HOW TO PREVENT REPUBLICANS FROM WORMING OUT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT TRUMP
It has been 18 months since defeated former president Donald Trump instigated an insurrection against the United States. Yet the average Republican still refuses to hold him accountable and declines to rule out supporting him in 2024. Worse, the mainstream media let them get away with it. The exchange on Sunday between CNN’s Dana Bash and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Republican, is illustrative:
BASH: Do you believe [Trump’s] actions on Jan. 6 or inaction should disqualify him from holding public office in the future?
DUCEY: Dana, I condemned Jan. 6. And I think everyone that broke the law should be held accountable. In our system, this is up to the voters on what happens next. So many people want to talk about 2024. And I want to resist that temptation to talk about hypotheticals. I think the best way for us to turn this page and to move forward as a conservative Republican Party and a country is to make sure we get the best possible people elected in 2022. And that’s my focus, as well as running the state of Arizona, every single day.
BASH: If Donald Trump runs in 2024, will you support him?
DUCEY: I think we will have options in the 2024 primary race. I am hopeful we will have options. And I want somebody who can win that general election, because I believe, with success in 2022, the general election is the Republican Party’s for the taking.
That’s simply not good enough. Not after the House Jan. 6 select committee has clearly depicted the extent to which Trump was involved in the conspiracy (both nonviolent and violent) to overturn the election. Republicans show every intention of continuing to enable the chief election denier, thereby perpetuating the threat to our democracy.
Let’s consider the questions that should have followed Ducey’s first non-answer refusing to say whether Trump’s conduct should disqualify him.
› You didn’t answer the question. Is Trump disqualified in your judgment?
› Have you read about or watched the Jan. 6 committee’s hearings? Why can’t you render a judgment?
› How can voters trust you to defend democracy if you cannot rule out supporting the instigator of a coup attempt?
› Is seeking to procure fake electors acceptable?
› Should pressuring the Justice Department to “just say” the election was fraudulent despite any evidence of fraud be permissible?
› If Arizona’s state legislature had submitted alternative, phony electors contradicting Arizona voters’ choice, what would you have done?
› Is it acceptable to urge an armed mob to march to the Capitol to stop the count of electoral votes?
› What about inciting a mob against the vice president at the Capitol? Is that acceptable?
Bash might not have succeeded in procuring better answers from Ducey with these questions. But what’s the priority: forcing elected officials to confront the truth about our democracy, or running through the garden variety of political queries? If one is serious in coverage of democracy, one’s interviewees should not be able to shirk responsibility for their party’s role in jeopardizing democracy.
Likewise, when Republicans refuse to rule out supporting Trump as the nominee, it behooves the interviewer to follow up:
› What makes you think Trump wouldn’t lie about a stolen election or try to overturn the results again in 2024?
› Doesn’t the GOP have a responsibility to offer a candidate who will accept election results?
› Is it consistent with your oath to support a candidate who tried to overthrow an election?
› Why are you afraid to rule out support for someone who fomented an insurrection?
› Why should voters entrust the Republican Party — which spread the “big lie,” produced in some cases phony electors and raised baseless objections to the results — with Senate and House seats when the 2o20 scenario could repeat itself in 2024?
This is not rocket science, but it does require the media to prioritize coverage of democracy and threats to its survival. And if Trump does announce in the fall that he is running for president, asking tough questions of every single Republican on the ballot in 2022 who might affect the 2024 election (e.g., House members, senators, governors, secretaries of state, state attorneys general, state lawmakers) becomes even more urgent.
As the likelihood of another Trump nomination increases, journalists’ failure to confront Republicans becomes more problematic. Are these news outlets really going to treat Trump like a normal presidential hopeful and his party like a normal, democratic (small- “d”) party?
Providing cover for irresponsible and cowardly Republicans amounts to abdication of the media’s responsibility in a democracy. Just as they did in 2016 and 2020, the media risk boosting the authoritarian disinformation machine in its quest to deceive voters and seize power. Surely, the mainstream media can do better than that.