Is this really how you "Save Democracy?"
Let's look at the record of those who claim to be trying to save democracy...
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I have deliberately avoided mentioning the 2024 Presidential election in this Substack column. Though I often delve into ideology, and particularly its threat to material progress (and here and here), I tend to avoid writing about individual politicians, elections, or political parties. I felt that I had to write this one article on the topic of whether Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, which is a key claim made by Democrats and the media.
Decide based on policy preferences
This article, however, is not trying to convince you which candidate to vote for. I really do not care which party or candidate my readers vote for. I don’t really even care whether you vote at all or vote for a third-party candidate. But I do care how people make their decision.
This article is to persuade you not to cast your vote based on “I really do not agree with the policy preferences of Kamala Harris or the Democratic party, but Donald Trump is a threat to Democracy, so I will do so anyway.” This seems to have been a sizable portion of the electorate over the last 8 years.
At one time, I was a loyal Democrat. I thought for myself and disagreed with the party line on many issues, but for decades I almost never voted Republican. I even ran for state-level office as a Democrat in a very Blue state in the late 1990s and almost won the Democratic primary. But since I was also a professor of Political Science and Public Policy, I could also separate my own ideas from my ability to analyze the two parties.
Way back in the 1990s, I could see that the Democratic party was going in the wrong direction (and had been doing so since the 1960s), but at least there was something sensible left in the party to cherish. So I maintained my partisan support and hoped that the Democratic party could be reformed from within. By about 2004, I abandoned that hope and became an Independent, which I still am today.
Unfortunately, things have only gotten worse since then. Something clearly shifted within the belief system of the Democratic party in the very early 2010s. The Democratic party is simply not the same party as when I was a member.
I cannot believe what has happened to my former party over the last 10 years. The current Democratic party is totally unrecognizable to me now. I still have negative views of the Republican party, but my views of the Democratic party are now even more negative. For virtually every election over the last 20 years, I have had to plug my nose and vote for a candidate that I did not actually like (whether Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or other third party candidate).
Now the Democratic party claims to be about “saving Democracy.” For the past four years, it has been at the top of Democratic rhetorical priorities. In the 2022 midterm elections, the tactic seemed to stop a predicted Red Wave.
For a while, the strategy seemed to be working in the 2024 Presidential campaign. It was certainly the centerpiece of the Biden campaign. But the potency of this “Trump is a threat to Democracy” claim is slowly wearing off. So much so that the Harris campaign has been much more low-key than Biden about saying Trump is a “threat to democracy,” though in the last weeks of the campaign, the rhetoric appears to be ramping up again.
So why do Democrats make the claim?
I am here to say that “Trump is a threat to Democracy” line is simply a campaign tactic. It is not based on anything more than a visceral dislike of Donald Trump. It is an intellectual rationalization of a negative emotional response. And negative emotional responses are not a good means for determining the person who holds the most important elected official in the world.
I have run for elected office, and I can tell you that Democratic campaign consultants ran polls and focus groups on the issue in 2016. Those campaign consultants have concluded that the claim can get swing voters in swing states, and that is a key reason why the Democrats focus on it.
Even more important, the claim rallies an otherwise demoralized Democratic voting base without requiring candidates to actually take policy stands that appeal to them. My guess is that the vast majority of people who publicly make the claim, do not actually believe it themselves. That is exactly why the charge is always so vague.
But isn’t Donald Trump the real problem?
Perhaps you think the real problem is Donald Trump. Perhaps you think that he is a uniquely dangerous leader. Perhaps you think that once Trump departs from the political scene, everything will return to normal.
I am here to tell you that the problem is not Donald Trump. For all of his vices, and he has many, Trump has a unique ability to force the Left to throw off their masks and reveal what is lurking beneath their polished suits and stirring rhetoric.
Donald Trump is the epic troll who provokes so much rage from those who want to be in control, that they lash out in irrational and self-destructive ways. Those fits of rage show the non-rational emotional impulses that lurk just below the surface.
