It’s fashionable in certain circles to suggest that both the Dems and the GOP have been taken over by the loonies. While there are plenty of crazy Trumpistas in the GOP and loony woke people in the Democratic party, I don’t buy into the “pox on both your houses” view of the situation. Put simply, the loony Trumpistas have totally taken over the GOP, whereas the Dems are not yet a personality cult, nor are they controlled by woke leftists.
The recent NYC mayoral primary offers a striking example. The primary was won by Eric Adams, who is tough on crime, favors charter schools, wants to keep standardized tests for elite high schools, is pro congestion pricing and is a pro-development YIMBY. I’m sure he also supports lots of bad policies, but how much better can one realistically expect from a Democrat in that liberal city? The “defund the police” mob does not yet control the Dems.
A reasonable Republican supporter might respond that at the local level there are plenty of Republicans who are not wild-eyed Trumpistas, and who have even better policy views than Adams. I agree. But that’s not what distinguishes the two parties today.
The real issue is that Republican politicians who stand up for democracy and the rule of law fear for their lives and the lives of their families. Democratic politicians that oppose Biden do not fear for their lives. It’s that simple.
The Economist is a centrist magazine that is published in the UK, and they often have a much clearer view of what’s going on here than do Americans who can’t see the forest for the trees:
Bill Gates, a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (and one of the “enemies of the people” blasted outside the Coliseum), is a lonely example. A longtime Republican of the Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp mould, Mr Gates has received death threats for defending the legitimacy of the election. “If this is a new normal, our democracy is definitely in peril. Because you can’t do this and have a healthy, functioning democracy,” he says.
His other Republican credentials—cutting taxes and even supporting tighter voting laws—have ceased to matter. “There may be electoral consequences to me down the road. I’m not currently worried. This is too important…9/11 was a threat to our safety. This is the biggest threat to our democracy,” he adds. “We were the party of the rule of law.” Mr Gates argues that the party has lost its Burkean roots in favour of feverish populism. Thought of as a careful and pragmatic politician before, with some aspirations for statewide office, Mr Gates’s stance may have sunk his chances.
In his retirement, he had dreamed of going to the former Soviet republics to serve as an election observer in fledgling democracies. With some emotion in his voice, he reflects, “I never imagined that it would be here. I would do it here in Maricopa County…that’s what’s just stunning.” Looking around he repeats, almost to himself: “I don’t need to go to Belarus. I got it right here.”
When I began saying that America was becoming a banana republic, commenters said I was being hysterical. OK, now we have Republicans in the Reagan/Kemp mold saying exactly the same thing. Still think I’m being hysterical?
Here’s GOP Congressman Peter Meijer from Michigan (or should I say soon to be former GOP congressman?), in a Reason magazine interview:
And then one of the saddest things is I had colleagues who, when it came time to recognize reality and vote to certify Arizona and Pennsylvania in the Electoral College, they knew in their heart of hearts that they should’ve voted to certify, but some had legitimate concerns about the safety of their families. They felt that that vote would put their families in danger.
Really? You heard that?
Yeah.
Wow. That’s pretty striking.
That’s pretty much the textbook definition of a banana republic.
I know what you are going to say; just another delusional Republican that is overreacting to recent events. But here’s what I don’t get. When these “hysterical” Republican get interviewed they seem like normal human beings. When the “steal the election” Trumpistas get interviewed they come across as escaped mental patients that are off their meds. What should we infer from that pattern?
Most comparisons of the two parties miss the point. Each party is right on some issues and wrong on others. The key difference is that one party is a personality cult that is trying to subvert democracy, and the other is not. In 2021, that’s all that really matters.
PS. Don’t you hate it when left wing newspapers mention Hitler and Trump in the same article? Here’s The Guardian:
On a visit to Europe to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the first world war, Donald Trump insisted to his then chief of staff, John Kelly: “Well, Hitler did a lot of good things.”
The remark from the former US president on the 2018 trip, which reportedly “stunned” Kelly, a retired US Marine Corps general, is reported in a new book by Michael Bender of the Wall Street Journal.
Imagine a Hitler that didn’t launch WWII or the Holocaust. That’s sort of how I have always viewed Trump, and I suspect that’s how he views himself. A “doing good things” Hitler that likes to troll.