Backsliding Democracy

In the Global State of Democracy report, Dear Leader finally gets the recognition he deserves.

Disputes about electoral outcomes are on the rise, including in established democracies. A historic turning point came in 2020–2021 when [the former guy] questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election results in the United States. Baseless allegations of electoral fraud and related disinformation undermined fundamental trust in the electoral process, which culminated in the storming of the US Capitol building in January 2021.

[These] baseless allegations ... have had spillover effects, including in Brazil, Mexico, Myanmar and Peru, among others.

Update (December 27):  Andrew O'Hehir ponders whether we truly understand the nature of "democracy" vs. "fascism" as a characterization of our political crisis.

The democracy that Americans have been taught to venerate, and that many of us now seek to defend, is a limited and specific historical phenomenon, which has been on a downward trajectory of slow decay and creeping paralysis for at least 30 years. One core problem that the Democratic Party and many people in the political and media castes have been unwilling to confront directly is that defending institutions that patently do not work is a position of pathetic weakness, not to mention near-certain defeat.

As for the homegrown authoritarian movement some of us designate as fascism, it is rather like an opportunistic infection. The [Fuckface] insurgency did not cause the crisis of democratic legitimacy, and could not have taken hold or spread so rapidly in an actually functioning democracy.

Update (January 17, 2022):  Richard Eckersley "draws on people's profound disquiet about life in America" to suggest that deeper issues are overlooked by the traditional political discourse.

Take, as an example, materialism and individualism, two defining qualities of modern Western culture. The research literature suggests that, when taken together and too far, they reduce social integration, self-worth, moral clarity and existential confidence and certainty. There is a shift from intrinsic to extrinsic values and goals; from self-transcendence to self-enhancement; from doing things for their own sake to doing things in the hope or expectation of other rewards, such as status, money and recognition. The result is an increasing focus on our own lives and an unrelenting need to make the most of life. Frustration, disappointment and failure become more likely; loneliness, anger, depression and anxiety are a greater risk.

[T]he official future is one constructed around notions of continuing material progress and economic growth, and scientific and technological advances, with the aim of providing an ever-rising standard of living. It is increasingly being challenged by sustainable development as a framework for thinking about human betterment. Authentic sustainable development does not give economic growth overriding priority. Instead, it seeks a better balance and integration of social, environmental and economic goals and objectives to produce a high, equitable and enduring quality of life.

The evidence shows that the political systems of the United States and other Western liberal democracies are failing, unable to deal with the nature and scale of 21st-century realities. Blinkered by their cultures, most politicians and journalists do not see the extent of this failure. Without a transformational change in the cultures of politics and journalism, we will not and cannot "look outward" far enough or "look inward" deeply enough to address the two types of existential threat humankind confronts: the extrinsic, environmental and other tangible problems that pose a threat to human civilization and survival; and the intrinsic, intangible problems of finding meaning and belonging in today's world. This should be the most fundamental layer of political discourse, one which remains largely missing.

Update (January 20, 2022):  Travis Waldron and Paul Blumenthal wonder whether U.S. political institutions are broken beyond repair.

The uniquely anti-democratic structures of the American political system have historically thwarted any effort to make the United States a more representative nation, especially for its Black, Latino, Native American and other marginalized populations. Now they have done so again, at a crucial crossroads for the country’s democracy.

The [recently defeated voting rights] bills were an attempt to arrest a decade-long anti-democratic spiral brought about by the GOP’s steady radicalization and legal assaults on the right to vote. Their failure shows that the spiral is nowhere near its bottom yet — and that the institutions that could end it may be completely incapable of doing so.

President Biden thinks there will be a second chance to get this done. I think we're fucked. 

More Republicans than Democrats feel democracy is currently under attack, according to a September CNN poll. Independent voters, meanwhile, are roughly split between which party poses the bigger threat, a November survey from Marist University found.

Experts widely consider the Republican Party a major threat to democracy, but a GOP that faces no legislative response or blowback — and, in fact, prospers politically — from its assaults on democracy and institutional advantages is not likely to reverse course.

