Tuesday night showed the core truth of Trump. And of liberal democratic collapse.

“Dennis Burnham, who lived next door, was a toddler when his mother briefly put him in a playpen in their garden. She returned a few minutes later to find the current U.S. president, then aged five or six, standing at his fence throwing rocks at the little boy. Another neighbor, Steven Nachtigall, now a 66-year-old doctor, said he never forgot Trump … once jumping off his bike and beating up another boy: ‘It was so unusual and terrifying at that age,’” – Trump Revealed.

“When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same,” – Donald J Trump.

The pews at the cathedral were packed this Ash Wednesday — more than I can remember in years. Some others on social media seemed to notice the same thing. And the atmosphere was dark and intense even for the beginning of Lent — as ash was smeared on my forehead with the familiar, sobering mantra:

Remember, man, that thou are dust and unto dust thou shalt return.

Unbidden grief welled up. Grief for my mother and father, grief for a Ukrainian exile friend who killed himself last summer, impending grief for a Pope I love and revere. And yes, although I may be roundly mocked by some of you for this, grief for my country.

The night before, you see, I’d watched the president’s address to the Congress. Yes, yes, I know I recently pledged not to respond to every provocation from the troller-in-chief and focus on policies and long-term results. But to understand the moment we are in — and the policies that will follow — we simply cannot look away from what Tuesday night revealed about the state of our republic. I know I’m repeating myself, and have been since early 2016, but part of Trump’s psychological abuse is wearing down opponents so they stop repeating themselves, and give in to the lies. I will not be worn down. Truth matters.

Here it is: We have a sociopathic president in total command of a cult-like party; a Congress that, as long as the GOP controls it, is a rubber-stamp version of the Russian Duma under Putin; a court balanced precariously between a modest defense of the unitary executive and an Alito wing bent on empowering an American Caesar; and a Justice Department openly planning persecution of the president’s political opponents.

The speech itself, mind you, was masterful. He’s at the top of his game and clearly loving every second of it. If you knew nothing of history or reality apart from it, you’d have been inspired, entranced, even ebullient about the greatest comeback of any country in all of human history by far! And the poignant individual stories were pitch-perfect, with the Democrats’ cringey lameness the cherry on the cake.

Trump’s ability to invent and sustain a false narrative, however crazy and however incoherent, is preternatural. So are his profound skills in psychological abuse deployed to make it stick: gaslighting, intimidating, manipulating, and menacing you so that, in the end, you have no idea what the truth is or could be, and submit to the man if only to get out of his way.

Start with the opener, which was quite something:

The presidential election of Nov. 5 was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades … Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction … In fact, it has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency — it’s our presidency — is the most successful in the history of our nation. By many. And what makes it even more impressive is that do you know who No. 2 is? George Washington.

Trump’s popular vote margin was the second smallest of any candidate’s since 1968; yes, there’s been a jump among Republicans who think the country is now on the right track, but still many more Americans believe the country is on the wrong one — and Trump’s numbers on this, far from being unique in modern history, are the same as Biden’s were at this point in his term. Oh, and absolutely no one has said that Trump’s first month is better than George Washington’s — except Donald Trump.

So here’s what I’d ask of readers who say that I have Trump Derangement Syndrome: tell me how you personally parse all these claims that were a mere warmup for the rest. When you heard him say he was better than George Washington, did you giggle? Did you just ignore it? Did you roll your eyes? Did you feel a tinge of nausea? Did you actually believe it? Or have you stopped caring altogether?

This matters because it is central to Trump’s success: no sane person with a grip on reality — unless they had just arrived from outer space — could believe vast tracts of his speech. With huge self-evident lie after huge self-evident lie, insane exaggeration after insane exaggeration, you are instantly forced to choose between walking away from the nutter or acquiescing to his madness. And since he is president, you can’t walk away. So the lies become Truth for millions; narrative replaces reality; aggressors are victims; exploding debt is fiscal prudence; weaponization of the law is anti-weaponization; and on and on.

