A nation challenged to defend democracy

President Trump has put on a surreality show in the run-up to the congressional elections, promising a mystery “middle-class tax cut” with no basis in fact, deploying military personnel against desperate migrants still 900 miles from the United States, and vowing to end constitutionally enshrined birthright citizenship — a threat so dubious as to provoke a rare spat with Paul Ryan, the usually pliant House speaker.

As misleading as all these maneuvers have been, they accurately depict the government that Americans can effectively ratify or reject on Tuesday. Give Trump credit for letting the voters know what they’re about to vote for or against: deception, division and disdain for the rule of law.

Republicans have a formidable advantage in the Senate, where most of the seats up for election are held by Democrats, several in the hostile territory of deepred states. But Trump’s GOP faces inevitable losses in the House, where it holds almost all of the most competitive seats. If Republicans nevertheless cling to a majority by losing fewer than 23 seats in the lower chamber, the president will be emboldened by two more years of limp legislative leadership.

Ryan, for instance, was understated even in disagreeing with the president Tuesday. The speaker noted (correctly) that an executive order cannot undo the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to those born in the United States, before hastening to emphasize his concurrence with the White House’s hard line on “illegal immigration” (a gross understatement of Trump’s broadly and aggressively anti-immigrant stance). Underscoring how seldom and unwelcome such expressions of congressional independence are, Trump responded by publicly ridiculing Ryan, who, he said on Twitter, “knows nothing” about the issue and “should be focusing on holding the Majority.”

If Ryan and the Republicans don’t retain that majority, likely making Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speaker again, Trump will have more to object to than a politely phrased lesson in constitutional law. Deficitfinanced tax cuts, real or imagined, would face scrutiny. Instead of pretending to protect the Affordable Care Act for political advantage, the majority might actually do so. House committees currently preoccupied

with undermining Special Counsel Robert Mueller would turn their attention to the administration, which has provided no shortage of occasions for oversight. And impeachment, a virtual impossibility under Republican rule, would become a potential response to Mueller’s findings.

The president’s attempts to prevent all that by fomenting fear and rage among his core supporters have been accompanied by dark illustrations of the worst possible consequences. An avid Trump supporter was charged on Oct. 25 with mailing at least 15 pipe bombs to prominent presidential antagonists. The next day, a man who subscribed to conspiracy theories surrounding the migrant caravan killed 11 worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue. After an awkward attempt to play the presidential role of unifying the public following the massacre, Trump reverted to inflaming divisions with renewed vigor.

His domination of media coverage and departure from long-honored norms have helped complete the upending of the conventional wisdom that congressional elections are largely local affairs with national implications. The president who called himself a “nationalist” at a recent rally has nationalized the election. “Pretend I’m on the ballot,” he is telling his fans. That is not the message many Republican House candidates might have chosen: Polls show that a majority of voters disapprove of Trump’s performance and generally prefer Democratic candidates for Congress.

Thanks to gerrymandering and other structural advantages, however, Republicans could lose the overall vote by a substantial margin — and lose seats — without losing power. That is, if voters don’t deliver a resounding enough defeat of the president and his enablers on Tuesday, Trump could once again win without winning. What would be lost is an invaluable chance to correct the country’s wayward course.