Mistrust of Trump threatens political corrosion and rule of law

Donald Trump's unorthodox campaign and unexpected victory have produced a culture of mistrust permeating our politics and threatening to undermine the rule of law. That's not healthy, whatever you think of Trump or his political opponents.

The partisan mistrust is evident in Senate Democrats' filibuster of the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch which, at this writing, seems sure to result in an end to such filibusters, to at least the short-term detriment of the Democratic party. Apparently, pressure from the party's base that has pushed reluctant senators into this self-defeating course.

Mistrust is also apparent in the decisions of federal judges overturning Trump's travel ban executive orders. In two cases judges made it clear that they would uphold similar orders issued by any other president, but not by one who had called, at one point in his campaign for a "Muslim ban," even though he withdrew that proposal in favor of "extreme vetting" months before his election. This despite the fact that neither the Constitution nor laws passed by Congress confers rights on foreigners not in the United States against religious discrimination.

Policy arguments can be made against a Muslim ban and against Trump's much more limited executive orders. The first is probably impossible to enforce and may increase resentment of the United States among the world's billion-plus Muslims. But ordinarily, judges don't determine policy and treat litigants impartially. It's called the rule of law.

Then there's the belief of many Democrats, persistent despite a lack of any hard evidence, that Trump and his campaign colluded with Vladimir Putin's Russia and "hacked the campaign." The implication is that a Trump-Putin conspiracy stole the election and that Trump is not a legitimate president. Some leftist bloggers and Democratic voters believe this will soon lead to Trump's impeachment and removal and, somehow, the installation of Hillary Clinton.