#Resistance #45 #Democracy #Politics

“If we get Strongman Trump or Infantile Trump, how would we protect our democratic institutions and norms? ‘Don’t be complacent,’ warns Timothy Naftali, a New York University historian who was the founding director of the Nixon presidential library. ‘Don’t assume the system is so strong that a bad president will be sent packing. We have someone now saying things that imply unconstitutional impulses. If he acts on those impulses, we’re going to be in the political struggle of our lifetimes.’ Meeting that challenge, I think, hinges on whether civil society can mobilize to contain and channel Trump. Fortunately, that’s happening already.”

He may well try to govern as an authoritarian. Whether he succeeds depends less on what he does than on how civil society responds.

Source: Containing Trump – The Atlantic