During his political career, Trump has given comfort to and conferred logistical coherence upon a coalition that will not die without him—but also will not thrive. The United States is a divided nation, but only a tiny fraction of Trump’s more than 74 million voters showed up in Washington, D.C., eager to fight. The way to unite this country is to isolate acts of violence—and a leader who incites it—from legitimate expression. Trump was a north star for a certain kind of radical. Americans will be safer the more that star loses its shine.
Juliette Kayyem, former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security
The bubble of delusion that Trump supporters inhabit has to be burst, and it starts with a strong dose of reality therapy. That means throwing people in jail--including Trump. There will always be a hardcore of nutcases who will see him as a martyr, but most Trump supporters are not that far gone. They are in a trance, and they need to be snapped out of it. A guy like Kevin Haag, whom I wrote about yesterday, is capable of living outside the bubble.
If Trump has to face real trials, with real judges and prosecutors, not political theater like impeachment proceedings, it will become clearer to many if not most Trump supporters what a criminal fraud he is. His most recent crime in inciting the riot last week is dramatic and helpful insofar as it has lowered his approval ratings to the low thirties, but I suspect it will be shown to be among the least of his crimes.
Once he's gone, it remains to be seen if there is anyone who has his peculiar charism to keep the collective insanity alive to the extent that it lives now through him.
The entire establishment--including business and the media--has to go after Trump and his enablers with everything they have. This will drive the hardcore militants underground, and that's where they belong. It's then a matter for law enforcement and counterrorism units to deal with them, not politicians in our capitols.
This is the moment to act. I don't care much one way or the other about the impeachment--we're way past needing symbolic but ineffective gestures at this point--but I hope law enforcement comes after him as they went after all his cronies as soon as possible. It would be fitting, if unlikely, if they were waiting for him noon next Wednesday as he walks out of the White House.