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| Trump does a victory dance in Iowa |
What did we learn from Donald Trump's overwhelming victory in last night's Iowa caucuses? I don't know about you, but I learned this: Charles Blow, of The New York Times (NYT), was right when he wrote a column last month under the headline "America’s Thirst for Authoritarianism."
Trump has made it clear that, if re-elected in 2024, he intends to act way outside the norms of American democracy -- as we spelled out in a September 2023 post under the title "Donald Trump's assertion that, as president, he could make up charges to prosecute political opponents runs contrary to 40-plus years of U.S. policy on justice." Did Trump resort to mushy language; were his words open to various interpretations? Nope, at a campaign rally in South Dakota, he was right up front about his intentions. From our post on the matter:
Trump stated that, if elected in 2024, he would have the capacity to prosecute his political opponents, even suggesting he could make up criminal charges against them. This is from a report at meidastouch.com on the event:
Trump mused about the possibility of indicting opponents even when they did nothing wrong, claiming that he would ask his attorney general to "indict him on income tax evasion" and that the Attorney General will just "figure it out."
This is from a report on the event at CNN:
Trump complained that he was the victim of “corrupt and blatant” victimization and “election interference.” He said the cases filed against him would “allow” him, if elected president, to call up his attorney general and demand an investigation into his political adversaries. “Indict my opponent, he’s doing well,” Trump said, implying that was exactly what Biden had done.
Ordering investigations of perceived enemies for nothing but pure retribution? Demanding that his attorney general bring bogus indictments that are so weak the actual charges are something they will "figure it out" later?
That is wildly contrary to any notion of democracy that has served America well for almost 250 years. In fact, it is authoritarianism. And last night's results in Iowa indicate large chunks of the American electorate want to toss democracy aside so they can live under a "wannabe dictator" named Donald Trump. Are there any alternative explanations, other than this: Quite a few Americans have developed a distaste for democracy and yearn to live at the whims of an autocrat. I can think of a few alternate explanations -- (1) Last night's brutal winter weather froze a few synapses in Iowa; (2) Many Iowans are too busy or too distracted to spend time understanding the issues, but they voted anyway; (3) Many Iowans have no idea what it would be like to live under an autocrat, but they don't have time to worry about it being a threat to democracy -- besides, they've got to shovel snow; (4) Many Iowans don't take Trump's words seriously, essentially thinking of him as a liar, and yet, they like the idea of supporting someone they consider a liar; (5) Many Iowans are tired of the peace, sanity, and competence that tends to come with democracy. So they figure, "Let's give a dictator a chance. What could go wrong?" (6) This one comes from a dark place: Many Iowans appreciate the fact Trump has made it cool to be racist again -- or to openly express what I call race-based fears -- just as Ronald Reagan did when he gave a campaign speech on states' rights (code language for "keep your thumb on the Black man -- and the Brown man, too, while you're at it.) in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Sad to say, but No. 6 gets my vote for the real reason Trump is so popular in Iowa and beyond. After all, we have four years of evidence that Trump is a terrible president (see here and here), wildly unfit -- intellectually and temperamentally -- for the most demanding job in the world. People really want to relive Trump's first term -- when his inattention and negligence allowed a relatively minor coronavirus outbreak, which U.S. scientists knew was likely to come, specifically in China, and previous administrations had developed a playbook for dealing with such an event - but Trump apparently ignored it, allowing a viral outbreak to turn into a global COVID pandemic, producing 1.2 million deaths in the U.S., with 16 million to 28.2 million worldwide? Americans really enjoy the thought of seeing refrigerated trucks used to store dead bodies?
If Americans really give it some thought, I don't think they want to go back to the horrors of Trump's first term. Rather, I suspect Trump brings out something visceral in many Americans -- just as Reagan did in 1980 -- and it probably does not speak well for Trump or his followers.
By using the term "America’s Thirst for Authoritarianism," Charles Blow seemed to be warning that some Americans were willing to head down a dangerous path. Blow writes:
Around the world, authoritarianism is ascendant and democracy is in decline.
A 2022 report from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance found that “over the past six years, the number of countries moving toward authoritarianism is more than double the number moving toward democracy” and that nearly half of the 173 countries assessed were “experiencing declines” in at least one metric of democracy.
The United States wasn’t impervious to this trend. The report found that America was “moderately backsliding” on its democracy.
