The choice is stark: destroy the Republican Party in its current form or watch American democracy die
Keeping both Donald Trump and the contemporary Republican Party from ever clawing their way back into power in the US is an existential imperative, writes Borzou Daragahi
In the US state of Georgia, a group of ageing white conservative men stood by on Thursday as Republican Party governor Brian Kemp signed into law a bill which makes it more difficult for poor and minority voters to take part in elections. Kemp, let’s not forget, is accused of having used voter suppression to edge his way to an election victory against Stacey Abrams in 2018 by fewer than 55,000 votes.
Laws similar to the one in Georgia are being passed through Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country. The Republican playbook is clear: unable to win elections with their unpopular policies on the economy and social issues, the American right has opted to make it harder for their opponents to vote, even as they tout claims of non-existent voter fraud.
Meanwhile, Democrats hem and haw about whether they should remove the filibuster which allows hard-right senators in the minority to block substantial legislation to reform the country’s electoral systems and expand voter participation.
Democrats need to toughen up. A lot is at stake. As President Joe Biden said about the voting restrictions during his press conference this week, “What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is … This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle. I mean, this is gigantic what they’re trying to do, and it cannot be sustained.”
Indeed, the world’s most powerful country must not fall into the hands of the American far right, many of whom, by their support of the 6 January coup attempt at Capitol Hill, proved they are a far more malignant force than even their most shrill critics warned.
Four years of Donald Trump badly damaged the world. It became poorer, sicker, dirtier, less free, more corrupt and more violent. Keeping both Trump and the contemporary Republican Party from ever clawing their way back into power in the US is an existential imperative. Doing so is necessary, not just to protect American democratic institutions and preserve liberal democracy worldwide, but to salvage any hope of rescuing the planet from the impending disaster of climate change, which Republicans claim is a hoax, and will require tremendous planetary cooperation to mitigate.
It is time for the Democrats and like-minded former Republicans who see the danger to play hard ball, employing whatever means are at their disposal. If that means torpedoing the filibuster that lets 40 out of 100 senators block legislation and ramming through electoral reforms, so be it. If that means expanding the supreme court and packing it with liberal judges, let it happen. If that means resorting to backroom discussions to coax, cajole, or threaten conservative Democrats who don’t play along, well, that’s just old-fashioned American politicking.
It might mean targeting individuals by ferreting through their finances and personal lives in search of crimes, or cracking down on the unpaid tax and other obligations of corporations that fund the Republican Party.
Do the ends justify the means? Is it right to use potentially undemocratic, unethical and illiberal means for the purposes of blocking the Republicans’ efforts to undermine democracy? No one wants to violate anyone’s constitutional rights but if there is overreach, the system can correct itself later, after the Republican Party has been safely put in its place as a tiny fringe movement.
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Some argue that the Democrats shouldn’t scuttle the filibuster or aggressively pursue their agenda for fear of what the Republicans might do if the pendulum swings back in their favour. Sadly, the Republicans have already proven they are willing to do anything to push their extremist agenda, even if that means backing a coup against democracy.
Who actually believes that a house speaker like Matt Gaetz would behave civilly or that a senate majority leader like Tom Cotton would enact a bipartisan agenda because the Democrats refrained from torpedoing the filibuster? Would a President Ted Cruz, elected in 2024 with 44 per cent of the popular vote through the grace of the electoral college, reach out to Democrats to forge a common agenda because Democrats declined to pack the supreme court?
Trump is a fool who had no idea what he was doing, but he still managed to boost authoritarians and degrade democracy across the world. Imagine the damage that a President Josh Hawley would do to the trans-Atlantic alliance, or to the cause of struggling democracies in Asia and the Americas. Picture him raising his fist in salute to Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders and Vladimir Putin at the next summit of the G20.
Getting rid of the filibuster is the first step to avoiding such a nightmare scenario. Politically, there will be little cost to pay. A majority of Americans say they favour filibuster reform and those who oppose it likely aren’t too passionate about the issue. Conservative purple-state Americans care about tax rates, immigration, ending the pandemic, as well as social issues like upholding traditional marriage.
Biden’s approach of vaccine jabs and cash handouts to cool the tempers of these angry, mostly white, middle Americans, while shying away from matters such as which bathrooms transgender people get to use, is spot on. As the pandemic is eased and the economy begins to hum, they will care little if he takes steps to euthanise the Republican Party in its current toxic form.
It’s do-or-die time. Either destroy the Republican Party or watch as American democracy is destroyed by it. To paraphrase and update Michelle Obama, when they go low, you go for the jugular.
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