David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, is issuing a dire warning about the state of American democracy should President Donald Trump win a second term.
Writing in The Atlantic, Frum argues bluntly that America "wouldn't survive" a second Trump term, even as the country is limping to the finish of his first term.
In fact, Frum believes that Trump has already proven that an American president can get away with discarding guardrails in place to keep him in check without suffering significant political consequences.
"Through the Trump years, institutions have failed again and again to check corruption, abuse of power, and even pro-Trump violence," he writes. "As we near the 2020 vote, the Trump administration is attempting to cripple the Postal Service to alter the election's outcome. The president has successfully refused to comply with subpoenas from congressional committees chaired by members of the opposing party. He has ignored ethics guidelines, junked rules on security clearances."
Frum then documents how Trump has shamelessly abused his pardoning powers to save political allies from serving jail time, how he has abused government resources to personally enrich himself, and has even incited political violence without facing any pushback from Congress or the Supreme Court.
"The man the Founders dreaded entered the high office they created — and proceeded to abuse that office in just the ways they feared," Frum warns. "Now that man is seeking a second term, which would be even more abusive and dangerous."
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