Article by WN.Com Correspondent Dallas Darling
Political power doesn’t always have to grow out of the barrel of a gun. It can also grow out of imaginary crises and last-minute power grabs. Consequently, as President Donald Trump and Republicans feel their popular support slipping away expect more last-minute power grabs like the ones that just occurred in Washington and Wisconsin and North Carolina.
Last-minute power grabs, that is, which will be fueled by more imaginary crises used as a pretext to first defend, and then later subvert, democracy.
Meanwhile, nothing strengthens the nature of an authoritarian leader and their last-minute grabs for power as much as ignorance and the public’s silence.
An Authoritarian, A Fanatic, And Another Mouthpiece
Trump’s nominee of William Barr for attorney general is just one example. If approved, he’ll expand his executive powers – and privileges – even more. Especially since the nominee has attacked Robert Mueller’s probe as a Deep State Conspiracy and plans to de-fund or shut it down. He’s also known as a fanatic who “believes in a dictatorship” of the presidency.1 In fact, he was the one who advised former President George H.W. Bush to pardon several officials who were charged with crimes for their roles in the Iran-Contra Scandal that left 25,000 Nicaraguans dead. Trump and Barr will surely go after immigration and other opponents too, rewriting the rules of the game.
Picking former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert as U.S. Ambassador to the UN should set off more alarm bells. She has zero diplomatic experience to represent the U.S. before the international community and is expected to espouse the president’s paranoia talking points. This entails a belligerent foreign policy and contempt for human rights that has reneged on treaties, imposed unilateral sanctions, cut foreign aid, endangered the global environment, and expanded the arms race with Russia.2 Meanwhile, the state-ran Fox News conservative-entertainment-complex will be able to peddle even more of their far-right ideologies and polarizing conspiracy theories.
Another example of the president’s grab for power – albeit an attempted one – was what former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned about in a recent speech. The president evidently issued directives that were illegal and violated laws and treaties.3 At one point, he had to stop the president from militarily backing Saudi Arabia’s preemptive war against its tiny neighbor Qatar. Speaking with CBS’s Bob Schieffer, Tillerson also warned as commander-in-chief, the president lacked leadership and capacity to do the job and chose not to be acquainted with foreign affairs. In the meantime, too many legal and illegal activities surrounding Trump have already become inextricably intertwined.
Republican’s All-Out Assault On Voting – And Voters
Another thing that’s become inextricably intertwined is voter fraud and the “one person one vote” rule. Instead of being certified, a Republican-led congressional race in North Carolina’s ninth district between Republican Mark Harris, who supposedly beat Democrat Dan McCreedy by less than 1,000 votes, is being investigated. But instead of widespread voting fraud by illegal immigrants, something Republicans have used to exploit fear, the voting fraud came from Republicans. Subpoenas have been issued and signed affidavits show at least one Republican operative paid people to harvest absentee ballots that were never counted.4How many other races were tampered with may never be known.
The same kind of shady and last-minute coup just occurred in Wisconsin. After facing defeat by his Democratic challenger, Scott Walker and his Republican allies in the state legislature who believe they’re entitled to rule launched an all-out assault on democracy by calling a lame-duck session. They not only introduced new laws that would severely curtail the powers of the new incoming governor, but toughened existing laws to protect work requirements for state health care. They also included limiting the new governor’s ability to renegotiate disastrous deals for public subsidies to private corporation, and approved 80 last-minute appointments without any public hearings.5
The same kind of last-minute naked power grabs are occurring in other states as well where Republicans lost their congressional seats or feel popular support slipping away. Ensuring their gerrymandered districts will continue to favor Republicans for the 2020 election and Trump, they’re blatantly eliminating districts that favor minorities while attacking voting rights – which usually harms the working poor. They’re also dismantling independent judiciaries by appointing far-right judges. This includes the “separation of powers” clause which is an important constitutional guarantee that always frustrates authoritarians and their last-minute grabs for power.
Crises And Last-Minute Power Grabs Kills Democracies
Since the public is usually slow to realize their democracy is being dismantled – even as it happens before their eyes, not to mention more than willing to tolerate – and support-authoritarians in the midst of a crisis-real or imagined, it’s important to support those who are opposed to Trump and the Republican’s last-minute power grabs. The same goes for those who are either investigating him or dismantling their wild-eyed conspiracies. This is especially true since constant experience has shown every man invested with power is not only apt to abuse it as far as it will go but may do so with a vengeance. A vengeance that may someday include the barrel of a gun.
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.)
1 www.commondreams.org. “Trump Nominates William Barr, a ‘Fanatic Who Believes in Dictatorship of Executive Power,’ for Attorney General,” by Jake Johnson. December 7, 2018.
2 www.theguardian.com. “Who Is Heather Nauert? The New UN Ambassador With Little Experience,” by Julian Borger. December 8, 2018.
3 www.independent.co.uk. “Rex Tillerson Says Trump Asked Him To Do ‘Illegal Things’ as Secretary of State,” by Clark Mindock. December 7, 2017.
4 www.vox.com. “What We Know About the Alleged Election Fraud Plot in North Carolina,” by Dylan Scott. December 8, 2017.
5 www.commondreams.org. “Democracy Dies…In the Early Morning Light as Wisconsin GOP Rams Through ‘Lame Duck Legislative Coup,’” by Jake Johnson. December 5, 2016.
Photo:
Public Domain / Joyce N. Boghosian
