An image for our times
The second Donald Trump regime is not even two months old, and it has its indelible image.
This image of Secretary of State Marco Rubio sinking into a couch as Trump and his henchman JD Vance mug Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenksyy is already a byword for moral cowardice.
The first Trump regime was awful. But there were enough guardrails so that the worst that could have happened did not. This second iteration is everything we feared the first time around and more. Trump learned one thing: choose people who are completely devoted to your cause. Don't hire anyone who will tell you "no".
Which leaves the question of a man like Rubio.
Of course, he already revealed himself to be craven and cowardly by his behavior during 2017-2021, after he had called Trump a danger during the 2016 Republican primaries. He joined most other Republicans in giving themselves over to thralldom to Trump and his fascist movement. And during Joe Biden's presidency, he, along with every other remaining "establishment" Republican, fought President Biden on behalf of Trump's interests for four years.
But even during that time, he was a reliable vote to support Ukraine after Russia's illegal invasion in February of 2022. As a right-wing Miami Cuban, he shares the community's disdain for Russia and its dictator Vladimir Putin.
And that all changed last Friday.
Last Friday, America's chief diplomat saw the final shreds of his self-respect sink into that couch. Much like his former colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham, he surrendered completely to his new role as nothing but a sycophant serving the court of the emperor. He had already been implementing Trump's withdrawal from the world of American "soft power". He is our modern Joachim von Ribbentrop, the nation's steward of its diplomatic role in name only. Everything will come out of the Oval Office; Rubio is only there to sign the paper.
"It can't happen here." That presupposes that Americans are made of some superior moral fiber that guards them against the easy blandishments of wealth and power. Circles which had more in common with European fascism had plotted to overthrow President Roosevelt in the 1930s; their intellectual heirs are now ensconced in the halls of power on the Potomac. Even Germany, laid waste by the Soviets and the Allies, is again faced with a fascist party growing in popularity. It was foolish to think that the United States, which didn't suffer the ruination of its cities, would somehow be more immune to the virus of fascism than Germany.
The long twilight struggle continues. It hasn't ceased since the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of the Fascist Party in Italy. Authoritarianism is the enemy. And right now, it has a foothold in the country which created the liberal world order to keep it at bay. But it was so concerned with authoritarianism on the left that it ignored or winked at authoritarianism on the right. The enemy of my enemy. And now we are paying the bill. We still don't know what the final price will be. But it won't be cheap.