Eugene Robinson: ‘I’m More Worried Than I Have Ever Been About the Future of This Democracy’

EXCERPT:

ROBINSON: “We are deeply unfortunate to have the worst possible president at this moment, because he is not capable of that sort of empathy. He is not capable of feeling anyone else’s pain except his own. And so the result is the display we saw yesterday. So, you know, the 1807 Insurrection Act, well, if George H. W. Bush used it during the L.A. riots, and in the hands of George H.W. Bush, it was okay, it was okay because he understands the idea of America in a way that President Trump does not. So in the hands of Donald Trump, this is extremely dangerous. And I, like Jon Meacham, have always shied away from hyperbole about, you know, dictatorial rule and whether American democracy — always believed we’ll get past this, we’ll get over this, we are stronger and more resilient. But there are powerful tools in the hands of any president. Other presidents have not used them because they have known that it was beyond the pale to do so. Donald Trump doesn’t know that, doesn’t care about that. So I am more worried than I have ever been about the future of this democracy.”