How the Ship Sinks

Patriotism Is the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

Ships sink in various ways. Back in the days of sail, a ship in a bad storm would occasionally dive straight into a large wave, instead of rising up over it, and never be seen again. This is called foundering.

I don't think this is the way the Good Ship Donnie Trump is going to go down - cleanly, neatly, quietly, and quickly.

Let's have a look at a modern ship, the cruiser Moskva, quondam flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. In April 2022 the Ukrainians hit it with two anti-ship missiles. After the usual denials, evasions, and fabrications, it transpired that the missile attack had seriously damaged the ship; the situation was complicated by stormy weather, but the Russian navy reported that it was able to take the disabled ship under tow and begin to move it to port. The Russians later reported that Moskva had sunk while under tow, and they blamed the weather.

It further transpired that the ship had never turned on its air defense systems, which were, at least on paper, formidable.

The Moskva incident strikes me as a good analog for Trump and his degringolade. There's the subtext of incompetent management of a large, expensive, and presumably well-armed vessel. And there's the story of a guy who never saw the counter-attack coming. I could go on, but that's enough.

Trump is a demagogue, of course, and not a Russian warship. Over the years, there have been a lot of demagogues. My favorite is Lewis Levin, the first Jewish Congressman. Toward the end, he actually went crazy, and had to be committed to a hospital. 

So what can we expect from Trump as the walls close in around him? Surely he will clasp the flag to his voluminous breast with ever-increasing fervor. I don't think he'll turn to religion, despite the large percentage of his followers who are devout Christians. No, I don't think The Donald will be comparing himself to Jesus.

Of course, I could be wrong.

But, as the pressure builds, so surely will the stridency, along with the pitiful spelling, random punctuation and capitalization, unmoored grammar, and borderline coherence. What was that about covfefe, anyway?

One of the many things he did not learn at school was how to write.

I don't expect Trump to be taken away in a straightjacket, but I do expect increased stridency, increasingly erratic behavior, and an increasing distance from a reality that he finds unpleasant. And from time to time, he may well holler, "Where's my Roy Cohn?"

One thing is certain: He will not go quietly. But at this point I don't think he's in control of the volume dial on his megaphone. With any luck, other hands will dial him down. So he can make all the noise he wants, but who will hear him? If a tree falls in the forest ...

One final thought: Watch for lawyers quitting. They may not be getting paid, or they may have figured out that lawyering for Trump can cost you your law license.

See also What a Cold Civil War Feels Like, On Demagogues, A Home Invasion, Riley Williams Sentenced to Three Years.