Salvation?

Kathleen Parker is -- like her colleague George F. Will -- a conservative columnist who writes for The Washington Post. Neither are fans of Donald Trump. Parker claims that Trump illustrates the law of unintended consequences. He is uniting the country -- against him:

He has brought Republicans and Democrats together as only just wars can. He’s brought women, scientists, minorities, teachers, journalists, professors — and no, they’re not all liberal — out of their favorite laptop seats and moved them to march, protest and, most important, run for public office.

The pink-capped Women’s March is familiar to all but the dead. On Earth Day in April, scientists around the world staged rallies to protest Trump’s apparent lack of interest in research-backed facts.

A few prominent conservatives — Post columnists George F. Will and Joe Scarborough among them — have left the GOP, while Democrats have offered to take drastic action.

But, more than that, he is inspiring others to run for public office. Some of them are odd ducks. But Parker finds the renewed sense of civic engagement encouraging:

Other gifts from the president include an increased national interest in politics, civic participation and electoral office. Trump’s name seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, even among those who have never expressed any interest in politics.

Meanwhile, countless Republicans and Democrats and independents, the nonpolitical, as well as scientists, teachers and, sure, a freshly emboldened outlier class (Jay-Z?), are considering running for public office, a goal previously not on the radar.

A newly formed political action committee — 314 Action — is urging scientists to “Get Elected” and offers help with funding and logistics. Hundreds have signed up. Similarly, Silicon Valley tech magnate Sam Altman — president of Y Combinator, which invests in start-ups such as Dropbox and Airbnb — is offering to fund good candidates for statewide office to create “prosperity through technology, economic fairness and maintaining personal liberty.”

Nationally, a centrist movement is gaining traction under the self-explaining name of No Labels, which may yet prove to be a counterforce in the zero-sum sport of current politics. The group organized in 2010 and is co-chaired by former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, a Republican, and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman, a Democrat (later independent). 

It would be more than a little ironic if Trump was the president who inspired Americans to save their country by saving themselves from him.

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