Thomas Winthrop Hall:When Hearts Are Trumps
- Taschenbuch 2020, ISBN: 9783842447042
Broadway Books, 2019. New. The United States has had popular demagogues before in figures such as Charles Lindbergh, Joseph McCarthy, and George Wallace, yet none were able to become pr… Mehr…
Broadway Books, 2019. New. The United States has had popular demagogues before in figures such as Charles Lindbergh, Joseph McCarthy, and George Wallace, yet none were able to become president What was different in America in 2016 that allowed a populist outsider to succeed in doing so?These are all great examples of how gatekeeping used to work Before 1972, in the United States, elected officials within the parties supplemented and could even veto what a party's base wanted This is why party conventions were so important in the past: Party leaders made deals at the conventions, and insider-backed candidates were almost always selected It was a kind of 'peer review' process in which those who knew the candidates best helped to pick the nominees The 1968 Democratic National Convention marked a big turning point, as a reform of the Democratic Party's organization made state primaries binding This shifted power, for better or worse, to the party rank and fileYou have developed a litmus test to help identify autocrats before they come to power What are the four behavioral warning signs that comprise the test, and how many of them did Trump test positive for, even before his inauguration?The idea is that certain politicians, in effect, show their cards before they even come into office Their authoritarian inclinations are revealed by testing positive on what the eminent political scientist Juan Linz called a 'litmus test' We further developed this framework and propose four warning signs that all citizens of a democracy should look for in a political leader as he or she runs for office If a candidate tests positive on any part of this test, we should be nervous The first indicator is if a politician, in words or practice, appears to reject the democratic rules of the game; the second is whether they deny the legitimacy of their opponents; and the third is whether they appear to tolerate or encourage violence Finally, we should also be alarmed if a politician expresses a willingness to curtail the civil liberties of their opponents, including the media In some countries, you see candidates like this quite often; thankfully, it is much rarer in the United States With the exception of Richard Nixon, no major-party presidential candidate met even one of these four criteria over the last century Donald Trump, when running for office, tested positive on all four indicatorsIn 'How Democracies Die', you discuss the various ways that elected authoritarians seek to consolidate power How many of them has Trump attempted?Looking around the world, we identified three strategies that elected authoritarians commonly use, and were dismayed to discover that Trump has tried all of them The first is capturing the referees, which means gaining control over the courts and key investigative, regulatory, and law enforcement agencies The second is sidelining key playerssuch as media owners, wealthy business people, opposition politicians, or prominent cultural figureswho could rally public opposition This is done by either buying them off or by using 'legal' measures such as tax audits or corruption investigations to bully them into silence The third is trying to rewrite the rules of the gamefor example, constitutional and electoral rulesto permanently weaken or disadvantage opponents Trump has implemented all three strategies: His firing of James Comey is an example of the first; his attacks on the media are an example of the second; and the campaign to impose tougher restrictions on voter registration is an example of the third But so far most of his threats haven't been carried out; he's been thwarted by the courts or local governmentsWhat is the most antidemocratic initiative yet undertaken by the Trump administration?Probably the creation of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity The Commission is based on a myth: that electoral fraud is widespread in the United States Its early activities suggest that its objective is vote suppression via the purge of voter rolls and the promotion of strict voter ID laws A campaign to make it harder for people to register and vote strikes at the heart of democracy and is a shameful throwback to the days when poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures were used to disenfranchise millions of African Americans throughout the South Strict voter ID laws have been shown to disproportionately affect low-income and minority voters, who are overwhelmingly Democratic, so they tilt the playing field in favor of the GOP This is a dangerous initiativeWhat does democracy's fate during the remainder of Trump's presidency depend on?It depends first of all on the behavior of Republicans Most Republican leaders seem to know that Trump is grossly unfit for office; they could have acted forcefully to prevent his election but chose not to Now Republicans control both houses of Congress They could use that majority to pass his legislative agenda and shield him from investigation or impeachment, or they could use it to check his power and, if necessary, remove him So far, outside of a small handful of GOP politicians, most of them retiring, few Republicans have been willing to state publicly what most of them surely know: the Emperor has no clothes Fear and opportunism have prevailed over the defense of our country and its democratic institutions What happens also depends, of course, on Democrats' ability to forge broader coalitions to win elections The surest way to contain the damage inflicted by the current administration is for the opposition party to win elections in 2018 and 2020What do you see as the greatest danger facing American democracy today?Our greatest fear is a crisis such as a major war or terrorist attack, as crises create openings for authoritarians Security crises almost always boost public support for presidents, often dramatically, and institutional checksfrom Congress or the judiciarytend to be temporarily suspended That leaves presidents a lot of room to maneuverlook at FDR after Pearl Harbor, or Bush after 9/11 Unlike autocrats from Hitler to Putin to Erdogan, our previous presidents have exercised considerable restraint and have not so fully exploited crises for authoritarian ends Trump has never displayed that kind of restraint We fear that if President Trump were to confront a major war or terrorist attack, he would take advantage of it to attack opponents and restrict civil libertiesWhat actions can ordinary Americans take to help fix our democratic crisis?The answer is not for Democrats to 'fight like Republicans,' as some commentators have suggested; that would only reinforce and accelerate the decline of our democratic norms The opposition to Trump must fight vigorously, but in defense of rights and institutions Peaceful protest is useful, but, ultimately, the most important channels are likely to be institutionalthe courts, state governments, and, of course, elections So mobilizing the vote in 2018 and 2020 is essentialBut there is something else that ordinary Americans must do: Try to build broader coalitions in defense of democracy To ensure democracy's survival, we must build alliances that extend beyond traditional party lines For liberals, this means forging perhaps uncomfortable allianceswith right-of-center businesspeople, evangelical Christians, and dissident conservatives, among others A blue-state coalition is simply not enough This is often hard work, and it involves compromise But an awful lot is at stake, Broadway Books, 2019, 6, Paperback / softback. New., 6<