Notice how post-modern this is. These are not the usual politicians’ lies, which pay some deference to the truth, even when eliding it. Trump, like the critical theorists, has contempt for the truth. “Truth” is entirely a myth he creates at will to justify the use of power. Critical Trump Theory, so to speak, is unfalsifiable, irrational, and seeks to replace objective reality with Trump’s lived experience so that, in the end, only his power remains. Brute power — immune to fact, argument or debate. Trump power. That’s what the Founders started this country to resist. And it’s what a majority of Americans have now given up on.

The best metaphor for Trump’s entire raison d’être is the incident cited above, when at just five years old, he was found throwing rocks at a baby: find someone weaker, first humiliate them, and then destroy them. And for Trump, this doesn’t have to lead anywhere. It is an end in itself. The bullying of others is what gives him life. He does it for those he favors as well as those he wants to destroy. Here is Trump on Truth Social in July last year, for example, on Musk. This is necessary even for Trump’s allies:

When Elon came … asking me for help on all his many subsidized projects … I could have said “drop to your knees and beg” and he would have done it.

Canada and Mexico are best understood as the baby in the playpen. Trump himself re-negotiated a trade agreement with both in his first term. Have they violated that deal? No. Have they refused to cooperate on fentanyl and illegal migrants? No. Has Mexico reduced the pressure on the Southern border to almost nothing. Dramatically. Is there anything they can or could do to please Trump? No. The point is the abuse. And like all abusers, Trump constantly shifts what he is demanding, gaslights, threatens, charms, attacks … so that you begin to realize there is nothing you can do except wait for his mood to change. Welcome to monarchy.

And you thought he might come to Ukraine’s defense! Poor Douglas Murray. What the world saw last Friday was the same, central Trump dynamic: the leader of a smaller democracy that has withstood three years of brutal attack by a far larger dictatorship … was still publicly humiliated, because he dared air his concern of no security guarantees against Russia. “Just say thank you,” Vance harangued him. “Have you said thank you once?” I cannot recall any visiting head of state who has ever, ever been thrown out of the White House the way Zelensky was. Why? Because he did not submit.

Notice also how Tump and Vance have treated the big European democracies. Vance went to Germany to lambaste the country for curtailing extremist speech, and intervened in their domestic politics to endorse the AfD, meeting with them while blowing off the Chancellor; he described the UK and France as “random” countries that haven’t “fought a war in 30 or 40 years,” and said the UK would be the “first truly Islamist country” to have nukes. Now try and recall him saying anything comparably vicious or withering about Russia and China. Humiliate and berate Trudeau, Starmer, Merz, and Macron. Throw love-bombs at Putin, Xi, the West Bank settlers, and Kim.

The same, I think, is the real rationale behind the chaotic, often illegal, acts of DOGE. It is not about reducing the debt and never was; the savings, if any, will be trivial. The cruelty and caprice of Musk’s rampage is solely about submission. The very irrationality of the assault is designed to get the entire federal bureaucracy to surrender its will to continue as a rational enterprise.

Or take Israel and Gaza. Of course Trump sees Palestinian Arabs the way Jabotinsky did: weak, dispensable, contemptible, deserving of obliteration. And what rationale could defend the assault on Denmark over Greenland, or Panama over the canal, or what appears to be Trump’s near-pathological hatred of Canada — which we just found out is even weirder than it publicly appears? The impulse, the need, to bully.

So yes, I will wait and judge the consequences of Trump’s policies. Some — like ending DEI, mass migration, and the medical abuse of children — I support. But at the expense of reason, decency, and the rule of law?

What I saw Tuesday night was a whole new low in mass deception, delusion, and democratic collapse. What I saw was a new stage in the transition from democracy to a form of tyranny in real time. The institutional trappings remain, as they did in Rome. But the institutions no longer function as the Founders understood them; and reasoned deliberation has become utterly irrelevant. The cooling saucer of the Senate on Tuesday night was chanting “USA! USA! USA!” like a mob. If Ben Franklin witnessed the scene, his worst fears would be confirmed.

