THERE ARE ISSUES, WE NEED TO TALK

There are serious democratic issues being played out in the United States in the aftermath of the events of the 6^th January. The flagrant breach of the rule of law has sparked a flurry of activity by a number of different organisations. The desire to deal with the actual offenders who took part in the assault and the desire to hold someone responsible for instigating the assault are top of the agenda. To impose some form of judicial sanction is in progress. Some of the offenders have been arrested and no doubt will be charged accordingly and tried before the courts. As to the instigator of the riot itself, there are particular problems. Mr Trump still holds the office of President of the United States. Does he resign, thereby accepting responsibility? Should he be removed from Office by way of a declaration of Unfitness for Office under the 25^th Amendment of the Constitution? Should he be impeached and tried by the Senate? How is he to be held accountable?

Another matter arising, is how to deal with his continuing behaviour. His ‘twitter’ account, through which he communicates to his followers, has been closed down by the company. This is a privately owned company which has taken a view and has curtailed his freedom of speech. The reasons for doing so, as expressed by the company, ought to apply to a number of users of twitter, who use the service to propound equally worrying propaganda and information. I do not object to the curtailing of hate speech, or speech intended to incite, or reckless speech which can incite criminal activity; however, if curtailed at all it should be done democratically. Democracy is defined as believing in or practicing social equality, and there are a number of other equally dangerous social users of Twitter.

The issues, so far, are matters of justice and the first amendment of the US Constitution; but, in continuing with justice, what about the enablers who, by the silent acquiescence of some and the active support of others, allowed the President to persist in his dangerous conduct for two months. It is not as if it was not foreseeable.

On the 1^st December Gabriel Sterling, election official in the State of Georgia, made it abundantly clear in a press conference “This has got to stop!!” He called upon the President and other high ranking Republicans to step up and say something. I shared the video on the 2^nd  December in a Blog entitled Step Up To Values,  but here it is again:

On the 7^th December Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of the State of Michigan, was seriously threatened by a mob of Trump Supporters outside her home, some sporting rifles, which amounted to a criminal assault. I posted a blog about this on the 9^th December entitled The Suicide of American Democracy.

The inciting of, and acquiescence to, criminal activity was entirely foreseeable. So how far will the Democratically elected representatives and judiciary go in holding people to account. Are they prepared to clean out the stable? Although there has been a call to name and shame those Congress women and men and Senators who promoted objecting to the acceptance of the electoral college vote, on the day of the riot, it is unlikely that they will be censured. Indeed, some of them have recanted, but  I assume the principle of remoteness of damage will apply to aiding and abetting in this case.

In effect, dealing with Mr Trump will not have an easy solution, particularly if the intention is to put him out of action to avoid a recurrence in forthcoming elections.

In dealing with that, we then have the issue of the Trump Base, those people who gathered to his banner and have followed his playbook ever since his first campaign for President under the guise of the Reform Party in 2000. He withdrew from that race but did not withdraw from his ambition. On the 15^th June 2015 he formally announced his candidacy as the Republican Party’s candidate for President of the United States. That base, therefore, has been growing and festering for the last 20 years. He fed, for 15 years, on that festering dissatisfaction of a section of the American public that felt itself ignored, overlooked and bypassed on the way to their American Dream. So, in 2016 they flocked to his support, just enough and in the right places to put him in the White House. From then on, they gloried in his presence, and became the idolaters of The Donald.

Those citizens firmly believe they are the true Americans, protecting the United States, liberty and the Constitution. Their default mantra is “USA! USA! USA! USA!...” America First is their corps belief. A lot of them equate that view with God’s wishes. There is a very strong religious undertow in their ranks. It is on the whole a Christian religion, supporting Christ as well as Trump. They are also (not necessarily all, but most) Pro-Life supporters. They do not like people they consider foreign and are suspicious of people they see as strangers. They strongly believe in the right for themselves to bear arms, the right to their free speech, the right for them to be able to assemble. They believe in the right to their own justice. Their belief is simple and clear.

I know that I am stereotyping the basic Trump supporter, after all Gabriel Sterling and Brad Raffensberger both voted for Mr Trump in 2016 and 2020; but they came to question that decision. That does not stop them from remaining Republican Party members; however, the basic supporter does not question and expresses an aversion to ‘politicians’, which is why they support him in the first place. “He’s not a politician” they say.

In his five minute speech in the Senate, Senator Mitt Romney stated that the best way to show respect for the citizens is to tell them the truth. This is undoubtedly the right thing to do; but does the truth penetrate the mind of the listening citizen or is the truth something that reveals itself to the mind of the citizen. To the minds of many, the behaviour of the President since the pandemic, the lead up to the election and, particularly, since the election, has revealed a truth; that he is incapable and unfit to be President of the United States. His lack of proper response to the needs of the people, his obsession with his own ego and loss at the poles, and the shameful manner in which he treats anyone who fails to pander to his cravings has been a revelation to anyone not blinded by some extraordinary faith or adulation of Donal Trump.

Therein lies the problem. It is a shocking but inescapable conclusion that those basic supporters are serious and utterly sincere in their expressions of support for Donald Trump, no matter what he does. He can insult women, demean and berate those who question him, point out the “enemies of the people’, and his base soak it all in. He is heard to attempt openly to coerce and threaten public officials and still he is believed. He can claim fictitious landslides and false conspiracies and ‘his truth’ penetrates deep into the minds of his base. How does one replace his truth in their minds with any sort of rational thinking and actual reality?

This is one of the issues of the American democratic process.  Does one send them all to ‘re-education gulags’? Is it time for a Chinese style department of re-education, or reprograming along the lines of Orwell’s 1984? These are things the American population will have to ponder and resolve. Will the prosecution and conviction of Donald Trump, in whatever form it takes, be the answer? Or will that prosecution infuriate and entrench the base? 

This all requires a matter of fine judgement. The numbers of American voters who disowned Mr Trump are larger than those who supported him. Those Americans who voted him out are in turn supported by a very large number of people outside of the United States who have watched and listened to what has been going on; but will a global voice be enough to bring the base around?

There are serious democratic issues being played out in the United States. The leadership will have to find a solution and the most likely deadline is the midterm election on the 1^st November 2022, the first Tuesday of November, All Saints Day, the morning after Halloween.

What tricks or treats will Joe and Kamala have for us all.