But I fear that we’re now on the precipice of fully turning away from democracy and toward a full embrace of authoritarianism. The country seems thirsty for it; many Americans appear to be inviting it. (last night's results from Iowa suggest Blow is right on target.)
Confidence in many of our major institutions — including schools, big business, the news media — is at or near its lowest point in the past half-century, in part because of the Donald Trump-led right-wing project to depress it. Indeed, according to a July Gallup report, Republicans’ confidence in 10 of the 16 institutions measured was lower than Democrats’. Three institutions in which Republicans’ confidence exceeded Democrats’ were the Supreme Court, organized religion, and the police.
And as people lose faith in these institutions — many being central to maintaining the social contract that democracies offer — they can lose faith in democracy itself. People then lose their fear of a candidate like Trump — who tried to overturn the previous presidential election and recently said that if he’s elected next time, he won’t be a dictator, “except for Day 1” — when they believe democracy is already broken.
Blow sees signs that some Americans just want to try something different, whether it is an improvement on our current system or not. Has democracy been such a success that many Americans are bored with it? Are such "adults" just overgrown adolescents? If it's boredom they want to avoid, maybe Trump should be their logical choice. After all, a second Trump term might be a lot of things, but boring is not one of them. Writes Blow:
In fact, some welcome the prospect of breaking it completely and starting anew with something different, possibly a version of our political system from a time when it was less democratic — before we expanded the pool of participants.
In Tim Alberta’s new book, The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory,he explains that many evangelical Christians have developed, in the words of the rightist Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress, an “under siege” mentality that has allowed them to embrace Trump, whose decadent curriculum vitae runs counter to many of their stated values. It allows them to employ Trump as muscle in their battle against a changing America.
This kind of thinking gives license — or turns a blind eye — to Trump’s authoritarian impulses.
And while these authoritarian inklings may be more visible on the political right, they can also sneak in on the left.
Where does Joe Biden fit in this picture? Blow takes a look at that question:
You could also argue that President Biden, whose approval numbers are languishing, is being punished by some because he isn’t an authoritarian and therefore isn’t able to govern by fiat: Many of his initiatives — voter protections, police reform, student-loan forgiveness — were blocked by conservatives. Could he have fought harder in some of these cases? I believe so. But in the end, legislation is the province of Congress; presidents are bound by constitutional constraints.
Blow suspects many of our citizens are looking for a simple answer:
Trump surely appeals to those who want a president who’ll simply bulldoze through that bureaucracy, or at least expresses contempt for it and is willing to threaten it.
Furthermore, Trump’s chances will probably be helped by the portion of the electorate misjudging the very utility of voting. There are still too many citizens who think of a vote, particularly for president, as something to throw to a person they like rather than being cast for the candidate and party more likely to advance the policies they need.
And there are too many who think that a vote should be withheld from a more preferable candidate as punishment for not delivering every single thing on their wish lists — that choosing not to vote at all is a sensible act of political protest rather than a relinquishing of control to others. Abstinence doesn’t empower; it neuters.
Blow seems to be describing a rudderless, almost infantile society, like a concert-goer who can't decide what kind of music he really likes. "Should I try hard rock, gospel, folk, classical? I'm so confused!)
Blow is not one to dish out easy answers, but he seems to think we are a nation in trouble -- and the Iowa vote totals last night suggest he is right:
If you want a democracy to thrive, the idea that voting is a choice is itself an illusion. Voting is about survival, and survival isn’t a choice. It’s an imperative. It’s an instinct.
It’s a tool one uses for self-advancement and self-preservation. It’s an instrument you use to decrease chances of harm and increase chances of betterment. It is naïve to use it solely to cosign an individual’s character; not to say that character doesn’t count — it does — but rather that its primacy is a fallacy.
Voting isn’t just an expression of your worldview but also a manifestation of your insistence on safety and security.
And to top it off, as Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California told me recently, the Obama coalition that Biden will rely on in 2024 is “under a lot of stress” with the issue of the Israel-Hamas war, and that coalition can be mended by “a foreign policy that is rooted in the recognition of human rights,” which includes “taking seriously the calls for a neutral cease-fire and the end to violence.”
Biden has warned that Israel risks losing international support because of “indiscriminate bombing,” but he has yet to endorse a cease-fire.
With Republicans becoming authoritarian, and without an intact Obama coalition to thwart it, our democracy hangs by a thread.
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