GOP OPTS FOR TRUMP'S SOVIET STYLE "DEMOCRACY"

The warnings that the Republicans are abandoning liberal democracy are, on the whole, not being taken seriously enough other than by the "frantic" liberal media and the Democratic establishment. However, like it or not, the entrenched position of the Republican Party is their commitment to Trump who they have anointed as their life long leader, "Right or Wrong". There is not the full realization that accepting Trump and everything that he stands for is an embrace of a Soviet style "democracy".  As an aside Trump has made no secret of his admiration of leaders who have initiated authoritarian regimes such as Vladmir Putin, as well as several others of the same mould including Erdogan of Turkey, Bolsanaro of Brazil and Orban of Hungary, to mention but a few. 

The support of Trumpism by the GOP is rationalized in all sorts of ways with the general underlying assumption that once power is returned to the GOP Trump and authoritarian Trumpism will just vanish into thin air. The crowning of Trumpism will be in the form of the dethroning of Liz Cheney the Number Three Republican in the House. The latter arguing vehemently that the "King has no clothes" and has become the standard bearer for returning the GOP to sanity.

There appears to be a significant minority in America that are uncertain as to what constitutes a liberal democracy and or there is an acceptance that maybe an authoritarian savior will return America to its "Greatness" and keep it ethnically and culturally pure. Jay H. Ell will examine the GOP's jettison of their long standing principles such fiscal conservatism and fealty to the Consitution in favor of Trumpism. There will also be an analysis of the profound way that Trumpism has violated all the components that make up the political order that America has aspired too over the past two and a half centuries. The result of his efforts would be a Soviet style "democracy".   

TRUMP IS THE KING - LONG LIVE TRUMPISM

In spite of Trump's real world loss of the Presidency, his spectacular  failure to rally the Georgian GOP voters to retain their Senate seats and his inability to rewin the House of Representatives, he is seen as the last "white hope" to save the Republican Party. Lindsey Graham articulated the rationale to Fox News's Hannity. Graham argued, "I say to my Republican colleagues can we move forward without President, (sic), Trump? The answer is no!  I've always liked Liz Cheney but she has made the determination that we cannot grow with President Trump. I have determined we can't grow without him. People are attracted to the Trump Republican Party. If you don't get that as a Republican, you are making the biggest mistake in Republican Party history." Needless to say the House Leader Kevin McCarthy concurs and Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who is opposing Trump for power not principle and has conceded that he will support Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee in 2024.       

Th anointing of King Trump has been cemented in a ceremony to publicly humliate and axe, Liz Cheney, the de facto leader of the Party that doesn't support Trump's Big Lie that he really won the Presidency. All sections of the Party from its diminishing membership, to its state and local legislators are ad idem with Trump. 

Just in case there is any doubt as to where Trumpism stands in the minds of the Republican establishment the last Republican Convention created no policy platform it left that entirely up to the Leader, Donald J. Trump. Just in case there is any doubt as to where the declining membership loyalty lies, seventy percent back Trump.

So now that it has been established that Trump and Trumpsim are the direction as to where the GOP are committed, the impact on the political order on America Liberal Democracy can be examined. 

WHAT CONSTITUTES THE POLITICAL ORDER OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY?

The foremost expert on what the political order of a liberal democracy consists of is renowned political scientist and author,  Professor Francis Fukuyama. He has a written a two volume definitive work entitled, "Political Order and Political Decay, which includes the history of the evolution of political order and the nation. Certain nations have one or other component but to have a liberal democracy all three of The State, Rule of Law and Accountability have to be present. The former represents power and the latter two are the societal brakes These terms require definition and are dealt with in great detail in Fukuyama's treatises. Jay H. Ell will attempt to point out how Trumpism defies all of them and if he finally triumphs will turn America into a Soviet style "democracy".

THE STATE AND TRUMPISM'S APPROACH TO IT

Fukuyama traces the historical genesis of the State which he defines as an efficient non corrupt government that sees to the needs of society. The government not only consists of a controlling administration but also of bureaucrats, a taxation policy and the institutions to run the nation. The criterion as to appointments must be on merit. In the USA the Pendelton Act of 1883 lead to the meritocracy of the civil service. Specifically, those in charge of the country, must not appoint members of their family or friends to positions of authority. The Professor ascribes China's modern day success to having a State that fulfills all these criteria. It may not be a liberal democracy but it has a comprehensive organizational infrastructure and demands the highest merit and competence from its civil servants. Dereliction of duty can even result in execution. There is no nepotism or oligarchy. 

Trump from the get go set about smashing the careers of highly regarded public servants. Whether it be the Ambassador to Ukraine,  the five Inspector Generals that he fired in six weeks or a record fourteen Cabinet Secretaries, that were confirmed by the Senate resigning, Trump made it quite clear that he only wanted personel running the government who were totally loyal and showed obsequious obedience to his whims and policy. Trump's turnover rate in his Administration was ninety - one percent.

