning the nation’s capital to the ground. And fifty years after that, over half a million people died in a brutal civil war, the political and economic effects of which continued to haunt America for decades.

The point is that the United States has faced many struggles in its two centuries of existence, from wars the likes of which the planet had never seen before, to economic collapse, the threat of nuclear war, and a succession of power-hungry politicians. Through it all, the country has made it through battered but alive, and ultimately stronger than before. When compared with these seismic historical events, the election of Donald Trump as President can hardly be deemed a mortal threat to the survival of the country, even if you disagree with his every policy proposal and despise the man personally.

The rhetoric of many on the Left has become increasingly hysterical, and it is no longer uncommon for them to suggest that the end of the United States as we know it is at hand (see, for instance, the many liberal reviews of The Handmaid’s Tale). But it is ridiculous. Is Trump a different sort of president from what we’ve seen before? Absolutely. But to suggest that he and the Russians are engaged in some sort of secret plot to bring about Russian world domination is at least as stupid as suggesting that the Bush administration orchestrated 9/11.

There are many valid criticisms of this White House. It has lurched from one crisis to the next with no sense of greater purpose. Trump himself has routinely shot himself in the foot, threatening to derail the entire Republican agenda, and if he can’t get a handle on these (avoidable) crises soon, my past suggestion stands—though the hurricane of bad news that was the past couple weeks seems to have subsided somewhat, at least for now. But the available evidence suggests less a nefarious plot to destroy the country than simple incompetence.

Of course, a full investigation could lead to a different conclusion, which is why such an investigation, led by a special prosecutor, is necessary. But at present, deranged talk of treason and the impending end of civilization does nothing to further the very serious conversations about classified information and the firing of James Comey.