See also my other articles and podcasts on Ideology:
Why Ideologies Threaten Progress (Part 1 of 3-part podcast series)
Why ideologies fail (podcast)
Descent into a man-made Hell: Understanding modern Totalitarianism
You might also be interested in reading my “From Poverty to Progress” book series:
This all started long before Trump
While few people talk about it, many of the smear tactics used against Donald Trump are not singular events due to a singular person. Those tactics, though admittedly used much less harshly, have been used consistently by Democrats for twenty years. And the primary victims of these campaign tactics have been Left-of-Center candidates who challenged the front-runner candidates for the Democratic party.
I ask you free-thinking Democrats and Independents to question the sincerity of a party that shamelessly attacked and often tried to keep the following challengers off the ballot:
Ralph Nader in 2004
Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020.
Jill Stein in 2016
Tulsi Gabbard in 2016
Marianne Williamson in 2023/24
Robert F. Kennedy Jr in 2023/24
No Labels in 2023/24 (EDIT: and more recent evidence here)
It does not matter what you think of those politicians. The smear campaigns and relentless attacks of fellow Left-of-Center politicians should make you question how concerned they actually are with protecting Democracy. This “save Democracy” campaign is clearly a playbook to restrict voter choice.
So if Donald Trump is such a unique threat to democracy, then why have the Democrats used the same tactics against so many Left-of-Center politicians? Perhaps this is not about Trump after all. Perhaps this is really about the Democratic party.
The Democratic party seems to have been captured by:
A Totalitarian Left minority who intimidates everyone within the party (Woke, climate activists, trans activists, etc).
A more Center-Left leadership of baby boom career politicians who increasingly see censorship, harassment against opposition candidates, lawfare, exclusion from the ballot, and changing voting rules as their principal means for staying in power.
This is increasingly the path that the Center-Left has chosen throughout the Western world. If successful, this path leads to Totalitarianism (or perhaps what one might call a form of “soft” Totalitarianism).
I am not claiming that the Center-Left wants that outcome. Only that it is the necessary outcome of this choice if political opposition from the Right is overcome.
Beneath these two groups are a mass of Democratic voters who are mainly staying loyal to the party:
in memory of a Democratic party that no longer exists (this is mainly true of older voters)
in exchange for receiving increased government spending, subsidies, and jobs
out of a fear of Donald Trump.
At this point, it is not even clear what Kamala Harris running on. Though she had four years to prepare for this campaign, she seems like she has never run for elected office in her entire life.
I honestly do not know which of the first two groups listed above is more dangerous. By itself, the true Totalitarian Left does not have power. The Totalitarian Left's only power comes from Center-Left appointing them into the bureaucracy.
Unfortunately, the Center-Left has done exactly that. So it really does not matter who the Democratic nominee is. A Democratic President will appoint ideological activists into the federal bureaucracy and other institutions, who then change the rules in their favor without any public redress.
The primary means for doing so is DEI policies. The combined forces of the American Left are pushing the nation toward Soft Totalitarianism.
The evidence
Meanwhile, the Center-Left leadership seems to be taking tips from Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping on how to run a nation. I ask you free-thinking Democrats and Independents to question the sincerity of a party who do the following:
Insisted for years that President Biden was fully cognitive and smeared anyone who suggested otherwise. And only when it was obvious that the lie could not be kept going after the June Biden-Trump debate, suddenly swapped Biden out for Kamala Harris, a person who has never won a presidential primary delegate in her entire life.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Is actively working to implement federal court packing, which is the surest route to slide into a dictatorship. This one action alone could be enough to tip the United States into a Soft Totalitarianism. In combination with the others listed below, it is a particularly dangerous path.
In four different states, Secretary of States tried to keep the principal opposition figure (i.e. Trump) off the ballot. And many more states have lawsuits trying to do the same.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action (except those who warned that the tactic might backfire, which it did).Eliminates voter ID requirements for elections in many states.