The sort of drastic reforms that would quickly reshape that kind of landscape into one that could produce a more representative and democratic government are all but impossible under the current political system. And now, the more modest changes Democrats sought to make are dead too. Barring massive shifts between now and next January, it may be years before they have another chance — if it ever comes again.

Update (January 30, 2022):  Paul Rosenberg quotes Ian Hughes on why conventional centrism isn't functioning in our political system.

[W]ith climate change, the impacts of the vast inequalities we have created, the hollowing out of our democracies, all of these neglected issues are rushing in from the background and crashing in upon us, destroying our cozy narratives. In such circumstances we need new "extremists" — visionaries who can see the world as it could be, activists whose lives are devoted to common good and not private wealth, agitators who remind us that our current systems of economics, politics, gender, militarism are deeply broken. We need, first and foremost, to recognize that the systems that make up our current civilization are finished. Only then can we start to build back better.

Update (January 31, 2022):  In a stunning speech, Fuckface von Clownstick makes it very clear he wanted Vice President Pence to overturn the 2020 election. He also called on his supporters to rise up in massive, possibly violent protests should he charged with crimes. He further promised to pardon those involved with violence should he return to office. 

Amanda Marcotte says Dear Leader is doing everything he can to manipulate public opinion.

[His] boldness in trying to rewrite the history of January 6 is horrific, but not shocking. The man has never failed to press an advantage. He has a huge one when it comes to gaining control of the narrative of January 6: There's no one really out there stopping him. The mainstream media is falling behind on the job, failing to treat [the former guy's] downright criminal aggression on this front with the gravity it deserves. Meanwhile, Democrats who ostensibly control Congress and the White House are too slow-moving and cautious in their response, giving [Fuckface] the opening to go all-out with his valorization of January 6 and efforts to stoke further attacks on democracy.

Update (February 3, 2022):  More stories emerge on how much effort was made to subvert democracy in the 2020 presidential election. Heather Digby Parton says these actions were worse than what Nixon did to try to block investigations into Watergate.

[Dear Leader] tried to use the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security (and for all we know the CIA and the Department of Education too) to overturn a legal election that he lost. And his party shrugs. Worse than that he is the front runner for the nomination in the next presidential election.

Update (February 6, 2022):  The Republican National Committee had the gall to censure Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for "participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse". The National Review blasted the move.

The action of the mob on January 6 was an indefensible disgrace. It is deserving of both political accountability and criminal prosecution. Aspects of it are also fit subjects for a properly conducted congressional inquiry. It is wrong to minimize or excuse what happened that day.

Also, Mike Pence rebuts his boss.

[The former guy] is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.

Which leads to the predictable outburst.

I was right and everyone knows it.

Update (February 8, 2022):  In an interview with Marc Lamont Hill, Noam Chomsky says the Republican Party is now committed to overthrowing representative democracy.

[Dear Leader] has managed to mobilize a popular cult of (worshipping) followers. Anything he does, they support — and they've basically taken over the Republican Party, or what used to be the Republican Party. Republican leaders are groveling at his feet, afraid to offend him in any way. [Fuckface] has made it very clear — more clear in the last few days — that he does not believe that the United States should have a functioning democracy. He's said explicitly that the vice president, Mike Pence, could have overturned the election and failed to do it — it was Pence's failure, his fault that the election was not overturned and handed over to [von Clownstick]. He said it quite explicitly.

Dark Days Ahead?

Under pressure to accomplish something, the Progressive Caucus gave Biden his win on the infrastructure bill with the vote on Build Back Better now delayed. Proposed at $6 trillion and most commonly listed at $3.5 trillion, BBB has already been whittled down to $1.75 trillion and still might not get past a nominally Democratic controlled Senate.

