a period during which the normal functions of government or control are suspended
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums ) is a period of discontinuity or “gap” in a government, organization, or social order… Historically, the longer and heavier interregna were typically accompanied by widespread unrest,
a period when a country or organization does not have a leader.
I could go on, but these definitions capture what we went through. Trump’s four years were never a presidency. They were an existential void when the country lacked a president, or a leader, or social order, or normal functions.
When the history books are written - or ten minutes from now, whichever comes first - they need to emphasize that the past four years contained nothing but widespread unrest inside the government and without. Just a sucking vortex of negativity that removed all competence, well-being, compassion, foresight, co-operation, long-term thinking, and decency from the public sphere.
Sure, it’ll seem odd to future high schoolers that we went from the 44th to the 46th president, but the true problem is that they’ll read the textbook and consider it poorly written fiction. “That can’t be true” will ring out from class after class down through the generations.
Back to normalcy. Backs to norms. Back to truth. Back to decency. We missed ya.
We have a series of crises probably too long to fit into this box. But the difference is that somebody will be taking them seriously and not deliberately making them worse. That’s the type of difference that changes everything.
“Deliberately” being the operative keyword there. And it’s an important one, but I can only hope that this administration, and Congress, put more thought and less politics in their proposals and legislation than they usually do*. If we can stay out of wars, close some tax loopholes, improve trade, get the economy moving again, and don’t do anything too awfully stupid, there is definitely hope. And that is certainly better than the years of despair we have gone through.
*The “they” I am mostly referring to is Democrats, who are the only hope for there to be hope, but they do sometimes get into the worst muddles trying to do it. This is, of course, a new administration so it has no “usual” to refer to. I hope it can withstand the great winds that will be blowing at it from all quarters, and keep a steady, thoughtful course.
Interregnum may be a bit off… more like waking fever dream. I mean, if you were to have grabbed me in say… 2012 and told me that a President did 1/4 of the things Trump did, I’d have figured he would have been impeached and burned at the stake out in front of the Capitol.
Apparently not though. I think that it’s such a divergence from the historical role of a President that it’ll be its own uniquely weird and terrible chapter in US history. Worse than Nixon, Harding, Buchanan, etc… They weren’t good Presidents, but they were at least Presidential. You can’t say either for Trump.
If Trump’s time as president was an “interregnum,” you shouldn’t be so quick to celebrate. One thing that you see in other interregna such as the English Commonwealth and Napoleonic France is that you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. The “restoration” following the interregnum may restore the manner and form of the previous ruling structure, but the forces that caused and were amplified by the old regime’s overthrow continue to propagate. The restored regime is never what it was before, for good or ill. And it often doesn’t last all that long – in both the English and French cases, the restored regimes were swept away by subsequent revolutions.
We’re going to be living with the consequences of what Trump unleashed for a long time, and we’re very likely in for a sustained period of foreign and domestic political instability.
I agree with interregnum but the text books probably won’t buy it. So, how can Trump be covered by text books? Will they simply list his “accomplishments” like the right wingers do?:
Donald Trump, in spite of media harassment, passed sweeping tax legislation, appointed 3 Supreme Court Justices and removed restrictive rules from our energy industry.
(Not bad for a tossed-off aphorism, I’d say. Even so, you’re right, but only because all times are “a sustained period of foreign and domestic political instability.” If you don’t think so, you’re not remembering history.)
Donald Trump was President of the United States for four years. He was an historically, epically bad President, and left the country significantly worse off than he found it, but he was President, with all the lawful powers of his predecessors and successor. I don’t think it was an interregnum.
I agree. An interregnum implies that Trump was running the country under some other political system and that we’ve eliminated that false system and restored the correct one.
This unfortunately is not true. Trump’s presidency may be over. But the political system that made Trump president is still functioning and is making plans for putting a new Trump in power.
Look at the coup that overthrew Gorbachev from Aug. 19 to 21, 1991, lasting only three days. Gorbachev returned and tried to re-establish the status quo ante, but the Soviet Union rapidly imploded and vanished by the end of December.