Republican presidents and presidential candidates have demonstrated leadership at key times and set the tone for society to follow. Reagan stood up against totalitarianism in the 1980s, appointed the first female Supreme Court justice, and worked with Democrats on bipartisan tax and immigration reform. George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act and stood firm in defending our ally Kuwait from Iraqi invasion. George W. Bush made many mistakes after 9/11, but he never incited hatred or demonized Muslims or Islam.
As a 2008 presidential candidate, McCain spoke out when fellow conservatives spread lies about his opponent, Barack Obama, while Romney was willing to sacrifice his status and influence within the party he once represented as a presidential candidate by boldly calling out Trump’s failings and voting to impeach him.
These acts of leadership are what it means to put country first and think beyond yourself.
Trump despises these American ideals. He praises autocrats, from Viktor Orbán to Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong Un. He believes in the coercive model of power: leaders who get things done by demanding them and forcing agreements through willpower and personality. In reality, strongmen rule through fear and the unscrupulous use of political power for self-interest, imposing ill-conceived policies that stifle innovation, entrepreneurship, ideas, and hope.
During his four years as president, Trump attempted to rule the United States as a dictator, issuing orders and decrees on Twitter. He made abrupt changes to policy, including who could serve in the military, trade policy, and how to deal with North Korea and Russia, without consulting experts on his staff about how those changes would affect the United States. Indeed, nowhere was Trump’s prioritization of political and personal interests over the national interest more tragic than during the pandemic, when he faked a crisis by promoting conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, ignoring the advice of his own experts, and resisting basic safety measures that would have saved lives.
He has taken a similar approach to America’s strategic relationships abroad. Trump has eroded the credibility of America’s longtime allies, especially NATO, undermined security in Europe, and empowered far-right and authoritarian leaders in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, making an Iran that was already a threat to the world even more dangerous by reviving a program to produce near-weapon-grade uranium.
His willingness to appease Putin in a second term would leave Ukraine’s future as a democratic and independent country in doubt. Trump has hinted that he could singlehandedly end the disastrous war in Gaza but has no actual plan. He has suggested that in a second term he would raise tariffs on Chinese goods to over 60% and impose a 10% tariff on all imports, a move that would raise prices for American consumers and reduce innovation by allowing American industries to resort to protectionism.
The worst of the Trump administration’s policies were often thwarted by challenges in Congress, in the courts, and by upstanding civil servants who stepped in and blocked the administration’s demands when it was irresponsible or did not follow the law. When Trump wanted to repeal Obamacare, Republican Senator McCain saved it, protecting health care for millions of Americans. Trump demanded that FBI Director James Comey pledge his loyalty and end investigations into his political allies, but Comey refused. Scientists and public health officials condemned and corrected Trump’s misinformation on climate science and COVID-19. The Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration more times than any president since at least Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The second Trump administration will be different. He plans to fill it with minions, those who have demonstrated a willingness to comply with Trump’s demands and those who are powerless to oppose him. He wants to remove those who stand in the way of his policies by enacting orders that make it easier to fire civil servants and replace them with those more loyal to him.
This not only means that Americans lose the benefit of expertise, but that the United States is governed in a climate of fear, with civil servants serving the interests of the president rather than the people. Though all cabinet members follow the president’s directions, Trump envisions a country in which civil service as Americans understand it no longer exists — a country in which individual civil servants and departments are no longer able to make independent decisions, and where studies by scientists and public health experts, and investigations by the Department of Justice and other federal law enforcement agencies, are more responsive to the demands of the White House.
Serving another term under Trump’s leadership risks permanently damaging the government. “Those with a proven track record lacking inner strength will be unable to resist the compromises necessary to survive under Trump, which will add up to something they cannot recover from,” Comey, a longtime Republican, wrote in a 2019 Times Opinion essay. Few who work for him will escape this fate. “Because Trump eats away at your soul, bit by bit,” Comey wrote. “Of course, to stay you have to be seen as part of his team, so you compromise some more. You use his words, praise his leadership, trumpet your commitment to his values. And then you’re lost. He’s eaten away your soul.” America can’t get anything done with dictators. It needs strong leaders.