And virtually no one within the Democratic party challenges the action.Tries to eliminate voter ID requirements for elections on the federal level.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Say with a straight face that the reason they oppose voter ID requirements is because blacks cannot figure out how to acquire legal IDs.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Expands ballot harvesting and outdoor ballot drop-off boxes in many states, a practice with the obvious increased risk of ballot fraud.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Increasingly mandate racial discrimination in hiring, firing, and promotion in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Offered positive rhetorical and material support to months of rioting in the summer of 2020.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Let virtually all rioters in the summer of 2020 get away with no punishment and in some cases even awarded them damages, while January 6th defendants get long prison terms and pre-trial detainment for much lesser crimes, including people who were not even at the Capitol. Even journalists who were covering event are being indicted.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Have taken no actions to shut down Antifa despite its systematic use of violence, intimidation, and property damage.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Shut down most of the nation for months during Covid lockdowns and continued the lockdowns long after the policy failed to bend the curve of infections.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Refused to acknowledge the vastly different outcomes from Covid infection based on age and weight despite clear scientific evidence that was known as early as March 2020.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Shut down most of the nation’s school systems when it was obvious that Covid was virtually no danger to children and overseas data showed in-class teaching was not a risk to teachers.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Constantly focused on the dangers of Covid to young people long after it was obvious that there was an extremely low risk of death or serious complications.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Required children to wear masks and encouraged their parents to get them vaccinated long after it was obviously unnecessary.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Shame people who said that “people should just stay home” instead of wearing masks, even when it was obviously the most effective way to stop the spread of Covid.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Broke up anti-lockdown protests saying that they are a public health risk, but then encouraged far bigger and more violent George Floyd protests.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Pressures social media companies to censor “true but misleading” statements about Covid by medical experts on the subject.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Claims that the lab-leak theory of the origins of Covid was a dangerous conspiracy thinking despite it clearly being the most plausible reason (only later to find that many of them actually believed the theory while they were publicly debunking it).
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Suppressed social media about the Hunter Biden laptop and investigations into the apparent Biden family influence-peddling scheme worth tens of millions of dollars.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.
Future Secretary of State Anthony Blinken coordinating sitting and former intelligence officials to claim that the laptop has “all the hallmarks of Russian disinformation” when Blinken and the signers all knew it was really Hunter’s laptop.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Briefed the media and social media on the potential of Russian disinformation just before they knew that the true story of the laptop origins was about to leak.
And virtually no one within the party challenges the action.Pressures social media companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story just before the 2020 Presidential election even though they knew it was real. A subsequent poll revealed that 16% of Biden voters would have changed their vote if they had known (easily enough to tip key swing states)
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Indicts the principal opposition candidate, Donald Trump, 91 times, but waits until after it is clear that he is running for president again.
If there was credible evidence that he was a felon, why wait years to indict him?
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Claims that Trump is a threat to democracy but has no problem letting him go out on bail (despite Trump owning a private jet that is capable of flying overseas).
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Materially supported supposedly dangerous MAGA Congressional candidates so that they could get the Republican nomination because they thought this would make it easier for the Democratic candidate to win.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Rigged the Democratic nomination process so Biden was the only candidate appearing on the primary election ballot forcing RFK Jt to run as an Independent. Ironically, RFK Jr would have likely been a much stronger candidate than either Biden or Harris so the action may have contributed to a Trump victory.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Canceled the Democratic Party primary elections in Florida in order to make it easier for Biden to get the nomination without opposition.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Stripped the state of New Hampshire primary of delegates making the single most important Democratic primary meaningless.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Kept the Russiagate conspiracy theory going for over 4 years despite no real evidence. And to the best of my knowledge, none of the propagators of this fabrication have apologized or retracted their story.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Uses investigation of Biden’s potential influence peddling scheme involving Ukraine as a reason for impeaching Trump.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Facilitating mass illegal immigration, while granting voting rights to non-citizens.
And virtually no one within the party challenged the action.Mainstream media ignores virtually all of the above and concentrates on Trump’s threat to democracy.
I realize that each of these individual actions has additional context that might make that one particular action less objectionable. But taken as a whole, these actions are not those of a party that is “defending democracy.”
In fact, it is exactly the opposite.
And this is a very short list compared to what I could make, as I did not include insane ideological opinions on race, gender, and sexuality that are much further from the political mainstream than Donald Trump. Nor did I include the reckless deficit spending over the last four years which endangers our nation’s fiscal stability.
