It Can Happen Here -- It Is Happening Here

Why, America's the only free nation on earth.  Besides!  Country's too big for a revolution.  No, no!  Couldn't happen here!  -- Sinclair Lewis

Whether or not you approve of President Biden, he is not going to destroy the pillars of democracy.  Say whatever you want about him, he is not a fascist.  Yes, it's a low bar, but this is why he must be re-elected.  Republican Party officials are through with democracy.  From voter suppression to gutting fundamental rights, they are all in on or (to give some the benefit of the doubt) are afraid to oppose a white, Christian, patriarchal society controlled from the top.  They keep telling us this.  But we continue to treat them as a legitimate political party merely with different policy goals.  This is how democracies die.  

This is why it is so dangerous to entertain third party candidates who (as we have seen before) can help Republicans win office.  This is why the mainstream media must eschew both reflexive bothsidesism and the compulsion to view Republican proposals through the prism of "the horserace" rather than report on their disastrous impact.  And, most importantly, this is why the Democratic Party needs to make clear to voters -- every day -- what kind of government the Republican Party envisions for this country.

The United States has been a stable democracy that has withstood a civil war, constitutional crises, and, most recently, an insurrection.  We take for granted that we will always be a democracy with three co-equal branches of government, even as we see the Supreme Court going rogue, the House being taken over by MAGA extremists, and Trump's first term (and attempted coup) not that far in the rearview mirror.  But what will happen if Trump (or some reasonable facsimile) wins in 2024?  We don't have to guess.

As Masha Gessen wrote in November 2016, "Trump is the first candidate in memory who ran not for president but for autocrat—and won."  In her remarkably prescient piece, "Autocracy: Rules for Survival," Gessen gave us a set of rules necessary to defend the laws, the institutions, and the ideals on which this country is based.  The first rule: "Believe the Autocrat."  As we are now all too familiar, Trump relentlessly spews ignorant and malevolent nonsense that one would not expect from any rational human being, much less the purported leader of the free world.  Gessen stressed back then that while it is human nature to assume he was exaggerating and to reach for a rationalization, it was critical to believe that he meant what he said.  We barely survived one term.  

And here we go again.  Trump and members of his Republican Party keep telling us what they plan to do if they seize control of the executive branch.  They publicly extoll as their model for electoral success and governance none other than Hungary's Victor Orban.  As Heather Cox Richardson describes it, Republicans have disavowed the fundamental tenets of democracy -- "equality before the law, free speech, academic freedom, a market-based economy, immigration," which they believe "weaken a nation by destroying a 'traditional' society based in patriarchy and Christianity."  Instead, they prefer Orban's "“illiberal” or “Christian” democracy, which uses the government to enforce their beliefs in a Christian, patriarchal order."  This is not a secret.

Then there's DeSantis, Trump's competition, who is experimenting with his own version of a mini-fascist state in Florida.  He recently announced the activation of a State Guard, purportedly to aid in disaster relief, but which is apparently being trained as a heavily militarized force.  And, as Cox Richardson reminds us, "DeSantis has pushed through laws that ban abortion after six weeks, before most people know they’re pregnant; banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity (the “Don’t Say Gay” law); prevented recognition of transgender individuals; made it easier to sentence someone to death; allowed people to carry guns without training or permits; banned colleges and businesses from conversations about race; exerted control over state universities; made it harder for his opponents to vote, and tried to punish Disney World for speaking out against the Don’t Say Gay law. After rounding up migrants and sending them to other states, DeSantis recently has called for using “deadly force” on migrants crossing unlawfully."  This is not a secret.

An explosive article in the New York Times this week (with a typically tepid headline: Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025) essentially describes Trump's plan to become dictator if he wins the next election (or is otherwise able to seize power).  It is beyond alarming.  It describes Trump's plan to “to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House."  Again, this is not a secret.  

The plan couldn't be more clear: (1) bring independent agencies (like the FTC and FCC) under direct presidential control; (2) revive the practice of “impounding” funds (i.e., refusing to spend money appropriated by Congress) -- which was banned after Nixon abused; (3) strip employment protections from tens of thousands of career civil servants, making it easier to replace them if they are deemed obstacles to the Trump agenda and remove officials from intelligence agencies, the State Department, and the defense bureaucracies who, according to Trump, "hate our country."  Russell T. Vought, who ran the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump White House says of the plan: "what we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.” 

Yes, it can happen here.