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Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
Sitting alone at 2:24 p.m., Mr. Trump attacked Mr. Pence on Twitter and fueled the riot. . . A minute later, the United States Secret Service was forced to evacuate Mr. Pence to a secure location in the Capitol. When a White House adviser found out, he rushed to the dining room and informed Mr. Trump, who said, ‘So what?’
It’s from a recent release. Report By Special Counsel Jack Smith, on the January 6, 2021 invasion of the US Capitol. Many Donald Trump supporters consider reviving that report — just as Trump is being sworn in for a second term — essential. They argue that the American people will give their verdict when they go to the polls in November. Democrats campaigned on the idea that Trump threatened democracy. Trump won a clear victory.
It raises an interesting question. Why was “democracy at stake” not a winning argument?
One theory is that voters simply don’t care that much. A Poll A poll taken before the presidential vote showed that 76 percent of Americans believe American democracy is at risk. But only 7 percent believed that democracy was the most important issue in the election.
While both Republicans and Democrats agree that US democracy is under threat, they seem to have very different views on where the threat is coming from. The threat to Democrats is Trump. For Republicans, it’s “active” elite censorship.
That disagreement underscores an important distinction I heard recently in a speech by Indian Pratap Bhanu Mehta at the London School of Economics. Mehta argues that there are two competing understandings of the term “democracy” in contemporary politics. The first sees democracy as a mechanism—a way of resolving disagreements or conflicts of values. The second sees it as a way to empower citizens – public interest.
As Mehta sees it, “democracy requires both values ​​and empowerment”. But when voters feel thwarted rather than empowered by the political system, they can defeat liberal values ​​by rooting for a tough guy who promises to get things done. In the name of the people – an illiberal version of “democracy” has emerged that attacks the checks and balances essential to liberal democracy.
That seems to be happening in America. Opinion Poll Last week, two-thirds of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans said they believe the government serves itself and the powerful at the expense of ordinary people. Many people distrust Congress and the media.
Trump came to power promising to be a strong leader who would break the power of corrupt criminals and “make America great again.” He repeated that the American system is “rigged” and controlled by a “deep state” that tortures ordinary Americans. In the year In 2016, Trump told the Republican Convention that the US system has “allowed the powerful to beat the defenseless,” adding that “only I can fix it.”
During his recent campaign, Trump used all of the court cases against him as evidence of deep state machinations. “I am your punishment,” he promised to similarly persecuted Americans.
In certain places, at certain times, strongman rule and illiberal democracy may be popular. in El SalvadorPresident Naib Bukkel has suspended basic rights, detained 83,000 people under a state of emergency, sent the military to Congress and is accused of authorizing torture, killings and forced disappearances. But the crime rate in El Salvador fell, and Bukele won re-election by a landslide.
“Some say we have imprisoned thousands, but in reality we have freed millions,” El Salvador’s leader Pitili summed up the manifesto of illiberal democracy when he told the United Nations. Buckele has been praised by Trump’s leading supporters, including Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson.
One development that could be seen as Trump takes office is if the incoming US president wants to emulate Buckel or Hungary’s Viktor Orbán by declaring. Proclamation of emergency This allows to stop the normal operation of the law. If Trump wants emergency powers, liberals will sound the alarm. But many ordinary Americans have to support it, as ordinary Salvadorians or Hungarians are likely to accept it.
If supporters of liberal democracy want to win the political struggle, anger and protest will not be enough. They must overcome the arguments of hardliners and illiberal democrats.
In his farewell speech from the White House, President Biden started the process late by saying that the United States is being ruled by an oligarchy. Liberals need to demonstrate that powerful rulers want to promote themselves and their cronies rather than the people. Corruption is an inevitable consequence.
In the coming months and years, Trump’s opponents will have to constantly articulate the consequences of oligarchic power and strongman rule for ordinary Americans. There can be a lot of corruption and self-righteousness to point out.
If Trump’s opponents can make their case and at the same time preserve the integrity of the electoral system, a liberal version of democracy may still win in the end.
