Democracy won’t survive another Trump presidency
With the 2024 presidential election approaching, Americans from across the political spectrum are sounding the alarm about the danger Donald Trump poses to democracy. As Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution, recently warned, “we are a few short steps, and a matter of months, away from the possibility of dictatorship.”
Kagan is not overstating the case. Trump has made his authoritarian ambitions crystal clear.
As president, Trump tried to insulate himself from accountability by attempting to fire special counsel Robert Mueller; used Stalinist language to damn the press as “the enemy of the people”; publicly called on then-Attorney General William Barr to arrest his political opponents, including Joe Biden; and, most dangerously of all, attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Since leaving office, Trump has continued to spread dangerous lies about the election, while echoing dictators by pledging to “root out” his political opponents like “vermin.” If he is elected, Trump intends to use all the tools available to him to consolidate power, including by persecuting his perceived political enemies and insisting that executive branch officials in traditionally neutral positions, like the Department of Justice, are personally loyal to him rather than the U.S. Constitution.
There is no mystery here. Trump has praised authoritarians including Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. If he is given the chance, Trump will do all he can to rule in their image.
But we are not without hope. The 2024 election is still 11 months away, and there are peaceful and legal steps that can be taken to strengthen the odds in democracy’s favor.
Although polling indicates Trump is the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, not a single primary or caucus vote has been cast. Republicans and independents (in states where they are allowed to vote in Republican primaries) can cast a vote for democracy by coalescing around one of Trump’s opponents who rejects Trump’s authoritarian tactics.
If Trump does win the Republican nomination, key Republicans would have to make clear that this election is not a standard partisan contest between nominees with different views of what is best for the United States. Trump, like other aspiring dictators, wants what’s best for him and cares nothing for the national interest. Republicans who served in the Trump administration can send a vital message to voters by explaining what they saw. Former Trump chief of staff John Kelly, for example, has said that Trump “has no idea what America stands for”; “admires autocrats and murderous dictators,” and “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, the Constitution and the rule of law.” Bill Barr, who served as attorney general in the Trump administration, described Trump as “a troubled man” and “consummate narcissist [who] will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests.”
Other Republicans with household names — former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Mike Pence — could publicly stand shoulder to shoulder with Democrats like Barack Obama to send a bipartisan message about putting democracy ahead of ordinary partisan disputes to keep Trump out of the White House.
The general election will likely come down to a few closely contested states. That is, in itself, a sorry commentary on our democracy, but there is no way our flawed system can be improved by November. Under the rules of our existing system, the states to focus on will likely be limited to Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina. The question to ask is: How can we best focus resources on this handful of pivotal states? Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin were each decided by fewer than 21,000 votes in 2020 — even a small number of voters could well play a significant role in these and other closely contested states.
In this vein, the ultimate source of power in any democracy is the voters. Those of us who prefer democracy to dictatorship can use our voices in many ways — speaking to friends and family, working to get out the vote, getting involved with local pro-democracy groups, and, of course, by voting.
The threat to democracy is real, but the question is far from decided. Now is not the time to accept the inevitability of dictatorship. No one knows what the result will be in 2024, and there are actions all of us can take to increase the odds that democracy survives.