It is beginning to look more and more likely that the American people with their arcane election system are about to re-elect Donald Trump as their next president. To many of us that seems insane, but nonetheless it almost seems inevitable. (I hope I am wrong about this).

 We know that Trump supporters support him with religious devotion. Therefore, they dismiss out of hand insults from “libs” “woke’ or the “enemy.” Such critics are easy to dismiss. But what about people—good Republicans all—who worked with Trump. What do they say about Trump?  When you look it is amazing.  No president has left such a train of naysayers behind him.

Bob Woodward wrote a book called “Fear: Trump in the White House,” in which he detailed the astonishing chaos in the president’s immediate orbit. But even that is a drop in a bucket of slime flung at Trump by those who gave up on Trump after working with him.  These are people who really know Trump. The numbers of former Trump workers who have nothing good to say about him is literally staggering.

As Josh Dawsey in the Washington Post,

“No president has ever attracted more public detractors who were formerly in his inner circle…. Additionally, more than a dozen people once in his employ could end up taking the stand and providing testimony as part of multiple criminal trials, according to people with knowledge of the cases and court documents.

At the same time, even some who have publicly declared Trump unfit for office have said they would still support him over Biden in 2024.

So far, Trump has surged toward the GOP nomination even as former aides critical of him have blanketed the airwaves, giving scathing speeches, testifying on camera in front of congressional committees and penning books — shaking off the kinds of condemnations that could mortally wound another politician.”

 

That of course is the amazing thing about Trump—his loyal followers continue to follow him no matter what. I have characterized this as religious devotion and I think that is correct. Correct and scary. I shudder whenever political leaders, no matter who they are, attract theological reverence. I consider that deeply dangerous. But for now I want to consider the words of those who worked with him, knew him, and gave up on him. Later we must look at the devoted.