Even prior to his first day in office, Donald Trump was labeled a threat to democracy, an absurd Orwellian claim that continued throughout his four years. What democracy threat? Were there no continuing elections--national, state, and local--during those years? Of course there were. And our democracy has two other branches of government—Congress and the judiciary. The House declared war on Trump almost from day one. But the alleged tyrant could not stop the endless investigations. Maxine Waters urged Americans to harass Trump people whenever they can—and they did. And while Trump was able to make important appointments, the judiciary ruled against the President innumerable times. So where was democracy being destroyed? The allegation had no reality, except in the minds of blood-seeking politicians and a vicious media.
Of course, there was some truth to the ‘democracy destruction’ claim. Our allegedly apolitical government bureaucracy, led by the FBI, became covert political activists. Somewhat akin to the Nazi Gestapo or Soviet secret police, one presidential candidate was spied on. The Comey-led FBI, with the likes of Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and others did all it could to undermine Trump. In June, 2020, Rod Rosenstein acknowledged that there were ‘missteps’ in the early days of the Russia investigation. Trump appointee Michael Flynn was clearly set up, and an incredulous Lindsey Graham responded to Andrew McCabe’s “I was not aware” statement with “You get a CIA… investigative lead memo, suggesting that the Democratic candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, is trying to divert attention from her email server problem by casting aspersions against the Trump campaign being connected to Russia, and you didn’t know about it? How is that possible?” Similarly, a former Treasury Department official was recently found guilty of leaking more than 50 financial documents of persons linked to President Trump in the Mueller investigation.
The media are also extremely important, the fourth estate, protected to keep truth alive and politicians in place. But it was nearly unified in a malicious, unrelenting anti-Trump campaign. On a comedy show Trump was shot; elsewhere a comedian cut his head off. The media really did want blood. Michael Beller, former Principal Counsel to PBS, privately opined that if Trump were re-elected he would go to the White House and throw Molotov cocktails, comparing Trump to Hitler, as so many on the Left have absurdly done. In a candid moment, Charlie Chester, a technical CNN Director, admitted that “Our focus was to get Trump out of office, right? Without saying it, that’s what it was.” He also admitted that CNN dished out ‘propaganda’. So much for honest reporting. So the facts are undeniably clear-- Trump had only marginal control over the Congress and the judiciary (appointments only), and none over the press, so where was the threat to democracy?
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Alas, today’s threat is terrifying. If, for example, the Russians had been able to block or silence some candidates in U.S. elections, there would have been an enormous uproar. Certainly that was the case with just an allegation of Russian interference when Trump won, yet when Facebook and Twitter banned the sitting U.S. president there was a deafening silence. One of the first things the Hitlers and Stalins of the world do is take over the media. Our media is already ‘taken over,’ aligned with the Biden presidency and a Democrat-dominated Congress. Further, American history is being re-written by the media and education establishments, taking yet another page from the fascists’ playbook. Where are the American checks and balances which our founders wisely embraced? Ah, but those founders, we now learn, were really not so great after all.
Contemporary America has witnessed crowds becoming rioters, law-breakers occupying Portland for months, BLM protesters raiding homes and stores near Milwaukee, but with scant media or Democratic notice. Only the January 6 riot, instantly labeled an insurrection (‘without basis,’ to use a favorite media phrase), ignited their ire. Whatever happened to equal justice?
We heard a lot from the new president about bringing our nation together. Biden could have easily done that, at least temporarily. Unfortunately, on inauguration day he missed his Lincoln moment, quoting the Emancipation Proclamation rather than Lincoln’s second inaugural address. He could have graciously mounted the podium ‘to bind up our nation’s wounds,’ also quoting Lincoln’s ‘with malice toward none and charity for all,’ “there is no need to further pursue Donald Trump. America, it is time to move on.” That would have both silenced and comforted the 73+ million Americans who voted for Trump. But it did not happen.
Free speech on college campuses withers as conservatives have had their speaking invitations cancelled or have been regularly “shouted down.” Democratic calls to defund the police amidst riots and rising crime are mystifying. And the coercive mechanisms of the federal authorities have already increased, endorsed by President Biden recently labelling “white supremacy” as our greatest domestic terror threat. Further, Trump-hatred is apparently still so strong that the State Department recently issued orders stating that the historic Abraham Accords will no longer be referenced by that name in any official documents or statements, replaced instead with ‘normalization agreements.’ Finally, the Democrats, who stymied Trump’s last stimulus efforts, are now so stimulus-intoxicated that even Larry Summers, economic advisor to two Democratic presidents, has said such spending is far more than is necessary. “Until debt us do part” is a likely label future generations will pin on this administration.
With nearly half of Americans polled in early 2021 believing our political system “works against the interests of conservatives,” American democracy appears to be undergoing a tragic metamorphosis.
Donald L. Losman, PhD, a college educator for 54 years, is retired from the George Washington University.
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