America's March Toward Autocracy Moves Swiftly And Largely Unimpeded

America’s march towards autocracy and away from democracy gets more and more frightening each day. The forces of hatred that have long been nurtured by the Republican party have been unleashed by Trump’s election and the attacks on our democratic institutions and norms now come daily.

In Binghamton, New York, a Democrat who announced he was running for mayor withdrew from the race just days later after he received a continual barrage of threats to his own person and his family. His decision was cemented when he was assaulted outside his home after picking up his two year old and 11 month of children from a sitter. The candidate was hit in the back by a full soda can that was thrown at him as he shielded his children. The attacker in this drive-by assault yelled “liberal scumbag” as he drove away.

This case follows on the heels of the Democratic opponent to the racist Republican Representative Steve King in Iowa announcing that she too was withdrawing from the race in part because of the threats and intimidation she had received since her campaign was announced. In addition to family health concerns, the candidate said, “One consideration has been raised again by recent events at my home. Beginning during my 2016 campaign, I have received very alarming acts of intimidation, including death threats. While some may say enduring threats are just a part of running for office, my personal safety has increasingly become a concern.” King, of course, like most Republicans these days, was not interested in hearing or investigating any potential crimes that might inhibit our democracy and accused his opponent of lying, tweeting, “Death threats likely didn’t happen but a fabrication.”

Meanwhile. Trump supporters keep on framing the presidency as a national CEO, ignoring the democratic and constitutional principle that, in theory, all these people work for us. According to the Trumpsters, the President can fire anyone in the federal government that he wants to because they are all his employees. The only way this attitude is any different from totalitarianism is that is couched in free market economic language. Substantively, it provides the same result.

This theory of the presidency is clearly the path that Trump’s defense against possible impeachment will take. Since the impeachment process is primarily political and not legal, the defense is simply ignoring or twisting our constitutional and democratic norms in order to keep the Trump base in line. I’ve already written about the tack that Trump’s attorney Marc Kasowitz took in trying to turn the Comey testimony into a he said/he said dispute as he has done with all the women accusing Trump of sexual harassment in the past. Kasowitz’s spokesman also took the “President as CEO” defense in reacting to Preet Bhrara’s comments over the weekend, tweeting, “All US Attorneys work for and at the pleasure of POTUS. There is nothing abnormal with the executive speaking directly with his employees…I’d [sic] Preet refused to accept the President’s call, he deserved to be fired.” Of course, if Bharara did take the call, he would be violating DOJ guidelines and, of course, could also be subjected to firing.

In addition, Trump’s lawyers and his supporters seem to be laying the groundwork to fire Mueller when the time comes. Jay Sekulow, a member of Kasowtiz’s legal team, refused to rule out the possibility that Trump could fire Mueller in comments over the weekend. That attitude has been backed up quite vociferously by the right wing media machine. Here is New Gingrich’s comments on twitter, “Republicans are delusional of they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring. Check FEC reports. Time to rethink.”. And Anne Coulter: “Now that we FINALLY got Comey to admit Trump is not under investigation, Sessions should fire Mueller. Why do we need a special prosecutor now?” And Byron York and Laura Ingraham are suggesting Mueller should be fired because he has a conflict of interest because Mueller and Comey have been long-time friends. Of course, that’s primarily because they have worked together in the past. But it is an even more bogus argument when you thing of the many ongoing conflicts, in direct violation of the Constitution, that Trump, his family, and his administration engage in on a daily basis.

All these incidents are, to me, frightening signs that we are on our way to a Russian-style authoritarian oligarchy. We are seeing targeted physical violence against opposition candidates and a theory of the presidency that leads directly to autocracy. There are members of the Trump administration and family who are directly benefiting economically from their government positions on a daily basis. The majority of the people did not vote for this President, but there voices are ignored. And the Republican party is willingly complicit in Trump’s blatant refusal to follow the laws and enabling his authoritarian tendencies.

If you really want to go deep into the dangerous fever swamp of the Republican right, take a look at this article from some who is, incredibly, an adjunct professor at Georgetown. In it, he demands the indictments of “James Comey for perjury, and he and all FBI officials who conspired with him to support the Clinton campaign; All three Clintons, both Obamas, and Loretta Lynch; The Clinton Foundation, its leadership team, some of its contributors, and all of the State Department and other national government officials who willing aided the Foundation while Clinton was Secretary of State;
John Podesta and his DNC leadership team; Eric Holder and all those DoJ officials involved in Fast&Furious; Lois Learner and the IRS officials who persecuted conservatives; All leakers of classified information, most especially serving and former senior U.S. Intelligence Community officials; George Soros and all U.S.-citizen, billionaire big shots who fund the violence of Democratic demonstrators; All the Democratic operatives who have rigged voter lists and otherwise assisted the dead and illegal aliens to vote; All of the mayors, governors, judges, police chiefs, ministers, priests, NGOs, and university leaders who establish and maintain ‘sanctuary’ domains; The people who killed DNC employee Seth Rich, as well those responsible for the long list of murders of people who crossed the Clintons.” Gee, that doesn’t sound like a political hit list, does it?

As Adam Gopnik pointed out, the distinct difference in the US and French elections is that the center-right in France banded together to ensure the National Front did not come to power. In the US, on the other hand, the center-right largely capitulated to Trump and refused to oppose him an any sensible way. Not one significant member of the Republican “establishment” came out and forcefully endorsed Clinton.

Last Friday, 53 years earlier, a Massachusetts lawyer, Joseph Welch, finally stood up to McCarthyism and red-baiting of Republicans, saying, “Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” Well, I think it is about time we asked that same question of certain Republicans. Not so much the Republicans in Congress, who have shown themselves to only be interested in enabling Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, rolling back the social safety net built since the Great Depression, and passing tax cuts for the already richest group of Americans ever, but to those supposedly moderate sane Republicans outside of government. Yes, I’m talking to you, the Bushes and the Romneys. Your silence is deafening and you are just as much enablers of Trump’s erosion of our democracy as anyone else at this point. And if you think that you can pick up the pieces of this Republican party after it implodes, you may likely find that there is no party worth inheriting, as it never imploded. It will simply have become the tool of the autocrat. And you may find yourselves in the same place as that mayor from Binghamton, coming under physical attack if you are dare to oppose the authoritarian leader.

And if you think that this post is simply hyperbole, take a look at this “cabinet meeting” that could have come straight out of the Politburo. We must all praise our Dear Leader.