The true smoking gun
Notice that I added the phrase “And virtually no one within the party challenged the action” after each point. To me, this is the critical point.
All groups of people have bad actors. If other Democrats resoundingly criticized these actions, then I could say that there is a healthy opposition within the party that can self-correct against bad actors. The true smoking gun is that no one within the party criticizes these obviously anti-democratic and unethical actions.
This is proof that the Democratic party cannot control itself. It can only move in one direction. That direction inevitably ends up in Totalitarianism. Maybe it will be a Soft Totalitarianism, and maybe it will be of the more traditional hard kind.
The question that you should ask yourself is:
“Has the Democratic party shown any self-restraint or self-criticism in its relentless drive to shut down the political opposition?”
“Is there a point where the Democrats say they are going too far?”
There is only one way to contain this new version of the Democratic party. Vote so that they do not control the Presidency, the US Senate, and the US House. Then, maybe, they will begin to seriously rethink the bizarre and dangerous direction this party has gone for the last 10 years.
If you doubt me, then get specific
What drives me crazy about this “Trump is a threat to Democracy” is how vague it is. How is he a threat? What exactly are you worried about?
So for all those readers who think I am incorrect, give me one specific time-bound and falsifiable prediction of what you think will happen if Trump wins that will overturn democracy.
For example:
The 2026 midterm election will be canceled.
The rules of the 2026 midterm election will be changed to such an extent that opposition candidates will have no chance of winning.
The 2028 presidential election will be canceled.
The rules of the 2028 presidential election will be changed to such an extent that opposition candidates will have no chance of winning.
Trump will stay for a third term if the Democrats win the 2028 presidential election.
Trump will stay for a third term regardless of who wins the 2028 presidential election.
Trump will not allow his successor to be a Democrat regardless of who wins the 2028 presidential election. Instead, he will appoint a Republican President to replace him.
Federal government censorship of the Left on social media will markedly increase between 2025 and 2028.
Left-of-Center media organizations will be closed between 2025 and 2028.
Left-of-Center media organizations will be heavily censored by the federal government between 2025 and 2028.
Important Democratic candidates and media personalities will be assassinated between 2025 and 2028.
Important Democratic candidates and media personalities will be imprisoned without charge between 2025 and 2028.
Key blocks of Democratic voters will lose their right to vote between 2025 and 2028.
Or choose another falsifiable time-bound prediction. If you cannot do so, then drop the “Trump is a threat to Democracy” rhetoric. And don’t say something vague like “Trump is a threat to democratic norms” or “Trump is a destabilizing influence.”
Be specific.
And at least acknowledge that the 34 points listing undemocratic actions by the Democratic party are a troubling sign.
Ok, now back to non-election issues…
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Read the entire post first.
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EDIT: Soon after the election, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Jill Biden all posed for a photo at the White House smiling…
I guess this is what we do with “Threats to Democracy” now!
Joe Biden reportedly said:
“About that Threat to Democracy thing…
Don’t worry, Donald. It was just politics. We are still buddies. Meet me at Maro Lago for some poker this weekend?”
And a few weeks later, Barack Obama yucking it up with that terrifying threat to Democracy…
If Obama and Biden really believed their own rhetoric, would they really act that that?
See also my other articles and podcasts on Ideology:
Why Ideologies Threaten Progress (Part 1 of 3-part podcast series)
Why ideologies fail (podcast)
Descent into a man-made Hell: Understanding modern Totalitarianism
You might also be interested in reading my “From Poverty to Progress” book series:
Thanks for this excellent article.
It's amazing how many people I know who were ardent Democrats and now do not recognise (and are also horrified by) the current party.
It is a truly awful thing, and as awful as Trump is... the dispassionate analysis of the situation makes it clear what you need to do.
The Democrats need to go back to being liberals, and stop being authoritarians.
As I suspected, I got quite a few unsubscribes due to this article. Most of them came almost immediately after I published the article, so I am confident that none of those readers actually read the article.
If you are that intellectually fragile that you cannot read a differing opinion, then I don't want your subscription anyway. My views are very heterodox and I dislike most ideologies on the Left and Right, but a large portion of social media readers insist on putting me in an ideological box.