No matter what fate holds in store for Donald J. Trump, my fear now is the survival of the political movement he sired and foisted onto the rest of us.
Trumpism is likely to outlive its founder, the megalomaniacal businessman who is now facing the real possibility of being indicted for felony crimes associated with his losing the 2020 presidential election.
The House 1/6 select committee has referred criminal allegations to the Justice Department, charging Trump with obstruction of justice, inciting an assault on the U.S. Capitol, conspiring to commit an insurrection.
That doesn’t count the investigation that special counsel Jack Smith is conducting into the taking of classified material from the White House and storing it in unsecured rooms at Mar-a-Lago. Talk about a serious violation and a threat to national security … eh?
Donald Trump’s days as a major political figure appear to be vanishing like the sun into a smoggy dusk. He will not be elected president in 2024. It now is looking unlikely that he’ll even win the Republican Party nomination. He is facing an oncoming stampede of legal difficulties, starting with the aforementioned potential indictments.
Then we have the financial doom that awaits. New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a $250 million lawsuit against the Trump Organization, which also has been pounded with guilty verdicts on assorted tax violations.
But … here’s the kicker. The election deniers who did survive the slaughter many of their ilk suffered in the midterm election remain on the scene. They continue to foment The Big Lie about vote fraud. Why, even the Texas secretary of state has determined there was no such widespread fraud in Texas. That will not shut the traps of the treasonous blowhards who continue to insist the 2020 election was “stolen” from their cult hero.
Thus, that thing called Trumpism is likely to survive for a good while longer than its creator. May the rest of us remain vigilant and alert to the lies they continue to sputter.