4/16/21
As we continue to grapple with the fallout of the Trump era, a disturbing fact is becoming more and more clear, one whose effects are still being felt: Donald Trump’s presidency began and ended with two of the most profound attacks on American democracy in our history. There’s a straight line running from the 2016 Russia scandal through the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. And in both cases, almost the entire GOP decided to defend, justify and use those attacks for whatever advantage it could gain. Indeed, that through line runs from both of those right into the GOP campaign of voter suppression and cultural panic now underway. A bipartisan 2020 Senate report called Konstantin Kilimnik a “Russian intelligence officer,” and in 2016, Manafort passed Kilimnik internal campaign information, including polling data. That information would have helped form the Russian strategy to help Trump get elected. So far Republicans have been silent on this news. But when you clear your head, it boggles the mind. The man running the Trump campaign was allegedly passing secrets to a Russian agent who then conveyed them to the Russian intelligence services. Republicans largely defended all of it, for years. It’s fine, they said. If a hostile foreign power wages war on the U.S. electoral system, we don’t mind, so long as it’s done to help our candidate.
And when Trump’s rabid supporters overran the Capitol, only a few Republicans managed a full-throated condemnation of this different variety of attack on democracy. Some went so far as to praise the rioters. Others said the attack itself was bad, but defended the lunatic conspiracy theory of a stolen election that inspired insurrectionists in the first place. Everywhere you look, Republicans are defining democracy as a threat to be defeated. They’re attempting not only to suppress Democratic votes but to seize control from local election officials who can’t be relied on to favor the GOP. The most popular Fox News host tells viewers night after night that there’s a nefarious plot afoot to “replace” true (i.e. White) Americans with “Third World” immigrants who after becoming citizens will prove their unworthiness by voting for Democrats. We know this: Had Russia been as successful in helping Trump get reelected in 2020 as it was in 2016, Republicans would have defended it. If they can change the rules to make it impossible for Democrats to ever win another election, no matter what the voting public wants, they’ll do it. And if they can steal the next election, they’ll do that, too. When you decide that democracy is your enemy, there’s almost nothing you won’t do.
The current state of the Republican Party. Might makes right and unchecked power is the battle cry.