Trump’s Cultural War, III

Politics

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Trump’s Cultural War: Part III: What’s next? Part I begins here:  Trump’s response to the indictment of the Russian military officials who hacked the US and his private meeting with Putin tells us everything we need to know. So what’s next?

1/ Trump responded to the indictment by blaming Obama for doing “nothing” and calling the investigation into Russian meddling a “Rigged Witch Hunt.”  He complained that the “rigged witch hunt” hurts our relationship with Russia:

2/ (For an explanation of why the 7-13 indictment shows that Mueller is sitting on evidence that demonstrates that Trump and his top associates were in close association with Russia, as the Russian MILITARY attacked our elections, see this thread:  )

3/ Trump’s response tell us Trump and Putin are long-time allies, and the GOP — now a full-on authoritarian party — is complicit. We also know what’s coming: Trump and the Russians will attack the 2018 elections, and launch a disinformation war.

4/ As is clear from Trump’s attitude toward Europe, the disinformation war has the goal of shifting the world order to make Putin the most powerful world leader. Harvard profs Levitsky & Ziblatt conclude How Democracies Die by laying out 3 possible outcomes from this point.

5/ Here’s a summary of their ideas: 1st possibility: A swift democratic recovery. Trump fails politically. He loses support or is forced to resign by a bipartisan Congress. The GOP leaders pay a heavy political price, and turn away from extremist politics

6/ The Trump era would be taught in school as a catastrophe avoided. 2nd possibility: GOP continues with White Nationalism, retains the presidency, majority in Congress & eventually a majority of judges. They purge voter rolls & enact laws to secure a white majority electorate.

7/Such undemocratic moves would lead to escalating resistance, triggering heightened police repression in the name of “law and order” & violence as the white nationalist secure control. The authors see both of the above as unlikely. They believe the 2nd possibility too extreme.

8/ The 1st is also unlikely because white nationalism has become too entrenched with a powerful media machine (Fox, etc.) Possibility #3: More of the same: Increased polarization, more departure from norms & democracy hovering on the verge of crisis. They think #3 most likely.

9/The authors argue that ousting or derailing Trump through non-democratic means (removal from power without bipartisan consensus or majority vote, for example) would be disastrous for the future of our democracy, because doing so would further erode our institutions.

10/ My conclusion is the obvious one: The goal must to be make the first possibility a reality: Protests must be peaceful. The recovery must be swift, and it must be through democratic means (courts, elections) so that democracy is strengthened rather than further eroded.

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