Harbingers of US fascism are global threats
HARRIS County, Texas, is the thirdmost populous county in the United States. The 2010 census put the county’s population at just over four million and it is now estimated to be just shy of five million. It encompasses an area of 4700sq km — about six times the size of Lake Taupo — and the glittering city of Houston.
Now, as you may be aware, there is an election taking place in the United States.
All across that riven nation, intelligent Americans are protecting themselves against contracting Covid19 by casting their ballots early. In most states this is a pretty straightforward process. Voters can either entrust their ballot papers to the US Postal Service, or deposit them directly in specially provided dropboxes. But, in Houston, they have a problem.
The hardline Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has decreed that there shall be just one dropbox per county. That’s right, just one dropbox for a county whose population is not much smaller than New Zealand’s.
Crazy? Yeah, but crazy like a fox. The governor, well aware that the overwhelming majority of early voters are likely to be supporters of the Democratic
Party’s presidential candidate, Joe Biden, has absolutely no interest in making it easy for them — not in Texas, anyway. So, one dropbox per county it is.
Of course, the Democratic
Party challenged the governor’s decision in court — and, initially, they were successful. Unfortunately, what the state courts understood to be a blatant attempt to skew the voting in Texas, the farRight federal judges to whom the Republican Party appealed (all of them appointed, funnily enough, by the selfsame Republican Party) were not so persuaded. The governor’s single dropbox per county decree was upheld.
Outrageous? Of course it is.
But, it is also powerfully illustrative of what has happened to the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump. That federal judges could be presented with evidence of the most shameless electoral manipulation, and still deem it to be legal, bodes very ill for the integrity of the November 3 presidential ballot.
Clearly, there no longer exists a bipartisan commitment to free and fair elections. If the Republican Party can count on the judiciary to rule in its favour — and with the Senate’s confirmation of the farRight Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court it must now be assumed that it can — then this election can be stolen from the Democrats without a single law being broken.
Such a public and unabashed traducing of the values and traditions of the United States, and the nationwide protests it would inspire, could only be
❛ Clearly, there no
longer exists a bipartisan commitment to free and fair
elections.
upheld by a Trump Administration willing to make the dangerous and irrevocable transition from authoritarian words to authoritarian deeds. The global consequences of such a shift would be huge and inescapable — even in New Zealand.
At the risk of attracting cries of ‘‘Godwin!’’, I cannot forbear from drawing parallels between the perfectly legal installation of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and the remarkably similar evolution of political events in the United States. Were it to happen, a judicially secured and sanctioned ‘‘reelection’’ of President Donald Trump would signal a lurch to the right of
Hitlerian proportions. From imperfect democracy to authoritarian autocracy. All over the world the radical Right would take heart — even in New Zealand.
Indeed, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern may find herself singled out for special attention by President Trump. Into her success at eliminating the Covid19 virus the thinskinned president has already read a rebuke of his own catastrophic failure. In her empathy and kindness he has recognised the antithesis of his own narcissism and insouciant cruelty. Nothing would please the reinflated Trump more than to see this impertinent woman put in her place.
Those who feel obliged to poohpooh such a scenario merely demonstrate how inadequately they appreciate the role played by spite in the affairs of men and nations. If Donald Trump should cry, like Henry II: ‘‘Who will rid me of this meddlesome prime minister?’’, then be assured, he will not lack for farRight ‘‘knights’’ to do his bidding.
An authoritarian America will cast off all pretence of amiability. Its Five Eyes Partners will be expected to follow White House orders without question or demur. We must either be for President Trump, or against him. Neutrality will not be an option.