It Only Took One

One whistleblower changed the whole Trump era. But it could have been anyone.

The problem with a truth that everybody knows is that no one has a reason to act on it.

Like a rental car or the floor of a movie theater, no one feels responsible. It belongs to all of us, so no one does anything.

Donald Trump’s corruption has been in plain view since the day he was sworn in as president of the United States. (Actually, it has been in plain view for far longer: it’s only mattered since January 20, 2017.)

The problem with the allegations contained in the whistleblower complaint is not that they seem farfetched. It is that they sound so familiar. The transcript of Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian president sounds exactly like him: the same transactional worldview build on the solid foundation of his own self-interest; the same childish inability to see value in anything that does not serve him; the same thin-skinned obsession with his enemies and winning at any cost. The whistleblower complaint is vintage Donald Trump. And, we all know it.

The Donald Trump we meet in the whistleblower complaint is the same person we recognize in the gutter-level grifting that sends foreign leaders to Trump hotels and brings the president and a huge entourage to Trump properties where the taxpayers pay him rent.

The Donald Trump we meet in the whistleblower complaint is the same person we recognize in the tough-guy mafioso imitation we saw in the Bill O’Reilly interview where Trump said our country is “not so innocent” and “We’ve got a lot of killers,” just like Russia.

The Donald Trump we meet in the whistleblower complaint is the same person we recognize in the way Trump mocked concern for the integrity of our elections in his shameful Helsinki meeting with Vladimir Putin.

All of this has been in plain view from day one. We all know it. We all recognize it.

And, here is the important part for Republicans and the rest of us: just one anonymous, public-spirited, conscientious public servant changed the whole picture. All it took was one person.

It could have been one person at any point. The hero might have been Mitch McConnell, or Lindsey Graham or Charles Grassley. It only would have taken one of them. Yet, not one had the courage. And, this is how history will remember them.

To care for our republic means sacrifice. All of us are responsible. As much as cleaning our litter out of a rental car or a movie theater, we all are responsible to take the time and show the concern to do something when we can. Some of us will be called on to do more.

But it only takes one person. That answer, like Trump’s corruption, has been in front of us all along.