The Republican leadership has jettisoned its commitment to democracy and the rule of law and authoritarianism has found a political home
‘Even without Twitter, Trump’s angry and agitated base will do his bidding.’
‘Even without Twitter, Trump’s angry and agitated base will do his bidding.’ Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters
Thu 28 Jan 2021 13.45 GMT
Last modified on Thu 28 Jan 2021 19.49 GMT
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On Tuesday, the US Senate rejected an attempt to kill the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, 55-45, but only five Republicans voted with the majority. Acquittal of the ex-president is now a foregone conclusion. The only question is when.
Trump 2024 can still happen. In the short run, his dream won’t die. With another campaign looming over the horizon, the former reality show host can still rake in the bucks to the delight of his family and his creditors. The beast will continue to be fed.
Naturally, there were minor casualties. Mitch McConnell, the newly minted minority leader, fell in behind his caucus. His post-Capitol Hill attack theatrics are done, his outrage is over, his hopes for a Trump-free future dashed.
On the other hand, Elaine Chao – McConnell’s wife who doubled as Trump’s transportation secretary and resigned in a pique over the storming of the Capitol – has landed on her feet at a conservative thinktank along with Mike Pompeo, Trump’s secretary of state. For Team McConnell, the past can be relegated to the rearview mirror.
Said differently, the former president doesn’t need a third party to enforce his will. Indeed, Rob Portman, Ohio’s lame duck senator and former Bush senior budget director and trade representative, toed the party line despite the fact that electoral politics are no longer part of his future.
The lesson is clear. Even without Twitter, Trump’s angry and agitated base will do his bidding. By the numbers, while a majority of the US supports Trump’s conviction in the Senate, opposition from the Republican rank-and-file has risen.
Looking ahead, a Republican who crosses Trump can expect a primary or worse. Just ask Wyoming’s Liz Cheney, Illinois’s Adam Kinzinger, or Michigan’s Peter Meijer, they can tell you. Each voted to impeach Trump. Suffice to say, that decision has devolved into a costly ordeal. The threat of violence remains part of the equation, too.
For the Republican leadership, the will of the people is no longer the same thing as the will of their people, and it is the latter that counts
In the process, the Republican leadership has jettisoned its commitment to democracy and the rule of law. For them, the will of the people is no longer the same thing as the will of their people, and it is the latter that counts. Populism should not be equated with fidelity to vox populi.
Rather, authoritarianism has found a political home in the US. Earlier this month, most Republicans on Capitol Hill voted to overturn an election and discount the verdict of the majority of their countrymen: Trump lost to Joe Biden by 7m votes. The fact that the US supreme court had repeatedly rebuffed his entreaties did not matter to the bulk of congressional Republicans.
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Indeed, Kevin McCarthy, the chief House Republican, went so far as to blame the entire nation for the insurrection led by the president and executed by his followers. Talk about assigning collective guilt and ignoring the faces in the mirror.
Little over a year ago and with an eye cast toward Barack Obama, Trump and his minions opined that former presidents stood ripe for impeachment. As Trump struggled with the aftermath of his perfect phone call on Ukraine and a Senate trial, he let the world know that Obama ought to suffer instead.
Specifically, the 45th president suggested the 44th’s comments on healthcare rose to the level of an impeachable offense. “We should impeach him for that,” Trump said. “Why aren’t we impeaching him?” That Obama had served two full terms in office and was thus barred by the constitution from seeking an electoral three-peat had rendered impeachment legally irrelevant. So what?
To be sure, the same entreaty had also been posed by Trump groupie, Matt Gaetz. Gaetz, a member of the House judiciary committee with a record of driving under the influence, opined that “You actually can impeach a former president, FWIW.”
Apparently, not any more. What’s sauce for the goose is no longer sauce for the gander, at least where Trump is concerned. What dear leader wants, dear leader must have. If it’s Reichstag fire redux, so be it.
Sadly, the events of the recent weeks are a dry run for what may come next. Past really is prelude. In hindsight, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing signaled what lurked in the recesses of the Republican party.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a first-term congresswoman from Georgia, previously indicated her support for killing prominent Democrats, including President Obama. Let that sink in.
The party of Lincoln is dead. But the Republican party isn’t.
The grievances that fueled Trump’s ascent remain. The country’s demographics continue to shift while the gap between coastal elites and the rest of the US widens. More ominously, nearly a fifth of those arrested for rioting on the Hill are military veterans. Talk about punching above your weight.
How this morass resolves itself is unclear. But one thing is certain, Trump’s voice and those of his followers will not be silenced. Real or imagined, some wounds never heal. The unresolved questions are if and how their demands can be accommodated by a democratic republic short of wholesale capitulation.
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