The foiled pipe bomb attacks on high-profile Democrats and others critical of the Trump administration is an “attempted atrocity” that’s indicative of how “dangerous” the U.S. president is, said conservative political commentator David Frum.
Frum, who was born in Canada and spent many years writing for the National Post, spoke to a sellout crowd of 700 people at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal on Oct. 24, promoting his latest book, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic.
“The possibility of political violence (in the United States) is greater today than it has been since the 1960s, when certain political leaders used incitement as a tool,” he said.
Frum was unsparing in his disparagement of U.S. President Donald Trump and criticized the Republican Party’s lack of resolve to impose a check on him. Yet Frum remains as loyal to the GOP, as he has been since his college days.
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Frum disclosed in a 2016 article in The Atlantic, where he is a staff writer, that he voted for Hillary Clinton on the grounds that she seemed the least dangerous. He simply could not believe it was possible that Trump could win.
Frum thinks that Trump is exploiting weaknesses in society, the government and the constitution, to satisfy his ego-driven ends.
The recently reported news that Trump has been using an unsecured iPhone throughout his time in office and that Chinese spies have been listening in is just one more “jaw-dropping” confirmation of Trump’s unfitness for office, said Frum, who was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002.
It would be funny if it were not so consequential that the White House’s immediate reaction was that Trump “never reads defence intelligence reports,” so he couldn’t have revealed much in his calls, Frum added.
As for Russian interference in the 2016 election, Frum said Trump “knew what was going on and welcomed it. Did it have an impact? It must have. Did it decide the election? The answer should be no, but it is not.”
Frum is disturbed that Trump continues to operate a business on a global scale, which no one seems to know anything about, including what benefits accrue to countries where projects are located, or who his business partners are.
Frum said that while Jews may welcome Trump moving the embassy to Jerusalem, he wonders “at what cost,” given the president’s “unpredictability” and perhaps greater interests in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
On Iran, Frum said, unless there is a broad international coalition – including China and India, both of which buy its oil – sanctions will not hinder the regime’s military capability.
The possibility of political violence in the United States is greater today than it has been since the 1960s.
– David Frum
Despite all this, Frum reassured his Canadian audience that “the America we all admired is still there.” He believes that in 10 or 20 years, this period will be looked back upon as having brought fundamental issues that must be addressed into focus.
Trump has, unwittingly, bestowed “gifts” already, said Frum. For example, he has forced the “metropolitan elite” to pay attention to deep problems outside their privileged milieu, such as the drug addiction “epidemic.”
Americans are also becoming more civically engaged and are taking more of an interest in politics, including reading more journalism. “There are more negative comments and abuse, too, but it is exciting to see that people care,” said Frum.
Ironically, there is also more awareness that “kindness and decency” count in politics. “If you want a model for that, it is not what Trump does,” he added.
On the global level, the “selfishness and malice” of the current administration has shown how essential co-operation among democracies is, he said, both economically and in defending against cyberattacks.
Asked if anti-Semitism in political rhetoric is a concern, Frum replied that it is “not as blatant as in Europe,” but said that he worries when he sees George Soros, one of the targets of the bomb scare, depicted as “this shadowy Jewish billionaire puppeteer pulling strings, masterminding a conspiracy. We’ve seen that movie before and it doesn’t end well.”