GOODBYE TO THE TRUMP YEARS: A WAKE-UP CALL FOR DEMOCRACY

We have learned from history that Fascists can reach high office via elections. When they do, the first step they attempt is to undermine the authority of competing power centers, including parliament or in America, Congress.

                                                         -Madeleine Albright (Fascism: A Warning p. 234)

We haven’t written enough about preserving American democracy. The January 6 occupation of the U.S. Capitol by a mob inspired by President Donald Trump brought home to us why we must write about that subject regularly, beginning now.

Some might think Trump’s imminent exit from the White House and installation of a new administration will assuage concerns about threats to democratic values and institutions. On the contrary, we think the end

of the Trump presidency presents a perfect opportunity for examining what happened the last four years and what Americans must do that will ensure democracy remains our form of government.

 

A Tortured Four Years

We think Trump has been wrong about environmental protection, voting rights, immigration, criminal justice, taxes, and many other policies. That’s not what we mean by a “tortured four years.” No, we refer to his assaults on democracy as a governing ideology.

His attack on democracy as our basic form of government constitutes the greatest sin of his time in office. He has put supporting evidence for that claim on constant display. 

                       

The January 6 insurrection, spurred by an incendiary speech in which he urged that thousands march on the capitol in support of his bogus voter fraud claims while Congress tabulated the Electoral College votes, stands as exhibit “A.” The resulting 

carnage, thanks largely to a massive security failure, left at least five people dead, the capitol building ransacked, and a huge black mark on American democracy and its standing in the world.  Comparisons to December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, as dark days in the nation’s history weren’t inappropriate. There’s lots more:      

·     The Phone Call. On January 2, Trump called

the Georgia Secretary of State asking that he “find” votes that would overturn President–elect Biden’s victory there. He asked that election officials “recalculate” the returns and give him the votes that would reverse the outcome in the Peach State. Search as many did for a benign explanation or interpretation of Trump’s words, none appeared. It was extortion of the kind more commonly associated with mob bosses and Mafia dons. First readings of federal and Georgia election statutes suggested he crossed the line into criminal misconduct; 

·     Misusing Congress. To avoid the peaceful transfer of power his defeat requires, Trump enticed Republican members of the House and Senate to challenge duly certified electors, leading to the January 6 riot. He challenged votes in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, overwhelmingly black cities, in a blatant attempt at marginalizing the black

vote standing  between him and his effort to turn America into an autocracy. This largely unprecedented action followed a string of over 50 defeats in lawsuits he brought aimed at throwing out votes or advancing unsupported voter fraud claims;

·     Misusing the pardon power. His granting of

pardons and commutations to cronies, family members, and business associates who have committed crimes against the United States demonstrates his contempt for democracy, democratic institutions, democratic norms, and the rule of law;

·     Attacking the judiciary. Trump’s initial assault on a federal judge of Mexican descent began an attempt to drive a wedge between Latinos and other Americans while diminishing respect for the judiciary;

·     Denigrating America’s world standing. By reducing our commitment to NATO,

Trump hoped he could free the United States from democratic norms NATO members must follow, thereby making easier alliances with autocrats;

·     Kowtowing to Vladimir Putin. Trump would not criticize Russian interference in the 2016 election and he took Putin’s side against the

findings of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in that election. When reports surfaced of Putin putting bounties on U.S. soldiers, Trump said nothing. When cyber experts uncovered a massive computer hacking almost certainly carried out by the Russians, Trump, without evidence, blamed it on China;

· Ukraine. Trump’s refusal to release appropriated funds for Ukraine’s defense

against Russian aggression unless the Ukrainians helped him dig up dirt on his domestic political opponents evidenced his autocratic preferences and disregard for the American constitution;

·     Personalizing the Justice Department. Trump’s conversion of the Attorney General from the people’s lawyer to his personal counsel flagrantly abused his power and undermined the rule of law; and

·     Misuse of the military. By ordering that U.S. troops clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park in Washington for his photo op, Trump demonstrated the true nature of his autocratic tendencies.   

 

Lessons

Listing Trump’s bad acts represents only a first step. We remain far from knowing all we should about his assault on democracy. As we learn more, we’ll say more about what happened and about what we should do.

We began with former State Secretary Madeline Albright’s observation abouthow fascists acquire power, even in democratic systems. We turn to her book again as we close:

When we awaken each morning, we see around the globe what appears to be Fascism’s early stirrings: the discrediting of mainstream politicians, the emergence of leaders who seek to divide rather than to unite, the pursuit of political victory at all costs, and the invocation of national greatness by people who seem to possess only a warped concept of what greatness means. (p. 118)

We think Secretary Albright’s warning is for us, as in U.S.  

