Donald Trump has poisoned American culture — but the toxin was here all along
Donald Trump's cruelty and vulgarity have done enormous damage — but let's stop pretending he's "un-American"
For almost all of American history, even the most cutthroat politicians acted as participants in a national masquerade, disguising their corporate servility with a cloak of sentimental rhetoric. Ronald Reagan likened America to a "shining city on a hill." George W. Bush promised to "restore integrity" to the country after Bill Clinton's sex scandal, and John McCain insisted that "character counts," even in the gladiatorial arena of political trickery, slander and brinkmanship.
It is only Donald Trump who has instructed Americans that civic virtue, concern for the public interest and personal ethics are, at best, delusions of the weak. One of Trump's more frightening political triumphs is that first as a candidate and then with the authority and influence of the presidency, he has exposed the idea of "American values" as a thin, easily penetrable veneer. What lies beneath that is exactly what Trump represents and advances with his every utterance and executive order – fidelity to the ancient maxim, "might makes right."
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Link: Donald Trump has poisoned American culture — but the toxin was here all along