“Trump spent a lifetime learning that the rules didn’t apply to him, which may have been why back in 2015 the idea that he could become president didn’t sound as crazy to him as it did to everyone else. Then he proceeded to teach us all how weak the safeguards against a corrupt demagogue becoming president really are. His party couldn’t stop him from winning its nomination, the media let his history of corruption slide while vivisecting his opponent for ludicrously trivial misdeeds, some timely intervention from the FBI director gave him a last-minute boost, and the electoral system allowed him to triumph despite winning the votes of 3 million fewer Americans than his opponent. And now, Trump’s last line of defense (apart from his willingness to use the powers of his office to protect himself) is the Republican Congress, an uncommonly craven collection of politicians. Fortified by a conservative media raising an increasingly urgent drumbeat of demands to hold fast, they will stand by Trump’s side because abandoning him poses the greater risk of backlash from their constituents, no matter what he is revealed to have done. So long as there are enough of them in office, Trump will be safe.”
— When it’s all over, we’ll ask, “Did the system work?” I think we already know the answer.