The Collapse of Trump

Published in El País
(Spain) on 17 January 2021
by Xavier Vidal-Folch (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Derek Voglis. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
America is uncomfortable with the criminal in office, who turns a blind eye on the poor and mistreats those who struggle.

Outvoted after the U.S. presidential election, we concluded that Donald Trump had suffered more than a defeat; rather a total collapse, despite his legion of followers. Trumpism was already facing ruin, and keeping it alive was not in the cards.

Since the coup attempt on the Capitol, an increasing number of people are coming to terms with Trump’s defeat, a feeling driven by the exponential decline in Trump supporters. The fact is that America is uncomfortable with the criminal in office. (It has been repeatedly alleged that Trump is one.) He is someone who turns a blind eye to the poor (like the Trump Organization empire did). In a society shaped by success, he mistreats those who struggle. (The outgoing president is a shamefully vulgar loser.)

Without exhausting the full list of cabinet members and high-ranking officials who resigned in protest, there is Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff to Melania Trump, Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger and Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews.

Ten members of Congress from the president’s party support his impeachment, something as unusual as not reelecting a sitting president. Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, blames Trump for the "greatest betrayal by a president." The Joint Chiefs of Staff further disavowed the coup in a statement proclaiming their loyalty to the Constitution and contempt for the assault on the Capitol, calling it "contrary to the rule of law." They also did so because the coup presented evidence of "violence, sedition or insurrection," crimes punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Members of Congress are actively shunning him, people are turning away from his empire and his party.  He is being dismissed by longstanding financial backers including Signature Bank, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. City agencies including the New York City Council have frozen their business contracts with Trump. Even the PGA and the Scottish golf courses are refusing to do business with Trump.

His social media accounts remain blocked by companies like Twitter and Facebook that are laughing at him. He is being further humiliated by mainstream media outlets, starting with Fox News.

The rats are abandoning ship, and this is just the beginning. That's what the talk about the survival of Trumpism is, the babbling of those who forget that before him, there was the tea party and the Ku Klux Klan. Such is the virtue of individual regimes; they do not last. There is no Nazism without Adolf Hitler, Pétainism without Marshal Pétain, nor Francoism without Francisco Franco. Their residual sociological interests, desires and loyalty are meaningless without a leader to advance them.




En minoría, concluíamos tras las presidenciales de EE UU que, pese a su legión de seguidores, Donald Trump había sufrido más que una derrota, un desplome. Y que el trumpismo amenazaba ruina y no estaba escrita su sostenibilidad (El desplome, EL PAÍS 21/11/2020).


Tras el golpe de Estado al Capitolio otros se van convenciendo, empujados por el abandono exponencial de sus apoyos. Y es que América se incomoda ante el delincuente (Donald lo es, en presunto y por partida múltiple); ignora al arruinado (como el imperio de la Trump Organization); y maltrata, sociedad ahormada por el triunfo, al derrotado (el saliente es un perdedor de bochornosa vulgaridad).

Sin ánimo exhaustivo, dimiten al apestado ministros y altos cargos: Alex Azar (Salud) Betsy DeVos (Enseñanza), Blaine Chao (Transportes), Mick Mulvaney (jefe de gabinete), Stephanie Grisham (ídem de Melania), Mathew Pottinger (vice de Seguridad Nacional) o Sarah Mathews (segunda de Prensa).

Diez congresistas de su partido avalan su destitución (impeachment), algo tan insólito como la no reelección de un presidente en ejercicio. La congresista Liz Cheney —hija del exvicepresidente ultra Dick Cheney— le culpa de la “mayor traición por parte de un presidente”. Y la Junta de Jefes de Estado Mayor desautoriza el golpe en un manifiesto que proclama su lealtad a la Constitución y su desprecio al asalto al Capitolio por “contrario al Estado de derecho” y porque exhibe “la violencia, la sedición o la insurrección”, delitos penados con hasta 10 años de cárcel.

Boicotean activamente a su persona, su emporio y su partido, sus tradicionales apoyos financieros, el Signature Bank, la Deutsche Bank y la JP Morgan. Congelan sus contratos ayuntamientos como el de Nueva York. Y boicotean su protagonismo deportivo la asociación profesional del golf y ¡los campos escoceses!

Bloquean sus cuentas las plataformas sociales que le reían las gracias, Twiter, Facebook. Y le humillan los medios afines, empezando por la cadena Fox de televisión.

Ratas y tortugas abandonan. Esto solo empieza. Las jeremiadas sobre la pervivencia del trumpismo son eso, parloteos de quienes olvidan que antes que él estuvo el Tea Party, o el Ku Klux Klan. Los regímenes individuales tienen esa virtud. No perduran. No hay nazismo sin Hitler, ni pétainismo sin Pétain ni franquismo sin Franco. Sus residuos sociológicos, de intereses y lealtades no configuran proyecto si carecen de líder.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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