Trump Is Fueled by America’s Moral Cowardice

If Donald Trump has had a unique insight into American society, it’s almost certainly his recognition that moral cowardice is a contagion easily spread, and that many self-styled American tough guys, and many of our most important liberal institutions, share a cross-cultural timidity.

How did the home of the brave become the denizen of so many cowards? We’re only human, of course. But for every Liz Cheney icily staring down the barrel of MAGA death threats, there seem to be a couple dozen JD Vances sliding belly-first on a stream of pusillanimity. Newspaper owners capitulate in anticipation of future authoritarian whims. American CEOs duck discussion of democracy while their corporations fund the campaigns of insurrectionists. The Anti-Defamation League has quite the stand-up name. But the organization often sits out Trump’s various libels, slanders, lies and defamations.