So forgive me for the grief. Things may improve; the courts are doing what they can, and Roberts and Coney Barrett seem like actual conservatives — not Trump cultists. There is a great deal of ruin in a nation, and we have a huge reserve of historical, constitutional legitimacy. Europe may yet rally. The First Amendment allows us to call out the lies — even though parts of the media have already voluntarily submitted.

The challenge for liberals of all stripes is a familiar one in dystopian democracies and rigid dictatorships: Live not by lies. Keep your grip on reality. Avoid the propaganda now washing down on you like torrential rain. Find a refuge, as I did on Wednesday — a place where eternal truths remain, or where free thinking can endure (Spinoza is a role model, which is why the Dishcast discusses him this week).

Avoid hysteria, which Trump wants and exploits. But avoid also being co-opted by a single one of his lies, to see clearly, and to speak simply. Read those you disagree with; get off most social media; choose doubt over certainty; restraint over impulse; resist this authoritarian and irrational moment by refocusing above all on the simple truth, as best as you can, and fighting all those on both extremes trying to annihilate it.

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still.

Back On The Dishcast: Ian Buruma

Ian is a historian, a journalist, and an old friend. He’s currently the Paul Williams Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College. He served as the editor of The New York Review of Books and as foreign editor of The Spectator, where he still writes. He has written many books, including Theater of Cruelty, The Churchill Complex, and The Collaborators — which we discussed on the Dishcast in 2023. This week we’re covering his latest book, Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah, and the example of Spinoza’s intellectual integrity in a deeply tribal and emotional time.

Listen to the episode here. There you can find two clips of our convo — on cancel culture in the 17th century, and how Western liberalism is dying today. That link also takes you to commentary on our episode with Chris Caldwell defending Trump, and you can also find readers and me debating the Trump-Zelensky meeting, the SOTU, and conservatives defying Trump. Plus, more Kristol bashing!

Money Quotes For The Week

“It was always likely, as the crux of geopolitics moved to the Pacific in the 21st century, that America would retreat from Europe. The Europeans have been slow to recognise that and almost criminally culpable in their refusal, until now, to spend more on their own defence. But never in their darkest moments did any European leader ever contemplate even the possibility that America was more likely to side with Russia than Europe when push came to shove,” – Andrew Neil.

“Washington has become Nero’s court, with an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a jester high on ketamine. … We were at war with a dictator, we are now at war with a dictator backed by a traitor,” – Claude Malhuret, a French senator.

“The best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a 2×4 across the nose, you got their attention,” – Keith Kellogg, a Trump negotiator, on the abrupt withdrawal of intelligence assistance with Ukraine.

“They too will be uninhabitable ruins. Their residents will be forced to migrate and seek a new life in other countries,” – Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, on the towns and villages of the West Bank. He met US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, in DC this week.

“This is American juche. Our own Iron Curtain. America won the Cold War, then we looked at the country that lost and decided to be more like them,” – Noah Smith on Trump’s protectionism.

“In its list of [DOGE’s] canceled contracts, the top five were all wrong. They had to revise savings down from $10 billion to $19 million,” – Richard Hanania.

“you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency,” – Nicole Tersigni.

“Kinda wish I was one of Elon’s kids so I’d never see him again,” – Zac Mabry on the news of Musk’s 14th child.

“Let me see, we went at least 9 years without any serious push from the religious right to end same sex marriage. What happened during that time? Oh yeah, trans madness took off,” – Chris Barrett on a few state legislatures proposing anti-SSM bills.

Hathos Alert

The opposition fights back:

Yglesias Award Nominees

“I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair,” – Gavin Newsom on trans athletes in female sports.

“I was naturally trending in more conservative direction because I hate jihadism, extreme wokeness, communism, open borders insanity etc. But then Trump decided to open his first 35 days with insane and psychotic blizzard of brazen corruption, shitcoin crypto grift, attempts to help Putin rape and massacre more Ukrainians. Impossible to defend. If you defend it you are just part of a cult,” – Drew Pavlou.

