David Frum was once 'Trump-curious' but now says his presidency is like America's gum disease

Tuesday January 23, 2018
David Frum was once 'Trump-curious' but now says his presidency is like America's gum disease


Donald Trump's presidency is corroding American democracy like "gum disease," according to a former speechwriter for George W. Bush.

"With Donald Trump, it's not a sudden seizure, not a heart attack, it's gum disease," says David Frum, who is now a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine.

"You can die from gum disease, but you don't die right away. Your body just corrodes and it begins to emit toxins, and the toxins get into the bloodstream and those toxins eventually affect the heart and you can die."

In a wide-ranging conversation, Frum tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti that he believes U.S. democracy is being slowly undermined, and that those installed to keep Trump's power in check have become his greatest enablers.

In his new book, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic, Frum writes that "the thing to fear from the Trump presidency is not the bold overthrow of the Constitution, but the stealthy paralysis of governance. Not the defiance of law, but an accumulating subversion of norms. Not the deployment of state power to intimidate dissidents, but the incitement of private violence to radicalize supporters."


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http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-january-23-2018-1.4498738/david-frum-was-once-trump-curious-but-now-says-his-presidency-is-like-america-s-gum-disease-1.4498767