Of course, pragmatists are fine with this--"half a loaf" and all that (more like one-seventh?). Democrats hope infrastructure alone can be a winning issue. Meanwhile, the few Republicans who dared to vote for a non-controversial bill are receiving death threats. Brian Karem is hopeful for a return to sanity in the "bipartisan" effort even as he quotes Joe Walsh:

If you are pro-vaccine, anti-insurrection, and you state the truth that Joe Biden won the 2020 election fair and square, you have no future as a Republican. Just think about that.

Andrew O'Hehir's hope is a little more nuanced.

A whole lot of Democrats are hopelessly pinioned between the corporate donor class they have lovingly cultivated and the increasingly restless "progressive base," and must also reckon with the fact that in our deeply undemocratic system their fragile majority literally rides on a few thousand randos in exurban "swing districts" and "purple states," who are entirely likely to vote based on the price of gas or whether the Amazon guy was a dick or some half-processed fragment of COVID misinformation.

Historic patterns are against us next year (not to mention deliberate undermining) and a Restoration is not out of the question for 2024.

Yeah, that could definitely happen, and it would be bad news. Will it mean the end of democracy forever? No, of course not. Will it suck? Yes. ... But to pretend that the deeply offensive and moronic (and evil) prospect of a [Fuckface] 2.0 regime will mean the end of history and the end of politics ... is insulting and untrue. Why do we think we're special? In almost every European nation, not to mention the nations of the developing world, there are living people who have survived periods of fascistic or autocratic rule and come out the other side. Millions of people live under such regimes right now. It might just be our time to get schooled by history.

O'Hehir argues it's time to rebuild a party from the ground up while searching for answers--but perhaps only after "a period of real danger and possible violence and almost certain trauma, which will require courage and patience and sacrifice, and whose ending is uncertain". So, good thing there's no civilization-threatening catastrophes in the making.

Update (November 19):  The House of Representatives passed a watered down version of Build Back Better on a party line vote. 

Sedition

An article published in Rolling Stone names members of Congress and the former Administration directly involved with planning the January 6 rally that turned violent.

Two sources, according to their story, revealed that Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) were all present on "dozens" of calls with organizers of the group. [Additionally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was mentioned prominently by the organizer.]

Katrina Pierson was also named by them a "liaison" between the White House and the rally organizers. Mark Meadows was cited as someone who also aided the group.

The former president also spoke to the group, saying that they were going to march to the U.S. Capitol and tell the members of Congress that they needed to hand [him] the election. He promised that he would lead them and walk with them, but that never happened.

Shouldn't expulsion from Congress be expected at the very least? 

Juliette Kayyem offers concise advice:

Mark Meadows, just three words: call your lawyer.

Update (December 14):  A slew of text messages to and from Mark Meadows shows the White House was fully aware of the extent of the insurrection at the Capitol and chose to do nothing in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 1505:

Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law ... shall be fined ... imprisoned ... or both.

Also, Jon Skolnik summarizes the growing mountain of documents related to the coup attempt.

So far, the evidence suggests that [Fuckface] and his allies coordinated a far-reaching campaign of lies – spanning multiple agencies and branches – to cast doubt over the results of President Biden's win.

Update (December 15):  Heather Digby Parton calls it a bad week for von Clownstick.

[W]hen you look at the evidence it's clear that [Fuckface] spent weeks planning to [obstruct an official proceeding] and when his followers resorted to violence to accomplish it, he sat on his hands for hours and watched them do it.

I am not particularly optimistic that any of these cases will come to fruition. But [Dear Leader] and his henchmen are feeling the heat right now for what his long-time fixer Michael Cohen always calls "his dirty deeds" and maybe that's the best we can hope for.

Update (January 2, 2022):  Representative Liz Cheney argues Dear Leader could be charged with dereliction of duty.

The [Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol] has firsthand testimony now that [Fuckface] was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred.

[He] could have at any moment walked [a] few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop, he could have told them to stand down, he could have told them to go home and he failed to do so.

Update (January 4, 2022):  Barbara McQuade explains a range of possibilities:

There is a crime making it illegal to corruptly impede or obstruct an official proceeding, which includes proceedings before Congress. If [Fuckface] had the power to stop that riot from happening and to permit the vote to go forward, his failure to do that could be that effort to corruptly obstruct the official proceeding.

