Democracy on the ropes

Summer is definitely here in Raleigh:  uncomfortably hot and humid.  I’m spending more time indoors, and finally finished sorting through the photographs I took while traveling in the spring.  In this post, I wanted to share a few more of the photos I took in St. Augustine of roseate spoonbills, great egrets, snowy egrets, wood storks, and tricolored herons, and a few thoughts on recent political events. 

In less than a week, we’ve just had two extreme events in our national political life.  President Biden crashed and burned in his debate with Donald Trump, substantially increasing the chances that Trump will win the presidency in November.  And the Supreme Court almost completely immunized Trump from criminal liability for his effort to overthrow the government in 2021.  It decreed that the next president is free to commit crimes, heinous or otherwise, that are in any way related to his official duties.  

This Supreme Court decision (which I, as a former Supreme Court clerk, had the training to read, and did read) is truly shocking.  By holding that the president acting as president is not subject to criminal law, it fundamentally changes the nature of the presidency to something like a monarchy.  In view of the definite possibility that a convicted felon, an incorrigible career grifter without any apparent moral restraint, will be our next president, the decision seems wildly irresponsible.  

There was more than a whiff of corruption in the Trump White House, as Trump’s businesses raked in billions of dollars.  He has promised to use the Department of Justice to persecute political opponents.  He has proposed shooting peaceful protesters and shoplifters.  He sought IRS audits of his enemies.  He directed the persecution of tax-paying immigrants and the kidnapping of immigrant children.  Not least, he encouraged a violent attack on Congress in an attempt to nullify the 2020 election.  

Trump has shown no hint of moderating his inclinations.  In his first term, subordinates sometimes discouraged or resisted his most outrageous proposals, but that is much less likely to happen if he’s reelected.  Non-MAGA true believers will be excluded from significant roles.  The true believers will know that Trump can and does protect those who carry out his orders with pardons.  

Also, those collaborators will now understand that if they are accused of criminal activity ordered by Trump, the Supreme Court will probably be on their side.  The Court’s new theory of the need for extreme Executive power may mean protection for those who implement Executive crimes.  In sum, the new decision increases the already high risk that electing Trump as President will be a disaster for American democracy.  

One of the benefits of studying history is perspective; it can help us take a longer view of our current situation.  For example, it’s helpful to remember that our republic has survived crises in the past, like the Civil War, the corruption of the gilded age, the ascendance of the Ku Klux Klan, American Nazis during World War II, and the McCarthy red scare.  We also survived Trump I. At the moment, I feel more despairing than hopeful for American democracy, but I’m trying not to give up hope.