Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

English nursery rhyme

“Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire.”

Melvin Douglas as Homer Bannon in “Hud”

America has had a lot of presidents during its 250-year history, 45 different men to be exact. Some of them were great statesmen—Washington, Lincoln, the Roosevelts to name a few. Some were something less than that. We had an alleged, would be despot, John Adams: a reputed drunk, Andrew Johnson; and an unindicted co-conspirator in an obstruction of justice scheme, Richard Nixon. Almost all of our presidents, however, conducted themselves with dignity, avoided profane language in public and paid lip service at the very least to the Constitution.

Donald Trump marches to a different drummer. He is profane in private and in public. He has enriched himself further by using his office to make money for himself and his family. He changes his mind from one day to the next, abruptly reversing policies he’s announced, most recently saying the United States would be the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz for a 20 percent fee from every ship passing through before saying “never mind” a day later.

Trump’s speeches are a rambling discourse that often leaves the stated purpose of the address behind as he pats himself on the back. He has no problem denigrating his enemies—which is how he describes his opponents—calling them “scum,” “vermin,” “enemies of the people” and some names he makes up, e.g. “Dumbocrats” for Democrats.

He plasters his name and his image all over the Nation’s Capital, on passports and soon, apparently, his visage will appear on a new one-dollar coin—which is illegal, by the way.

We have become accustomed, in short, to Donald Trump’s path breaking strides to new norms for the presidency. No stuffiness for him. No niceties of protocol restrain him. He damn well does what he likes. He treats the White House like his private property. He makes “improvements” without congressional authorization, avoiding required regulatory reviews. Does he want a new airplane for himself, one that he can keep when he leaves office, even though the gift from Qatar violates the Constitution? Why not? He imposes tariffs without authority to do so. He initiates wars without congressional approval.

We know all of that. The question is, what happens when he leaves office? We have suffered lower standards from this President. Will his successors take advantage of our tolerance and duplicate his excesses, or will they revert to former presidents in their demeanor?

The answer isn’t clear.  If Trump fills out his term, he will have dominated American politics for 13 years. A whole generation of voters will have come of age with Trump dominating the news on almost a daily basis for more than a decade. In their minds, he, unfortunately, is the example and definition of what a President is.

Trump isn’t the only problem. People are being murdered, incarcerated, detained and deported by apparently inadequately trained, unrestrained agents of the federal government, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is being detailed to serve the political schemes of the current administration. In fact, much of the executive branch of the federal government has been mobilized to pursue nefarious activities. Once the genie is out of the bottle, how do we get it back in?

Ordinarily I’m loath to be an alarmist, but we’re way past the tut tut stage of worrying. With Trump in office we’ve witnessed a disheartening, disappointing and disillusioning display of cowardice, moral blindness and silence by senators and members of Congress as well as cabinet members. The courts have tried valiantly but this Supreme Court, so vigilant when a Democrat occupies the White House, seems intent on aiding and abetting the current occupant.

Nor is it simply a matter of electing a new President. Realistically, a whole new constellation of right-wing and white nationalist media, organizations and various malefactors is now active. They are in touch with the public and, more ominously, with each other thanks to the Internet. They are not going away. They will stick around, in support of a regime they favor, or opposing one they do not. Will they play by the rules of a liberal democracy and a law-abiding society? Or will they take a cue from January 6 when things don’t meet their desires?

All of this—Trump and the collection of supporters, gangs, malcontents and bad actors he’s inspired—may be a blessing in disguise, or a silver lining to mix a metaphor. They are a warning and a reminder that our democracy is a fragile flower that needs to be tended. We can’t leave it to others to care for it. We must be involved ourselves, one way or another. In a mass society we may tend to think of ourselves as irrelevant, and, if we choose to ignore our personal responsibility to the common welfare, we are. As individuals we may be insignificant; as a multitude we have tremendous power. We are our own salvation.

E Pluribus Unum.