I think we could also look at conspiracy to defraud the United States — that just means trying to impede the normal functioning of government — all the way up to seditious conspiracy, which is a conspiracy to oppose by force the authority of the United States.

I think all of those potential crimes are in play.

Update (March 6, 2022):  U.S. District Court Judge David Carter dismissed John Eastman's claim of attorney-client privilege for withholding emails that may implicate Dear Leader in crimes.  Chair Bennie Thompson and Co-chair Liz Cheney had argued that the Select Committee "has a good-faith basis for concluding that the [former] President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States".

We believe evidence in our possession justifies review of these documents. The facts we've gathered strongly suggest that Dr. Eastman's emails may show that he helped [Fuckface von Clownstick] advance a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college ballots and a conspiracy to impede the transfer of power.

Did Manbaby really believe the election was fraudulent? According to testimony from Richard Donoghue, the former guy's reaction when confronted with the lack of evidence was to ask

If I do this, what do I have to lose?

Update (March 10, 2022):  Amanda Marcotte says the conviction of Guy Reffitt on five felony charges is a good start. 

[P]olling and focus group data show there's a massive mushy middle of Americans who don't approve of January 6, but also have been impacted by right-wing propaganda so they don't understand how coordinated, purposeful, and violent the insurrection actually was.

[I]f the DOJ wants these charges to stick, they would be wise to prosecute [Dear Leader]. Otherwise, he has a very good chance of installing himself as president and issuing the mass pardons he has already promised. If only to save their own work product, the DOJ needs to seriously consider charging [Fuckface] for some of his many, many crimes. A public record is nice. Actual consequences for trying to overthrow democracy are better.

Update (March 29, 2022):  Judge Carter rules that Eastman must turn over documents to the Select Committee.

Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that [Fuckface von Clownstick] corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, there are details about coordination between Senator Ted Cruz and John Eastman as well as the revelation of a 7 hour 37 minute gap in White House phone records for January 6. 

Update (March 30, 2022):  At least one phone call from the White House was made during that seven hour gap in the call log. That is a violation of the Presidential Records Act.

Update (April 11, 2022):  Representative Liz Cheney says the Select Committee has enough evidence to refer Dear Leader for criminal charges.

I think what we have seen is a massive and well organized and well-planned effort that used multiple tools to try to overturn an election.

[Those involved in planning the events of Jan. 6] knew that they were going to attempt to use violence to stop the transfer of power.

That is the definition of an insurrection.

Chauncey DeVega, in an interview with Hugo Lowell, also summarizes the Committee's findings.

The attack on the Capitol by thousands of [von Clownstick's] followers on Jan. 6, 2021, was not a spontaneous or random event. We now know from Department of Justice filings and other evidence — and what may be the most documented crime scene in American history — that the attack was wholly predictable if not premeditated, and that the goal of [his] followers, which included various right-wing paramilitary groups, was to stop the certification of the election in Joe Biden's favor. In total, the Capitol assault was an integral part of the plot to keep [Fuckface] in power.

Lowell adds:

I believe that [von Clownstick] knew by mid-December. His operatives were putting together a plan, or several plans, to put him back in office. He knew by the start of January about the plan to violate the Electoral Count Act, which was unlawful, and to have Pence insert himself into the certification process to return him the presidency. In total, [the former guy] knew weeks before Jan. 6 the broad brushstrokes of what was going to happen. Closer to Jan. 6, I also believe that [Fuckface] knew of the violence or the potential disruption by force of the certification. I do believe that the committee has reached that conclusion.

[W]hat everyone has to remember is that [Dear Leader] lost the election. [He] wanted to return to office at any cost. If it meant the end of democracy, it meant the end of democracy. That's small change to [him]. He doesn't care.

Update (April 27, 2022):  Heather Digby Parton summarizes the accummulating evidence.

