What Course Will History Take?

Trump assumed office with only a dim understanding of, and no respect for, our federal system and system of checks and balances. Belatedly he has learned how dangerous it was for him to become president. His hope now is that masses of dogged followers, media allies, corrupt cabinet members, a fawning vice-president, authoritarian-minded judges, and unprincipled Republican members of Congress will protect him from eventual prosecution, universal contempt and disgrace, a prospect that looks increasingly unlikely, but not certain, to be the course history takes.