Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum believes that the United States of America has irreparably changed in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump's 2024 election triumph.
Writing in The Atlantic, Frum argued that the United States will become "a different kind of country" in the wake of Trump's victory, as "millions of our fellow citizens voted for a president who knowingly promotes hatred and division; who lies -- blatantly, shamelessly -- every time he appears in public; who plotted to overturn an election in 2020 and, had he not won, was planning to try again in 2024."
As if that weren't dark enough, Frum writes that "we must learn to live in an America where an overwhelming number of our fellow citizens have chosen a president who holds the most fundamental values and traditions of our democracy, our Constitution, even our military in contempt."
ALSO READ: Joe Biden blamed for Donald Trump's re-election win
Frum then turns to Trump's plans to gut the American civil service and replace its members with hardcore loyalists who will follow orders no matter how outlandish or overtly illegal.
The former GOP insider also warns that Trump could more shamelessly use the United States government to enrich himself than he did in his first term.
"Autocratic populists around the world—in Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela—have assaulted institutions designed to provide accountability and transparency in order to shift money and influence to their friends and families, and this may happen in America too," he writes. "This is not just a theoretical threat. As loyalists take over regulatory agencies, filling not only political but also former civil-service jobs, American skies will become more polluted, American food more dangerous. As a result of this massive shift in the country’s bureaucratic culture, Trump-connected companies will prosper, even as America becomes less safe for consumers, for workers, for children, for all of us."