Susan B . Glasser An American Journalist and News Editor . She writes the column “ Letter from Trump ’ s Washington ” in The New Yorker
Obituary For A Failed Presidency
“ An American demagogue , he embraced division and racial discord , railed against a “ deep state ” within his own government , praised autocrats and attacked allies , politicized the administration of justice , monetized the Presidency for himself and his children , and presided over a tumultuous , turnover-ridden Administration via impulsive tweets .”
But , in the end , it may matter little or not at all that McConnell abandoned Trump so close to the finish . Consequences may now rain down on Trump , but they will come only after the tragedy of the past four years has played out .
There are some antecedents for Trump ’ s failures in the long record of American Presidents , of course . Woodrow Wilson botched the handling of a pandemic in 1918 ; L . B . J . and Richard Nixon lied to the American public about Vietnam and much else besides . Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson were impeached ; many Presidents were outright bigots and philanderers . But none before Trump was all of those things at once , and that in the end will be the lasting embarrassment that Trump bears with him to Mar-a-Lago .
On the eve of his Inauguration , exactly four years ago today , Trump attended a glittering fireworks display at the Lincoln Memorial . “ We ’ re going to work together ,” he said . “ We are going to make America great again - and , I ’ ll add , greater than ever before .” History will be brutally clear on this : he did not .
Susan B . Glasser An American Journalist and News Editor . She writes the column “ Letter from Trump ’ s Washington ” in The New Yorker