We know that [Fuckface] went to great lengths in the days and weeks after the election to bully, coerce, strong arm and intimidate local and state officials in all the battleground states to illegally overturn the election results.

Throughout this period, various conspiracy nuts, hucksters, crackpots and grifters were running in and out of the White House with ludicrous schemes, pushing conspiracy theories.

GOP leadership knew exactly what [the former guy] did that day and there was a moment in time when they thought it was the end of him — and they were happy about it.

We know everything we need to know. There can be no more doubt in anyone's mind who is paying attention that a coup was plotted and very nearly successful. The only question is if enough people care that American democracy is on life support to keep the people who planned it (or stood by while it was happening) from regaining power in spite of it.

And Amanda Marcotte notes that the fascist cult knows they are lying.

It's telling how right-wingers will ping pong from one conspiracy theory to another, depending entirely on whether it's useful in the moment, and indifferent to whether or not it flatly contradicts the lie they were claiming to believe five minutes ago. ... Being wrong never bothers them, because they think concepts like "true" and "false" have no value at all.

[L]ike their leaders, the Republican base simply doesn't care what's true and, frankly, finds truth to be an annoying obstacle on their way to power. So they're happy to do their part to lay waste to the idea that truth has any value at all.

Truth simply doesn't matter to [Dear Leader] and his followers. All that matters is power, and they will say or do whatever it takes to get it.

Deplorables

As we learn more about the plot to overthrow the 2020 election, Chauncey DeVega notes that Hillary Clinton's warning from 2016 was understated.

Today's Republican Party is in fact a right-wing extremist organization, and fascist in all but name. Its followers and voters embrace and act upon those values and beliefs. To claim that there is some other Republican Party, somehow separate and distinct from right-wing extremism — as too many commentators and political observers do — is to assert a difference that does not substantively exist. Ultimately, Hillary Clinton's [recent] Guardian interview makes clear that she too fails to consistently and accurately describe the party that she warned us about five years ago.

DeVega is not optimistic that the press and political class will respond adequately.

American political insiders are deeply invested in the familiar, nostalgia-colored mores of American politics. To acknowledge the existential threat of the Jim Crow Republicans and the [fascist] movement is too traumatic and terrifying for the political class to properly contemplate. Indifference, fantasy and soothing lies about how everything will inevitably be OK in America appear to offer a much easier path than doing the difficult and dangerous work required to save American democracy.

Matters are now so dire that it is now not a question of whether American democracy will succumb to a nightmare reign of full-on fascism but rather when that will happen. If America's neofascist movement continues to gain momentum, Joe Biden will be relegated to the role of a speed bump or an asterisk in American history.

Global Public Heatlth and Climate

An editorial published in over 200 medical journals calls for worldwide efforts to halt climate change.

We are united in recognising that only fundamental and equitable changes to societies will reverse our current trajectory.

The risks to health of increases above 1.5°C are now well established. Indeed, no temperature rise is "safe".

Thriving ecosystems are essential to human health, and the widespread destruction of nature, including habitats and species, is eroding water and food security and increasing the chance of pandemics.

The consequences of the environmental crisis fall disproportionately on those countries and communities that have contributed least to the problem and are least able to mitigate the harms.

[G]overnments must make fundamental changes to how our societies and economies are organised and how we live.

Update (October 21):  A report published by The Lancet warns about a health crisis.

There is no safe global temperature rise from a health perspective, and additional warming will affect every U.S. region. Today’s adverse health impacts of climate change are varied and widespread. All of us have been or likely will be affected by climate change, with some hazards more easily recognizable than others. Climate change is worsening heat waves, amplifying droughts, intensifying wildfires, supercharging hurricanes, and fueling flood risk through increased heavy rainfall events and rising sea levels.

Misogynist Triumph

Despite nearly 50 years of precedent, the Supreme Court allowed a Texas law to stand that essentially overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

The new law, Senate Bill 8, effectively bans abortions at six weeks, when many women don't yet realize they're pregnant. It also deputizes private citizens who can receive bounties of up to $10,000 for suing anyone accused of "aiding and abetting" patients who seek an abortion in Texas.

