But in 2021, the performance of his partisan opponents was at least as important to the country’s future. And in Washington and state capitals alike, Republicans have compiled a record of dishonesty and aggression that threatens American democracy itself.
For a moment, he did. Shaken Congress leaders denounced him and Berber returned to the capital to confirm Biden’s victory.
The moment has passed.
the same Republican leader
thwarted a proposed bipartisan probe, GOP legislators curtailed voting processes on the battlefield and turned to election administrations to help succeed the losers in a future where Trump had failed to quell the popular will.
“Recently, when I woke up in the morning, I didn’t think that American democracy could be in balance,” said Richard Haas, a highly placed national security aide to two Republican administrations who have left the GOP. “It is no longer a given. I don’t think it is melodramatic to say that this is the greatest crisis we have faced since the 19th century.”
In short, the crisis stems from Trump’s 2016 false promises for minorities of voters to suffer most from the cultural and economic changes that are reshaping 21st-century America. But its roots extend to the decades-old Republican strategy of supporting conservative white opponents of the Civil Rights Revolution of 1960.
Those voters – disproportionately Southern, less educated, rural, evangelical – now represent the white-hot core of the Trump-era GOP.
“When you consider that the DNA of the current Republican Party is being built around racial outrage, that’s only a small step,” said Robert P., an opinion analyst. Jones, who is the CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute. “The idea that certain citizens should have a privileged position in the eyes of the law is, at its heart, undemocratic.”
Unlike earlier Republican campaigns, Trump barely concealed his race-based appeals. He expressed persistent concern over the lost power and primacy among the shrinking ranks of white Orthodox Christians.
“After alienating college-educated suburban voters, many of the resulting Republicans decided to keep their contracting coalition in a state of constant agitation and fear, keeping combatants in a never-ending culture war.”
Peter Wehner, President George W. A former Bush aide wrote earlier this year. “Right now, the Republican Party is a serious threat to American democracy.”
Trump has long expressed admiration for authoritarian strongmen. fox news star
Tucker Carlson staged his show in Hungary in August., what scholars of the Eastern European nation call an example of destroying democracy.
“There are two key metrics: how they deal with violence, and whether they accept election results,” said Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt, co-author of the book “How Democracies Die.” In both cases, Republicans have moved towards authoritarianism.
Trump and elected aides praised the January 6 mob and its downplay of chaotic violence; Some brandy guns on social media or in campaign ads. A Congressman circulated a
Photoshopped Anime Videos which depicts the murder of a Democratic aide. (He later stated that he “does not condone violence or harm towards any member of Congress” and that the video “symbolizes the fight for the soul of America.”)
recently
Public Religion Research Institute Survey, 30% of Republicans agreed that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save our country.” in a different word
American Enterprise Institute poll questions Last January, 60% of white evangelical Christians agreed that “the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.”
Inspired by Trump, prominent Republicans have confirmed or admitted in their bigoted lie that the 2020 election was a border qualification stolen from them. In the 2022 GOP primary race for Georgia governor,
Former Sen. David Perdue Distinguishes himself from current Brian Kemp by saying he may not have attested to Biden’s 2020 Georgia victory.
Deteriorating political conditions for Democrats have positioned Republicans to win control of Congress without additional help next year. But having lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections, they are not taking any risks.
A cadre of anti-Trump Republicans see a glimmer of hope in their attempt to transform the party from within. Barbara Comstock, a former House member and Congressman, cites
Private-Equity Executive Glenn Youngkin Wins for Virginia Governor in November, who accepted Trump’s endorsement but avoided his crude strategy.
“Has it been a discouraging year? Yes,” Comstock allowed. “But I think the new leaders will step up.”
“It’s important to bring the party back to its senses,” said Corey Sheik, a former Bush aide who directed foreign policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. “I think it’s possible. I’m still a Republican, standing right behind
Liz Cheney,
Inviting a Wyoming Republican congresswoman, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, only underscores the enormity of the challenge. House Republicans vehemently removed him as convention speaker.
Trump’s election lies dismissed, He and Illinois Representative Adam Kizinger have become the sole voices to hold Trump and rebel allies accountable and reaffirm America’s 245-year-old democratic experiment.
“How we address January 6th is the moral test of our generation,” Cheney recently announced. In 2021, his party thwarted it.
