Our democracy is fragile, and in peril

There are understandable reasons why people support President Donald Trump, but to do so requires them to suspend/ignore the many profound reasons why no one should support him.

To gain office and win re-election, Trump — like Mussolini — promotes racism, anger, and hate with the conviction, practiced by the regime of Hitler and Goebbels, that if you tell a lie three times, it actually becomes accepted as the truth. President Trump lies daily, and often, and to our nation’s obvious detriment, as the deaths of more than 200,000 COVID-19 American citizens and residence attest.

I have often wondered how could the Italian people become such easy prey to fascism, and even more disturbing, how could the German people accept the likes of Hitler, until it was too late to stop him.

Trump like many demagogues before him, loves a crowd. And like demagogues before him, is willing, in fact eager, to say whatever vile observation is required to energize a deeply receptive audience, no matter how much it harms the fabric of our nation. I never thought that was possible in the United States, but now I know differently.

I was taught that democracy is very fragile. I never believed that, but now I know differently. I was also taught that a politician who plays to our darker angels can actually succeed in bringing out the worst in us, and become president. I never believed that either, but now I know differently.

We have a president today, before the votes are all cast, claim it is an unfair rigged election. Already he is claiming that he will have won, but “the Democrats will do everything they can to steal it from him.” And many of his supporters have already said, even if former Vice President Joe Biden is deemed the winner by a wide margin, that they will never accept the outcome. Why would they if their leader has said he won’t?

Vice President Richard Nixon was strongly encouraged to contest the presidential election of 1960 when he lost Illinois and Texas by small margins to then U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, under serious accusations of voter fraud in both states. With Illinois and Texas in the Nixon column he would have become president, but he didn’t contest the outcome, and for good reason. Our democracy is fragile.

And just think what damage Vice President Al Gore could have done in the presidential election of 2000, with the “questionable” 500-vote margin for Gov. George Bush in Florida, if Gore and his supporters refused to accept the verdict of the court, but he didn’t, and for good reason. Our democracy is fragile.

And now think what damage President Trump is doing. Unlike presidents before, and with the election still weeks away, Trump is inciting his numerous followers to accept only a win by him

When I served in Congress, I was one of a few, who after witnessing the inauguration ceremony, rushed to the east side of the Capitol Building, to witness the extraordinary exchange, as the new president ushered the now former president and his family, to the waiting helicopter to take them from Washington to their home as private citizens, with the newly elected president waving goodbye, and beginning four years of unimaginable power and responsibility.

What a remarkable moment. What a magnificent declaration of the peaceful transfer of immense power and responsibility from one person to another. No nation can match it.

The fact that President Donald Trump cannot, or chooses not, to appreciate the sacred significance of this moment, and the fragile nature of our democracy, is just one more of so many reasons why he is not fit to be our president.

Christopher Shays, a Republican elected office-holder for 34 years, was a Connecticut state representative for 13 years from 1974 to 1987, and a member of Congress from Connecticut from 1987 to 2009.