The brink

Is this how American democracy ends?

What do you say about the image of a right-wing mob sacking the Capitol? What do you say about the circumstances that led to that moment? An entire political party feeding its supporters lies, attempting to overturn the results of a free and fair election which their leader incontrovertibly lost, lending their tacit support to the fanatics who told everyone what they would do and then did it? What do you say about a disaster—for America, for the world, for the very concepts of democracy and the rule of law—which was entirely foreseeable, perhaps not in its precise details but certainly in its broader strokes?

I would very much like to write something cool-headed and considered here, intellectualizing and contextualizing the events, giving people an interesting way of thinking about what’s happening and so on and so forth. I can’t, I’m sorry, I’m too angry.

How exactly do people think this is all going to go? All these folks who’ve been collecting weaponry and fantasizing about killing politicians and overthrowing the government: what do they think happens next? You murder some liberals and Democratic legislators and bring about a MAGA utopia, and then everyone just goes back to having backyard barbecues and binge-watching Netflix? These cowardly Republicans who say they wanted to vote to impeach but were scared for their lives: are they incapable of thinking a few steps ahead? Is the idea that they appease the violent mob and then that’s that and no one needs to worry about being threatened or killed anymore? Everyone who pooh-poohs the risk of a democratic collapse, or who apologizes for the president, or who makes bad-faith attacks on the politicians attempting to hold those responsible for last week’s violence to account: are they under the impression that things will eventually just...get better? That they can continue pursuing their own personal grift and expect no negative consequences for themselves or those around them or the people of the United States?

We all need to wake up. I know there are things about America and the way that it’s governed that upset the Americans who attacked the Capitol, or sympathized with the attackers, or who simply associate themselves with the MAGA scene. Hey, great, guess what: everybody has gripes about politics, join the club. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are worth over $100bn and they still bitch about the government. Me personally, I get pretty steamed about a lot of stuff: like the fact that we cannot seem to do as every other rich nation has done and create a non-torturous healthcare system. Do you know what’s not going to make things like that any better? Trying to start a civil war and/or destroying American democracy. I cannot believe this needs to be said, but rendering the constitution non-functional or seeking to achieve one’s political agenda through violence is going to make everyone much worse off. We will all be much poorer; we will all be much less free; the things we care about will be destroyed; the futures we imagined for our children will be replaced by an ugly new reality, and there will be no getting back the old way of life. It will be gone, and we will all understand what a mistake has been made, and there won’t be a damn thing to be done about it.

I will never not be disappointed at the tens of millions of Americans who think the worst of their neighbors, who do not stop to think about whether the nonsense they’re being fed online or courtesy of the ethically bankrupt hucksters of right-wing media makes the least bit of sense, who cannot spare an ounce of empathy for others who aren’t exactly like them. But life in America is hard and the business of just getting through the day is demanding, and I get that people place a certain amount of faith in what they hear from others, especially figures of authority in their communities and on television and in the national government. But the people who know better? Who have the power and the platforms to reach millions of people and shape how they see the world, and who fail to use that influence to stop us hurtling toward disaster—or indeed, use that influence instead to speed us on our way? I cannot describe the fury I feel toward them, but what I feel most is a desperate desire that they simply stop. Stop while it might still make a difference. It is absolutely vital that you stop. Rupert Murdoch: fucking stop it. Ted Cruz: christ man, just stop. I’m not even going to try to appeal to conscience. You are killing the golden goose. You are destroying the ladder you want to climb. Yes, you’re also endangering the lives and livelihoods of millions of other people, and yes you ought to care about that. Whether you do or not, you should still stop, because this is not going to go well for anyone. 

What I mean to say is that we are close to losing our democracy. Yes, if we are fortunate and things go according to plan, then next week Joe Biden, the duly chosen president-elect of the United States, will take office, and a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate will do their best to restore a sense of normalcy. They will attempt to hold some of those who threatened the peaceful transfer of power to account, and they will try to pass some democratic reforms to prevent the worst abuses of the past few years from being repeated, and they will see what they can do to speed vaccinations and limit the harm done by the pandemic and restore the economy to health. They won’t do things exactly the way I’d like them to, and they’re certain to make mistakes, tactical and otherwise, but they will generally do as American governments have generally done and pursue a policy course they think is likely to make the country a better place.

But the reality of the situation is that the leader of the Republican party did just about everything he could do, apart from order the military to intervene, to overturn the result of a free and fair election. He was supported in this effort by hundreds of elected Republicans at all levels of government. These elected Republicans have had multiple opportunities to stand up to the president: to take steps to limit his power or to talk to their constituents and co-partisans about the danger Trump presents to democracy. With extremely rare exceptions, they have chosen instead to enable the president. 

And even after a violent mob, encouraged by the president, sacked the sacred temple of American democracy and sought to kill their colleagues, they were unable to say that enough is enough. This was it. This was the opportunity for the Republican party to demonstrate that it was not fundamentally opposed to a democratic system of government and the rule of law. This was, quite probably, about as bad as things could possibly get such that there was an aftermath in which Republicans had this choice; much worse, and leading Republicans would either be dead, jailed, or in league with the figure at the head of a successful auto-coup. If this most critical of moments could not change their behavior...well, I don’t think there’s much point asking what would.

This is the political opposition that the Biden administration will face. This is the set of behaviors, now blessed by very nearly every top Republican of any influence, that we can expect to become a common part of American political life, that will affect the elections of 2022 and 2024 and however many more we have left. This is the state of the world that the youngest generation of American voters and political leaders will believe to be normal; these are the standards of action against which the country’s future leaders will judge themselves. This may be the end of the Trump presidency, but it is the beginning of a new and terrible age of American politics. You cannot have a functioning democracy in which one of two major parties does not feel itself bound by the rule of law or by any sense of ethics or shame, in which one of two major parties does not accept any reduction in its power through the democratic process as being legitimate. So, everyone, do we want this democracy or not? Do we want to try to solve our (considerable!) disagreements within the framework described by our constitution and the laws of the land, or would we instead prefer that those most willing to use violence should have their way? When we look around at the countries in which disputes are settled by unaccountable force and brutal violence, do we see something we like and wish to emulate?

Because that’s where we’re headed. Even if Trump leaves the White House next week and never sets foot inside again, that is where we are headed. There is no savior coming to rescue us from ourselves. There is no external force which can protect us from our worst inclinations and most dishonorable leaders. We are at our own mercy. Republicans like to talk about personal responsibility. Well, that’s what will or won’t hold the country together: people in positions of power choosing to accept the responsibility that comes with that power and do the right thing, or...not.

I know there must have been countless unfortunate souls at countless moments in human history who watched events around them unfolding and felt every bit as angry and helpless as I do. And in so many cases, the flow of events continued uninterrupted and the terrible things they’d feared came to pass, and many people suffered unnecessarily. And maybe it seemed then as though there was nothing that could have been done, and that the victims were simply at the mercy of the fates. But of course there were things which could have been done. There were decisions that people made, to do one thing rather than another, thinking perhaps that their actions were too insignificant to make a difference, believing that taking a little risk for the sake of the greater good was not worth the trouble. It is in this way that the world’s great tragedies come to be.