NOT NAMING NAMES: AN IDEAL 2020 CANDIDATE

COUNTRY FIRST, PROGRESSIVE, SELFLESS CANDIDATES – ANY TAKERS? 

The 2020 Presidential campaign starts now. With the 2018 midterms over and Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives, one of the biggest political questions in the United States becomes who the Democrats should nominate for the mission of defeating President Donald Trump. The field will take shape in the weeks and months to come, with the better known candidate announcements likely around the first of January (one Congressman has already announced). We’ll start examining that field in time but, for now, we offer thoughts on what – not who—the Democratic candidate should look like.

The Musts

*Electability --- Adhering to the old adage about the impossibility of saving souls in an empty church, we recognize the 2020 Democratic candidate must (1) hold the states Hillary Clinton carried in 2016  (227 electoral votes) and (2) add the 46 electoral votes she didn’t get in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. That doesn’t require that the candidate hail from that region, but he or she should appeal to the area’s working class voters and mobilize turnout among other potential Democratic voters in those states as Clinton didn’t.

                          

*Issue Discipline --- The 2020 Democratic nominee will, unless lighting strikes, run against Trump and the loud, often irrelevant controversies he stirs up, aimed at distracting the media and the electorate from the nation’s serious problems. His bogus complaints about a dangerous caravan of migrants –

PhotCred: RisingupwithSomali.com

many of them women and children barefoot or in sandals and tennis shoes – threatening an “invasion” of our southern border served as just such a distraction during the 2018 midterms. Democratic candidates didn’t take the bait, keeping their focus on health care.  As a result, Democrats picked up at least 39 seats in the House and kept the net loss in the Senate to two seats, despite having to defend three times as many than Republicans. Democrats also picked up seven governorships, including three in the aforementioned critical states in the upper Midwest. 

Keeping the Democratic coalition in place – This relates to electability, but the ideas are not identical. If Democrats are to win elections going forward and not cede to Republicans control of large swaths of the state and federal governments, they must nurture and expand the coalition that succeeded in 2018. That coalition produced an eight percent voting preference for Democrats over Republicans. Don’t forget Hillary Clinton, unpopular and disliked as she was, got 2.8 million more votes than Trump in 2016. This coming together of people of color, young people, and progressive whites twice elected Barack Obama President. The party and its 2020 nominee, therefore,

must continue minority group outreach, find ways of encouraging participation by millennials, and attract increasing numbers of suburban white women who helped lead the charge in 2018.  We know what this looks like. Even in losing campaigns, Stacy Abrams in Georgia, Andrew Gillum in Florida, and Beto O’Rourke in Texas  showed the Democratic future lies not in running as mushy centrists afraid of “white backlash,” but as committed progressives espousing aggressive policies on health care, criminal justice reform, and inclusiveness of ethnic and marginalized groups, including women, Muslims, and LGBTQs. 

*Women’s rights --- Brett Kavanaugh ‘s elevation to the United States Supreme Court may signal the coming demise of Roe v. Wade, meaning the battle over women’s reproductive rights ramps up, not ends. Democrats must nominate a candidate clearly committed in his or her support for those rights, and one standing as an unabashed opponent of sexual harassment and sexual assault who doesn’t assume women reporting male sexual misbehavior “made it up.”

Things to Hope for

In addition to the above list of attributes and policies a Democrat running for President in 2020 must have, we see other elements of a desirable profile that would ice the cake. 

*Some Charisma --- Extraordinary personalities come along in politics only occasionally. Jack Kennedy’s eloquence, Bill Clinton’s interpersonal skills, and Barack Obama’s unique gifts of vision and inspiration don’t grow on trees. Still, a Democratic winner in 2020 should connect with Americans in ways other than ideological compatibility and policy preference. She or he must inspire us to feel good about ourselves, the country, and our future.

                

*A Sense of History --- The Democratic Party owns a proud tradition of supporting the middle class and helping the disaffected improve their lives. The 2020 nominee should understand that history and embrace its legacy. The

New Deal, the New Frontier, and the Great Society lifted many Americans into the bright sunshine of the American Dream. Even if some of the programs that undergirded those big ideas have fallen out of favor as programmatic approaches to problems, they are part of the country’s progressive past and their objectives, like ending poverty and improving educational opportunity, remain core values inherent in a just society. The 2020 challenge rests in adapting that legacy to today’s realities. In the final analysis, without the commitment to justice and equality that spawned those programs, what good is having the Presidency anyway? 

These are our thoughts.  Let us hear yours.