The events of the past few weeks were predictable, but never the less near catastrophic. We entered the New Year with millions of Americans questioning the results of the November election. The oddity of that is they only seemed to question the outcome of the Presidential vote. The rest of the results, which favored Republicans in most cases, were just fine. And few of the sceptics seemed to notice that contradiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, only five days into the year, we had the stunning results of the Georgia Senate runoff.\u00a0\u00a0By slim margins, the Democratic candidates managed to win the twin elections, and change the power structure of the Federal Government.\u00a0\u00a0That January 5th<\/sup>\u00a0election put the Democratic Party in control of the Senate, by the new Vice President\u2019s tie-breaking vote.\u00a0\u00a0With Democrats already controlling the House and the Presidency, it was a full change in power.\u00a0\u00a0But in all three institutions it was by such narrow margins \u2013 a galactic shift by the smallest of forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On January 6th<\/sup> we paid the price for the lies, and the false expectations. President Trump called \u201chis people\u201d to protest in Washington, then sent them to Congress to stop the Electoral certification. There is a legal expression, \u201cknew or should have known\u201d. Donald Trump knew, or should have known, the fuse he was lighting on the National Mall that day. He acted, at best, in \u201creckless disregard\u201d for what might happen from the crowd he was stoking. He lit the fire, and it exploded into the flames that nearly consumed the Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two weeks later, we know how close we came to the mob dragging our leaders out of the Capitol and into the streets. What might have happened then is too terrible to contemplate. And what Donald Trump would have done, what advantage he might have taken, we don\u2019t know. And, in all likelihood, neither does he. While some in the crowd had \u201cmissions\u201d planned in advance, I don\u2019t really think the former President had a grand strategy. He was \u201cpissed\u201d because he lost, and he was taking it out on everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now Donald Trump is exiled, like Napoleon, to his \u201cElba Island\u201d at Mara Lago. But like Napoleon\u2019s first exile, he really isn\u2019t \u201cgone\u201d. He\u2019s brooding, a still powerful force in American politics. Look at his muted supporters still on Facebook. Less than twenty-four hours after Joe Biden\u2019s inauguration, they already are looking back at the \u201cgood old days\u201d when Trump was in charge. He\u2019s not been sent to Napoleon\u2019s final exile, St. Helena, a speck in the middle of the South Atlantic. Trump is still right here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And the leaders of the Republican Party get to make choices. They could choose to further disarm the \u201cTrumpian Wing\u201d of their Party, by taking away an opportunity for Trump to run again. They could complete his impeachment by convicting him, removing the perks of his \u201cretirement\u201d, and banning him from further political participation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But that risks the enmity of the Trumpian voter.\u00a0\u00a0In our gerrymandered democracy, the influence of Trump on Republican primary voters remains enormous.\u00a0\u00a0So Republican leadership must do more than just take away Trump\u2019s political rights.\u00a0They must find a way to reach his voters, outside of his powerful communication structures of right-wing and social media.\u00a0\u00a0If they don\u2019t then a whole new generation of cynical Josh Hawley\u2019s will find themselves empowered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some Trump supporters suggest that they will split off from the Republican Party. They will secede to a new political vehicle, the party of Trump, the \u201cLiberty\u201d Party. Our two-party system is embedded deeply into our political structures. Ask the Green or Libertarian parties, or any of the other \u201calternative\u201d choices. But the \u201cLiberty Party\u201d wants to subsume the Republican Party, much as the Republican Party subsumed the Whig Party in the 1850\u2019s. Their goal: to take over those embedded structures so that the Republican Party becomes the \u201calternative\u201d and the \u201cLiberty\u201d becomes the second of our two-party system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a Democrat, it would be easy to cheer for a split in the Republican Party. In the short term, it would improve Democratic chances, a three-way split of the votes with the Democrats at a huge advantage. But in the long run a \u201cLiberty\u201d Party represents a threat to democracy, the same threat that the mob represented on January 6th<\/sup>. A \u201cLiberty\u201d Party empowers the racism and authoritarianism that we pretended didn\u2019t exist in the American political system, but made itself very clear in the past few months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So I hope the Republican leadership chooses wisely in the next few weeks.\u00a0\u00a0They have an opportunity to further exile Trumpism.\u00a0\u00a0They have a chance to cooperate with the new leadership in the nation, to advance all of our causes.\u00a0\u00a0And they can do it all under the cover of: \u201cthose \u2018damn\u2019 Democrats are in charge\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The Republican leaders would risk losing the short-term gains of appealing to the Trumpists.\u00a0\u00a0But the more they pander to them, the greater the long-term risks of becoming an Orwellian \u201cLiberty\u201d Party.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we all know where that leads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insurrection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Napoleon with a Long Tie<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Secession<\/h3>\n\n\n\n