All indications are that members of the Republican Party have forsaken their oath of office and turned against the American democracy. Some Republican members of congress are even publicly repeating Russian propaganda on the House floor. Further, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene continues to fight hard to prevent America from providing additional aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. She threatened to force a vote on a move to vacate if Speaker Mike Johnson allowed the $95 billion bipartisan bill to be brought to vote that includes aid to Ukraine.
Speaker Johnson allowed a vote on this bill and it passed. True to her threat, Representative Green forced a vote to remove Speaker Johnson. It failed miserably by a vote of 359-43. Although Representative Greene’s attempt to remove the Speaker was unsuccessful, these shenanigans by House Republicans should be of grave concern to all Americans who value democracy and America’s role as the world leader in fostering and preserving it.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump has managed to normalize things like what House Republicans are doing and many other things that, before his tenure as The Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and his time since leaving office, would have set the hair on fire of all Americans regardless of their Party affiliation. But that is not the case now and that is a huge problem for America if we intend to remain a democracy.
Rachael Maddow said on her May 6th show this week that democracy is mortal; it can be killed. And she is right. She said this in her continued effort to help Americans focus on the existential threat to democracy now; and to do something about it now! She reemphasized that this is not some kind of future threat that we will be faced with but it is already happening.
However, because we have grown numb to Donald Trump’s behavior despite how outrageous, ridiculous, and unacceptable it might be; and have grown weary of trying to correct it so wink at it, we are abetting him in normalizing it. This is exactly what America does not need right now. She does not need those of us who want to keep America a democracy to grow weary and quit. But it is what Donald Trump and the Trump led Republican Party need and exactly what they want. And they seem to be already getting it when we consider what is happening in real time in the American judicial system.
The United States Supreme Court is considering Trump’s preposterous presidential immunity appeal while slow walking a decision on it, Judge Aileen Cannon has postponed the Trump documents trial indefinitely, and an appellate court in Georgia has agreed to hear Trump’s appeal of Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to not Remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the RICO case he is facing. And as if all of this was not enough, the Republican Party itself is doing everything that it can to help Trump avoid being held to account and to put him back in the White House.
I explained to readers in articles about Trump that I posted to this website in April, why they should thoroughly scrutinize Trump’s actions and behavior while he was in office – especially leading up to and during the January 6, 2021 insurrection, how he has continued to conduct himself since he left office, and stated that he does not deserve their vote and they should not vote for him. I also encouraged them to get out and vote in the 2024 election despite all obstacles that they are sure to face.
I reiterate that encouragement in this article because Republicans are obviously putting forth every effort to make it harder to vote: And they are not hiding the fact that they are doing it. This Trump led Republican Party know that they have done many things under Trump’s leadership that goes against what the majority of Americans want from our government. They know that this will make it even harder for them to win in the 2024 election and so, therefore, are trying to manufacture an advantage that will help them to win.
Key among the things that Republicans have done is the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This decision by the Supreme Court conservative supermajority took away rights that women had held for nearly 50 years and, in essence, placed a politician in the room with women and their doctors as regards personal healthcare issues. It also elicited not-so-veiled threats from some of those same conservatives to take away other rights from, not just women but all Americans.
What is happening in America now is not what Americans want from our government. We do not want a government by the minority, let alone one person. Those politicians, whether they wear suits or long black robes, who envision a government under Trump as one that will be worth having because it will allow them to remain in their positions and retain their power are misguided and delusional. It might allow them to remain in their positions; and that is only as long as they are completely loyal to him and agree with all his policies and everything that he says, but they will not retain their power. All power will ultimately rest in Trump’s hands and all politicians, again, whether they wear suits or long black robes, will simply be figureheads.
In the end, all of those who are currently humiliating themselves in their effort to ingratiate themselves to Trump but have not yet ended up empty vessels on Trump’s human pile of lost principles, lost dignity, lost honorable legacy, and depleted burned-out souls will ultimately end up there. No one who willingly enters Trump’s orbit survives; at least, that has not happened yet. As cynical as this sounds, it is necessary to jolt those off the dime who still believe that someone will come to our rescue. They will not.
It is on us now and we must save ourselves. And we can do that if we remain steadfast and continue to fight all the way through the 2024 election. And if Trump does not win and he and his sycophants cry foul after the election claiming that it was rigged, we must continue to fight until the rot that has penetrated and infected the American government and institutions is isolated and removed. Only then can we cautiously relax and enjoy some degree of trust in our elected officials to faithfully conduct the business of the American people. Even then we must remain alert and maintain honorable and trustworthy sentries on the wall of democracy.
Freedom is not free; we must fight for it! Far too many of us Americans take our democracy and the rights and freedom that we have to the pursuit of happiness for granted. We have been given what could very well be our only warning to prevent the fall of democracy: the fall of the United States of America; Trump made sure of that. We must head that warning! For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for all Americans. The need for all Americans to fight for democracy with everything that we have now cannot be overemphasized. We can fight not only with our vote in the 2024 election, but by getting engaged and staying engaged in the democratic process by always performing our civic duty.
So always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!
Eulus Dennis – author, M2: Street Cop To Top Cop, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line