John M. Crisp: What will it take to repair the damage?

John M. Crisp, Tribune News Service on Dec 23, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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For a president who is stingy with the Epstein files and refuses to release the video of the extrajudicial executions (probably) of a couple of shipwrecked Venezuelan mariners/criminals (maybe), Donald Trump has had a very transparent week.

How much more do we need to know about a person than was revealed by Trump’s erroneous and tasteless Truth Social post suggesting that the murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were somehow the result of "Trump Derangement Syndrome"?

Trump’s defenders will say that it’s just Trump being Trump. But that’s the problem.

Trump’s transparency reveals his character, which, to some extent at least, reveals our national character, as well, since we’ve elected him twice to be our leader.

But how much does character matter? Hold that thought; we’ll come back to it.

When Trump leaves the presidency quietly (one hopes) in three years, the office that he bequeaths will bear his persistent stamp. If his successor, whether Republican or Democrat, wants to undo — or repair — some of what Trump has done to the presidency, what will it take?

Consider a couple of comparatively trivial matters: Last week Trump unveiled the Presidential Walk of Fame, an array of portraits of all our presidents, except for Joe Biden, who is depicted by a photo of an autopen.

Trump has installed plaques beneath the portraits that reflect the partisan criticisms of Democratic presidents that are a staple of his MAGA rallies. His characterizations are often inaccurate or, at least, arguable, and they tend toward self-aggrandizement. Even the plaque praising Ronald Reagan devotes a few words to noting what a “fan” Reagan was of Donald J. Trump.

Some future president might think that calling Barack Obama “one of the most divisive political figures in American history” and calling Joe Biden “by far, the worst President in American History” is just unseemly partisan petulance.

But at the least, whoever succeeds Trump — Democrat or Republican — has a responsibility to correct Trump’s assertion that Biden was elected “as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen.” It’s not just that this reflects poorly on Biden; it demeans our entire republic at a time when democracy is threatened worldwide.

Trump’s lie about the 2020 election is standard fare at his rallies, but a future president should remove the public assertion in the White House of a demonstrably false and damaging statement about the integrity of our nation’s elections.

Fortunately, plaques are easy to remove. You just have to repair and paint the Sheetrock.

But what did it cost to install the 18 four-foot-tall letters required to attach Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as he did last week? And what will it cost to remove them? The Kennedy family is understandably furious. The renaming is tasteless and likely illegal, but it will probably stand until some future president or Congress steps up.

Still, these examples are easy to fix. In fact, J.F.K.’s niece, Kerry Kennedy, has vowed that she herself will remove Trump’s name from the center with a pickax, if necessary.

Other things will be harder to repair: Will future presidents be willing to cede back to the legislative branch powers assigned by the Constitution, such as the power to impose tariffs and spend and make war? Will the Department of Justice ever regain its independence from the presidency? How long will it take to repair our standing with Europe, a traditional ally that mostly shares our values but whom, unfortunately, we’ve sidelined and alienated.

Which brings us back to character. Our United States has had presidents who were slaveholders, Indian killers, fornicators, drunkards, adulterers and liars. But, until Trump, I’m not sure we’ve ever had a president capable of the mean-spirited pettiness reflected in his Truth Social post about the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Reiner.

Well, Richard Nixon, maybe. But Nixon had the self-discipline and political savvy to commit his malicious acts mostly in private.

Trump’s transparency reveals a lot about whom we’ll accept as president. And this may be the most difficult thing of all to repair.

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