“Could somebody please explain to me why Trump is pursuing this trade war? Especially with Canada, one of our closest allies? Please be serious — I really want to know. It makes no sense to me,” – Rod Dreher, Trump enthusiast.

The View From Your Window

Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, 4.24 pm

Dissents Of The Week

A reader responds to my latest column:

You asked, “Do you recall any such open dissent by centrist liberals as the Biden era began its surge to the far left?” But you’re a “centrist liberal” by modern reckoning, and you spent no small amount of 2021-25 dissenting from the Biden consensus, as a Biden voter. So did a bunch of your fellow travelers, including half the roster of The Atlantic and some of the most successful, well-connected pundits of the day, like Matt Yglesias.

And it worked. Centrist Democrats (Manchin, Sinema) nearly single-handedly stopped Biden from (1) blowing up the filibuster to enact comprehensive voting rights reform, (2) extending the Trump/Covid-era Child Tax Credit expansion, and (3) making the Inflation Reduction Act as large as he wanted. By comparison, I doubt any of the conservatives you name will rein in any of the Trumpian excesses they claim to oppose.

Sorry but the mood at the start of Biden’s term was jubilant on the liberal left. Remember the second coming of FDR? DEI was near-sacrosanct among left-liberals and no dissent on immigration was allowed. I don’t think Biden wanted to abolish the filibuster anyway, and (2) and (3) were also Biden’s priorities.

Another dissent:

Yes, there are a handful of conservatives who, in the face of evil and incompetence, stand strong on some point of honor or substance. What’s extremely discouraging is how few of these principled conservatives there are in Congress. I count maybe three out of 268 GOP critters. In the administration? Not one. The few non-maniacs, Rubio specifically, stand by and let the horrors proceed without dissent. MAGA swallowed the GOP, and the 1% that cling to the old ways are rare indeed.

I know. I said as much. And my point about liberals and Biden was about pushback from party leaders as well as a few intellectuals.

One more dissent for now:

You discussed Trump’s decision to “dismiss a valid corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams — as a quid pro quo for Adams’ support for Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.” Then you commented:

If Trump wanted to do a quid pro quo with Adams, he could have once again abused his pardon power — which, though gross, would still be constitutional. Instead he and his goons at his DOJ trampled on the integrity of the legal system.

But Trump couldn’t have used his pardon power to implement his corrupt plan, as he wanted the ability to reinstate the case so he could prevent Adams from ever departing from the plan. That’s why Hagan Scotten’s resignation letter states (with my italics):

No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives.

From The Hill: “[Emil] Bove requested the charges be dropped without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled at a future date.” The Guardian: “the ‘without prejudice’ dismissal as a way to hold a sword of Damocles over Adams.”

So Trump hadn’t “trampled on the integrity of the legal system” for the fun of it. His problem was that abusing the pardon power would have been insufficiently corrupt, as completed pardons cannot be revoked. It would have been the carrot without the stick, and Trump wanted both.

I stand very well corrected. Thank you. More dissents are over on the pod page, arriving in your in-tray shortly. Please keep the criticism coming: dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Mental Health Break

No one has more fun conducting an orchestra than Weird Al:

In The ‘Stacks

• Konstantin Kisin, a strong supporter of Ukraine, thinks Zelensky flubbed the Oval meeting. Should he resign?
• Ruy Teixeira digs into the polling of Trump’s first six weeks.
• New data shows that Trump has caused “more economic uncertainty than the pandemic, than the 2008 financial crisis, or 9/11.”
• Noah Smith is on recession watch.
• Josh Barro addresses the question, “Why are interest rates falling?”
• Trump’s DOJ is coming for the immigration judges.
• “Making mice transgender” is actually partly true, says Ben Ryan.
• No, Jay Bhattacharya was not a “fringe” epidemiologist during Covid.
• Trump just quietly approved $10 billion worth of bombs for Israel.
• Luke Hallam explains why “Machiavelli would hate Trump.”
• How to defend conservatism in the reactionary age of MAGA? This is the way.
• A special election in NY-21 will be “an early electoral test of Trump’s presidency.”

The View From Your Window Contest

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“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle,” – Orwell