It may not feel like it. But 2018 was a good year for the United States. It was the year the systems that were created to preserve our democracy and defend our leadership worldwide began to work to offset the unprecedented threat posed by the presidency of Donald Trump.
While we should not lose sight of the many dimensions of that threat--to our rule of law, to our global standing, to our values, to American democracy, to the neediest within our society, to our allies, to our neighbors, to the environment, to the institutions of the presidency--
there is reason for hope. While the president and his enablers in the GOP leadership have done severe damage to the country with tax breaks for the rich, regulatory cutbacks that will lead to the death of thousands and the loss of irreplaceable resources...
failure to address critical international threats, complicity with our enemies, corruption, racism, the violation of the human rights of immigrants, a war against health care in the United States, a constant litany of lies, and seemingly endless scandals, they are not winning.
They are stacking our courts and daily obstructing justice, they are attacking minorities and women, they are working hard with our enemies to undercut our influence and security globally and they are doing so having had full control of the US government.
But therein lies the source of our hope and the reason we should look back on 2018 with some initial satisfaction--even as we must reject complacency. Because Donald Trump and the criminal co-conspirators around him have had awesome power placed at their disposal.
They have sought to use it to serve themselves, to enrich themselves, to neutralize their enemies and to divide our society. But our system has shown the resilience that 242 years of history can bring, that the wisdom of our founders and the common sense of our voters can ensure.
Trump had every advantage--including foreign powers working to support him and entire television networks devoted to spinning his lies and twisting his crimes into bogus claims of achievement. And yet, in 2018, the voters of America said, we know better.
The voters of America delivered the greatest midterm defeat any president has suffered in modern times. They said no to one party domination. They shut down the complicity GOP leadership in the House and removed the likes of Ryan and Nunes and so many like them from power.
Meanwhile, Robert Mueller continued to conduct his investigation and to regularly demonstrate his relentlessness, his commitment to the best traditions of the US Department and system of justice. And he scored notable convictions and made material progress on his case.
So too did the Southern District of New York and multiple other jurisdictions make progress on the court cases to oppose Trump's abuses of the law and to hold him accountable for his alleged and demonstrable crimes.
From violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution to wrong-doing by his closest advisors or his charity, it has become clear that in the end our system will reassert the principle that no individual, no matter how powerful is above the law.
Overseas, while our allies reeled from our president's erratic and often offensive behavior, his lack of strategy and his predisposition to embrace authoritarian regimes, they also demonstrated that they would fight to maintain the international system with or without the U.S.
On trade, on the environment, on punishing murderers like MBS & the Saudi regime, on standing up to the Russians or the ethno-nationalist parties they support, Germany, France, the UK, our other European allies, Canada, Mexico & others have said, we will proceed w/ or w/o the US.
What is more, it is clear that thanks to the above, the New Year will bring progress in the House of Representatives and in courts across the US on the 17 investigations currently targeting the president, his organizations and those close to them.
It will be ushered in at a time when those once seen as close to the president including key members of his cabinet are standing up to him & calling him out and making it more difficult for all but the most unrepentantly corrupt GOP leaders to turn a blind eye to Trump's abuses.
The president is huddled in the White House fearful of all of this...and we should be glad of that. He is coming to realize the resilience and strength of our system. He is not there yet. He will fight and he will seek to obstruct and likely break the law again.
But in his behavior it is clear that he is rattled, that he know the tide is turning. He knows he is up against something far greater than him (although truth be told, virtually everything and everyone is greater than this very, very small, flawed man who is our president.)
We should not breathe a sight of relief or think that the hard work is done. But our system was tested in 2018 and in many instances it rose admirably to those tests. We will have to be vigilant to ensure that remains the case in 2019. But it could be that the year ahead...
...is the year that the most corrupt, incompetent & vile president in US history is undone. 2018 has shown that 2019 can be the year our system finally contains and ultimately brings to justice this bad bad man who has with aid of our enemies ascended to our highest office.
It can be...if we remain focused, if we support those who are on the right side of the law, if we as citizens recognize the role we must play in this, if we fight further abuses, if we demand the truth, if we are in the end who we are and who our system expects us to be.
Then we can look back at this period and celebrate it as the moment when confronted with one of the most pernicious and repulsive threats in our history, the people of the US and our allies rose up and said, no, not on our watch, not when the stakes are so high.
So, celebrate the past year as well as the hope of the year ahead tonight. We are at a turning point and as dark as the headlines of the past two years have been, there is reason for optimism and gratitude to those who are making a difference on our behalf.
