Chapter 28: Trump’s Corrosion of America’s Moral and Ethical Power (Part I)

There is a famous saying by Du Yuesheng, the Shanghai underworld boss of Republican-era China: “A thug is not frightening; what is frightening is a thug with education.” Applied to the United States, the saying works in reverse: “A president is not frightening; what is frightening is a president without education.” An uneducated president harms both the nation and its people. The United States has had a peanut farmer as president and an actor as president. In 2017, astonishingly, it produced a real-estate speculator—a “construction foreman”—as president. He became the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by Congress and the only one to be impeached twice. By a strange twist of fate, the United States not only had an impeached president, but also a Senate majority leader who, for partisan interests, shielded the president and blocked impeachment in the House. This constitutional pathology indeed manifested itself in American constitutional democracy in 2019, allowing a president who incited insurrection to escape accountability.

Who could have imagined that after more than a century of leading modern world civilization, the United States would stage the Trump spectacle at home in 2016, with tens of millions dazzled by the magician’s catchphrase, “You are fired,” to the point of disorientation? People were astonished that such a mature democracy could produce a crooked, magician-like president who committed a series of offenses over four years and faced impeachment twice. He is the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice, owing to partisan interests. He hijacked the Republican Party; Republican legislators, fearful of his rule-breaking ways and intimidated by his power, allowed him to escape conviction both times. In the first impeachment, all Republican senators voted against conviction; in the second, only seven Republican senators dared to vote against him. The final tally—57 to 43, short of the required two-thirds—again let him slip through. With both impeachments failing, the world could not help but question American constitutional democracy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who believed Trump should be held responsible for the mob’s storming of the Capitol, said: “Impeachment was never meant to be the final forum of accountability under our Constitution. We still have criminal justice and civil litigation. In either system, Trump is not immune from being held accountable.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that Congress would establish an external, independent commission to investigate the “facts and causes” of the January 6 Capitol attack. This commission would resemble the 9/11 Commission of 2001; beyond determining facts and causes, it would also examine the responses of the U.S. Capitol Police and federal and local law enforcement agencies. These measures are absolutely necessary. As the saying goes, to resist external threats one must first secure internal order. In competing with Communism, the United States must first ensure that it does not degenerate into an authoritarian state and must resolutely bring to justice those who undermine constitutional democracy.

After the impeachment concluded, an Ipsos poll showed that 30% of Americans believed Trump should bear full responsibility for the Capitol violence, 25% believed he should bear primary responsibility, and 16% believed he should bear partial responsibility. Thirty plus twenty-five plus sixteen equals 71%; among Republicans, the figure was 50%. The seven Republican senators who broke ranks fell into three categories: first, senators who had challenged Trump from time to time over the past four years and faced little electoral pressure, including Romney, Collins, and Murkowski; second, senators who had announced their retirement—Toomey and Burr—from Pennsylvania and North Carolina, both likely to return to the traditional Republican path; third, senators who had just won reelection in 2020—Cassidy and Sasse—whose next elections were six years away. All seven faced no immediate electoral pressure and thus voted according to conscience. Some observers have pointed out that the U.S. impeachment system should introduce secret ballots; otherwise, an impeachment system that cannot be guided by conscience is effectively meaningless.

An editorial by the New York Times titled “Trump Is Guilty” argued that if Trump is not held accountable, such events could happen again. This was the core argument made by the House impeachment managers representing the House of Representatives. Clearly, most Republican senators participating in the judgment did not consider preventing the emergence of another Trump in the future. By excusing Trump’s assault on American democracy, they invite other ambitious strongmen to imitate him. This is a wager they have placed on the future. Voting to let guilt go unpunished is an act of complicity. The Republican Party will pay a price for these votes.

Some people cite Trump’s anti-Communism as a reason to support him. Trump’s anti-Communism, however, is not based on an understanding of Communist ideology but on so-called American economic interests. Such economically driven anti-Communism only strengthens Communism. At the same time, Trump’s domestic destruction of constitutional democracy will steer the United States toward a point of no return—new fascism. This kind of anti-Communism is not essentially different from Hitler’s war against the Soviet Union. The United States must first purge the toxic legacy of Trumpism before it can return to the right path.

As early as February 2019, Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen had a moral awakening, broke with Trump, and testified before Congress: “Trump is a con man, a dishonest person. He ran for president to make his brand more popular, to promote his personal brand and enrich himself, not for America. He often said the campaign was the best commercial advertisement, a marketing opportunity. He never thought he would win the election, and he had no intention of leading the United States.” Cohen also testified: “Trump’s style is like that of a mafia godfather, with thuggish methods. He speaks in code. I understand his code because I worked by his side for ten years.”

Under the banner of “Make America Great,” Trump deceived voters and hijacked certain Republican values, turning them into tools for his own manipulation. He concealed his true intentions and used magician-like performances to curry favor with voters, misleading Midwestern farmers. By tweeting incessantly, he deceived voters and gained their trust, allowing him to win the presidency by a narrow margin and shocking the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump openly deceived his supporters. On the one hand, he told people not to wear masks and not to fear the virus; on the other hand, once vaccines became available, he and his wife secretly received them at the earliest opportunity. To save their own lives, they quietly followed science while refusing to inform their voters, allowing “rednecks” to continue rejecting vaccination. To satisfy his cold and cruel temperament, he was willing to sacrifice voters’ lives and undermine pandemic control efforts.