THIS FOURTH, WE MUST REALIZE WHAT’S AT RISK

The Fourth of July holiday weekend comes at a moment of uncertainty and even fear about the future of the nation that is without parallel in modern America. The hope of The San Diego Uniontribune Editorial Board and many Americans was that as president, Donald Trump would cast aside the divisive and dangerous rhetoric of his 2015-2016 campaign and be moderated and humbled by his election and by the experience of actually serving in the White House. But our fear, as stated in a Sept. 30, 2016, editorial, was this: “Terrible leaders can knock nations off course. Venezuela is falling apart because of the obstinance and delusions of Hugo Chávez and his successor. Argentina is finally coming out of the chaos created by Cristina Kirchner and several of her predecessors. Trump could be our Chávez, our Kirchner. We cannot take that risk.”

Yet that year Trump was elected president. And four years later, Trump began to lie, divisively, dangerously, saying that he was re-elected when of course he wasn’t. Many conservative Americans still remain deeply enamored of Trump. They praise the strength of the economy while he was president, his Supreme Court picks and hard line on immigration.

But nearly six years after our warning, Trump’s furious determination to tear down U.S. democracy in the wake of his 2020 defeat has confirmed our fear. He is our Chávez, our Kirchner, and our nation is at risk as a result. This Fourth of July weekend should be, as always, a celebration of our nation and its ideals and aspirations. It should also be a moment for Americans who still believe in their country to grasp what is at stake. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-wyoming, is right when she says someone can believe in the Constitution or in Trump but not in both.

Many Trump acolytes refuse to even consider the idea his actions have been malignant. For those who choose to engage, though, “whataboutism” is the norm. What about the Democrats who disputed the validity of Trump’s election in 2016? Or George W. Bush’s wins in 2000 and 2004?

What about them? Nothing they did then is comparable to Trump asking Georgia’s Republican secretary of state after the November 2020 election to “find” enough votes to reverse his narrow but clear loss in that state. Or to his demand that Vice President Mike Pence declare him the victor on Jan. 6, 2021, while presiding over the count of electoral votes at the Capitol. And nothing any American leader has done is comparable to Trump’s encouragement of a violent insurrection that day that put the lives of Pence and more than 500 senators and representatives at risk. The evidence presented by the House committee investigating the events of that afternoon was both stunning and unsurprising — including that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol that day to egg his supporters on and that he replied to chants to hang Pence with he “deserves” it.

Even now, Trump has an approval rating of about 80 percent among Republicans, many of whom consider Jan. 6, 2021, something to celebrate instead of an attack. And some are acting at the state level to snuff out democracy by letting the party in control of a state’s legislature — not voters — be the final arbiter of who wins elections. Meanwhile, Trump moves closer to confirming he will run again in 2024. Friday, The New York Times reported “Republicans are bracing for Donald J. Trump to announce an unusually early bid for the White House” with aides preparing for one as early as this month.

Last week, historian Michael Beschloss, long a voice of reason on the national stage, said, “We’re living through a time where I can’t predict to you whether we’ll be living in a democracy five years from now or not. I hope we are.” It’s a difficult thought to consider on the Fourth of July. For how much longer will Americans look up to their nation — and not to a dishonest, delusional demagogue?