The Atlantic published a strong warning against the erosion of democracy this morning, written by none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton. It’s a good read, giving a cliffs notes version of all the ways Republicans are pushing America off a fascist cliff.
Not just Donald Trump, mind you. Republicans have been too busy eroding our democratic traditions themselves or protecting Donald Trump to do anything about it. And now Clinton is adding to the voices that call them out.
Unfortunately, Clinton does not use the word “fascist” to describe Trump or the Republicans, but I can’t fault her for that. She’s still calling out the erosions of democracy that underpin the rise of fascism. Under these circumstances, they are two sides of the same coin.
Before addressing Republicans at large, Clinton addresses Trump’s behavior, including the blunt racial inequality in Trump’s speech:
Trump doesn’t even try to pretend he’s a president for all Americans. It’s hard to ignore the racial subtext of virtually everything Trump says. Often, it’s not even subtext. When he says that Haitian and African immigrants are from “shithole countries,” that’s impossible to misunderstand. Same when he says that an American judge can’t be trusted because of his Mexican heritage[…]
I don’t know whether Trump ignores the suffering of Puerto Ricans because he doesn’t know that they’re American citizens, because he assumes people with brown skin and Latino last names probably aren’t Trump fans, or because he just doesn’t have the capacity for empathy. And I don’t know whether he makes a similar judgment when he lashes out at NFL players protesting against systemic racism or when he fails to condemn hate crimes against Muslims. I do know he’s quick to defend or praise those whom he thinks are his people—like how he bent over backwards to defend the “very fine people” among the white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia. The message he sends by his lack of concern and respect for some Americans is unmistakable. He is saying that some of us don’t belong, that all people are not created equal, and that some are not endowed by their Creator with the same inalienable rights as others.
The actions Trump’s administration have taken that erode civil rights:
There have been high-profile edicts like the Muslim travel ban and the barring of transgender Americans from serving in the military. Other actions have been quieter but just as insidious. The Department of Justice has largely abandoned oversight of police departments that have a history of civil-rights abuses and has switched sides in voting-rights cases. Nearly every federal agency has scaled back enforcement of civil-rights protections. All the while, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is running wild across the country. Federal agents are confronting citizens just for speaking Spanish, dragging parents away from children.
And Trump’s embrace of Lügenpresse, where Mrs. Clinton has a highly qualified perspective:
Trump is also going after journalists with even greater fervor and intent than before. No one likes to be torn apart in the press—I certainly don’t—but when you’re a public official, it comes with the job. You get criticized a lot. You learn to take it. You push back and make your case, but you don’t fight back by abusing your power or denigrating the entire enterprise of a free press. Trump doesn’t hide his intent one bit. Lesley Stahl, the 60 Minutes reporter, asked Trump during his campaign why he’s always attacking the press. He said, “I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”
But then, significantly, Clinton moves on from the symptoms of fascism and addresses the root cause. The degradation of our democracy runs deeper than Trump, and began long before 2016:
There is a tendency, when talking about these things, to wring our hands about “both sides.” But the truth is that this is not a symmetrical problem. We should be clear about this: The increasing radicalism and irresponsibility of the Republican Party, including decades of demeaning government, demonizing Democrats, and debasing norms, is what gave us Donald Trump. Whether it was abusing the filibuster and stealing a Supreme Court seat, gerrymandering congressional districts to disenfranchise African Americans, or muzzling government climate scientists, Republicans were undermining American democracy long before Trump made it to the Oval Office.
In case there’s any doubt where I stand on the issue, it’s important that American voters vote out as many Republicans as possible in November.
The only Republicans with the spine to challenge Trump are either retiring or recently deceased. At this point there should be no doubt left. Any voter who continues to prop up the Republican Party, today’s Republican Party that empowers Trump to erode democracy and dehumanize human life, will be remembered as fascists just as much as Trump himself.