Amanda Marcotte summarizes the stakes.

[T]his support for the Texas law is an open invitation to every state legislature run by woman-hating Bible thumpers to pass versions of their own. Accompanying the law will be more dehumanizing rhetoric, treating women as livestock who can't be trusted to make decisions, or even acknowledged as capable of making decisions. Because debasing women has always been what the anti-choice movement is about. Now Americans will start to see the real life damage such hatred can wreak in women's lives.

Hopefully, David Frum is correct when he warns the GOP may face a major backlash from voters.

Texas Republicans have just bet their political future in a rapidly diversifying and urbanizing state on a gambit: cultural reaction plus voter suppression. The eyes of Texas will be upon them indeed. The eyes of the nation will be upon them too.

Update (September 8):  Amanda Marcotte warns us not to let Republicans off the hook for seemingly saying dumb things.

The Texas abortion ban isn't something that idiot anti-choicers stumbled into by accident. It was carefully crafted by highly educated, intelligent people who spent years researching ways to overturn Roe v. Wade while pretending that's not what they did. They are manipulative and diabolical, and have had incredible success, despite holding views that are wildly unpopular. It may feel good to write such people off as "ignorant," but that is the last thing they are. They're smart as hell, and that is why they're so dangerous.

Update (September 21):  The legal challenges have begun. 

Colossal Failure

As U.S. troops continue to withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban are on the verge of reclaiming control of the country. This comes about in a matter of days after nearly 20 years of U.S. involvement. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost and $2 trillion wasted that could have been spent much more productively. Lindsey German:

The whole war on terror has proved a terrible failure and this should be admitted. We should also consider how the lives of Afghanis would have been improved if only a fraction of the money committed to this war ... had gone into improving their lives through investment in infrastructure, housing, education, agriculture. That was an opportunity that could have been taken but was ignored in favor of military solutions. And those have brought us to where we are today.

Update (August 17):  Derek Davidson (via Luke O'Neil) notes that the Washington Post exposed 18 years of government lies about the progress of the war--but there's little attention paid to that.

Whatever form the war apologia takes you can be sure that it will be heavily cloaked in claims of deep concern for the Afghan people.

But you shouldn’t for a second suppose that the people who cheerled endless war and occupation in Afghanistan ever did so out of concern for the Afghan people. If the United States were really concerned for the Afghan people it wouldn’t have spent well over a decade ignoring the evidence that its nation building efforts were failing.

And Thom Hartmann offers these reminders for just how much American presidents cared about the Afghan people.

After 9/11 the Taliban offered to arrest Bin Laden, but Bush turned them down because he wanted to be a "wartime president" to have a "successful presidency." ... With that decision not to arrest and try Bin Laden for his crime but instead to go to war, George W. Bush set the US and Afghanistan on a direct path to today.

More recently, [Dear Leader] and [Mike] Pompeo gave the Taliban everything they wanted — power, legitimacy and the release of 5,000 of their worst war criminals — over the strong objections of the Afghan government in 2019 so [the Orange Turd] could falsely claim, heading into the 2020 election, that he'd "negotiated peace" in Afghanistan when in fact he'd set up this week's debacle.

Update (August 18):  Heather Digby Parton places the greatest blame for the failure on George W. Bush.

[P]erhaps the most cynical of all the rationales they offered in those early days before they pivoted to Iraq and pretty much put Afghanistan on cruise control was the unctuous, insincere, marketing campaign they launched to convince the American people that they were fighting the war on behalf of Afghan women. On November 17, 2001, just a few weeks after the attacks, they sent out First Lady Laura Bush to make a speech about the repressive Taliban regime's treatment of women, all of which was true but was clearly designed to make the war into something nobler than the crude act of vengeance it really was. ... There was zero interest in the issue on the right until the Bush administration decided to make it a central rationale for the war in Afghanistan.

Update (August 30):  The U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete.