Don Harwood responds to New York Times editor Joseph Kahn, who says that the attack on democracy represented by Trump is not the premier campaign issue:
"Donald Trump is the first American presidential candidate to explicitly threaten the democratic system on which a free press depends. He could win. Considering the stakes for the country, that ought to be the campaign issue that dwarfs all others."
"The democratic experiment cannot long endure if one of the two major political parties is itself anti-democratic. Democracy itself can’t regularly be on the ballot. The democratic consensus must be deeper and broader than that for the rule of law to survive."
@wdlindsy That quote does presuppose that the party not embracing democracy will survive. That is by no means certain (esp given Trump's age, and the fact that his family takeover of the RNC will fall apart without him).
@pyperkub I tend to read it as saying that, regardless of the party channeling the anti-democratic impulse, that impulse will survive — in part, because it's so strong in American culture and politics.
@wdlindsy Eh, I can see that, but I'd add that in modern times, autocratic rule (as opposed to rule of law) tends to fail spectacularly when the autocrat dies. The struggle for power in that sudden vacuum is extreme, and the pressures from within and without are so much larger than they were in the age of monarchs. I don't think China will long resist that issue either.
@pyperkub Perhaps — but it still seems to me important to note that the impulse to authoritarianism perdures and can be very strong in many cultures as autocrats come and go. I think the rise of the fascist right globally and especially in Europe right now shows us this.
@wdlindsy Except that I can draw a straight line from Garland/Smith deciding not to prosecute tRump for insurrection, one of only 3 crimes specifically called out in the Constitution, and the Supreme Court declaring the 14th Amendment can’t be used to disqualify him from office because he wasn’t prosecuted for insurrection. And the famed “J6 indictment” is for the fake electors scheme, not insurrection, if anyone wants to actually read it. That wont be prosecuted in time either. Bravo DoJ
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@wdlindsy Certainly. I offer earnest refutation of the second attached article that seeks to exonerate Smith from any responsibility for the ongoing erosion of the rule of law.
@wdlindsy For Kahn, however, that threat to democracy is so central to the election that the continuation of democracy is a partisan issue. Therefore, he decreed, any observation of that threat needs to be treated as a partisan attack by Democrats.
@JamesBazan Thanks for formulating the point that way. It helps me see it more clearly, and makes Kahn's stance seem to me all the more ludicrous and shameful.