His one time Campaign Manager then National Security Advisor, Steve Bannon, wanted to get rid of the whole Washingtom infrastructure. It was obvious that Trump didn't give two hoots about how the country ran. He believes to this day that they were all in "The Dark State" out to get rid of him. 

Michael Lewis wrote a best seller entitled "The Fifth Risk" of how Trump's skimpy transition team took over the workings of the Federal Bureacratic infrastructure - "The morning after Trump was elected President, the people who ran the US Department of Energy waited to brief the administration's transition team on the agency it would soon be running. Nobody appeared. Across all departments the stories were the same. Trump appointees were few and far between: Those who did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new work place."

As for Trump's nepotism it was upfront for all to see. His chief advisor on everything and anything was his son in law Jared Kuschner and his first daughter was the de facto first lady. He made it quite clear that he wanted cronies and officials that were loyal to him and publicly admitted it. 

The military are probably the most stable institution in American bureaucracy. Trump has inferred throughout that they are "his boys", (and girls one assumes). As a "dry run" as to how he might use them internally he manipulated the military to disperse a peaceful protest so that he could have a photo op at a church. There were military helicopters, military units, rubber bullets and the Chief of Staff dressed in full military regalia. The uproar after the event led General Mark Milley, the Chiefof Staff, to unprecedently apologize for his involvement, "I should have not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics".

So much was the fear that Trump would use the military for trumped up reasons that all living previous Secretaries of Defense, the majority of whom were Republicans, issued the following, "...we hold a common view of the solemn obligations of the US armed forces and the Defense Department. Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, We did not swear it to an individual or a party. American elections and the peaceful transfers are the hallmarks of our democracy....".

Jay H. Ell could go on and on but the bungling of the pandemic response was a metaphor for his administration. In Trump's attempted annihilation of the Federal Infrastructure he had the Office of Pandemic Preparedness that had been situated in the White House, which was an indication of its importance, removed with its staff. He denied the significance of the pandemic throughout, fought science making even the wearing of masks a political issue and replaced and smeared Dr. Fauci with Dr. Deborah Birx, who he believed he could control and indeed in public she shut up. For those who missed her remorseful interview on Sixty Minutes, she stated that a hundred thousand deaths were unpreventable but for the rest the outcome need not have happened had the Administration acted differently. 

THE RULE OF LAW AND TRUMPISM'S APPROACH

No Liberal Democracy's political order can act without the rule of law where everyone is subject to obeying the laws and can be subject to the same penalties for their transgressions. It is one of the key checks and balances of the leaders and the administration. According to Fukuyama historically it dates back to those countries where there were religions that guided the standards of behavior and were separate from the Nation.

America has an elaborate legal system and while a President is not normally subject during his term the possibilities are legion now that, in spite of his protestations, he is out of office. There are criminal and civil cases galore in various stages of investigation which will not be detailed here but rather his efforts to defy the rule of law while in office will be enumerated. 

From the very beginning he demanded loyalty from law officers as detailed by James Comey who contemporaneously documented his conversations with Trump. He fired Comey when he refused to drop an investigation into his National Security Advisor Mike Flynn who was subsequently convicted of multiple felonies. He wailed and moaned that Jeff Sessions his Attorney General was not loyal to him in that he refused to stop the Mueller investigation. Sessions was most loyal to Trump's policies but had to recuse himself from the investigation as he had "misspoke" to Congress about his contacts with the Russians during the campaign. Loyalty was far more important than principles. He fired Sessions.

Eventually he obtained his loyal Justice Officer William Barr who believed, like Trump, that the President was above the law. He exonerated Trump within four days of receiving the four hundred page Mueller report. A Federal Judge called him "disingenuous" in his "reasoning" for doing so as he had already made up his mind before preparing his four page classified memorandum which the Judge had read. Potentially Barr could be charged for perjury as he lied about his whitewash of the Mueller Investigation to Congress. Barr did even more at Trump's behest iniating a prolonged investigation with taxpayer money as to why the Mueller report had been initiated as well as instituting a probe into Hunter Biden. He intervened in prosecutions of Trump's cronies. Finally he could not deliver the Big Lie that there had been election fraud so he too was axed.

Eight of Trump's closest advisors and inner circle have been indicted for Federal crimes. These include both his recent personal lawyers. The first the indictment of his personal lawyer Michael Cohen cited Trump as the one who instructed Cohen to pay the hush money to women who alleged sexual affairs. Rudi Guilliani who is under investigation for several crimes claims he has to be innocent as it was the President who instructed him to do whatever he did. Then both President 45's National Security Advisors Flynn and Bannon also were indicted. Both were pardoned by Trump the latter even before he was convicted. His former campaign manager Paul Manafort who was given a lengthy jail sentence, and who gave a Russian operative internal polling figures was also pardoned by Trump. His Deputy Campaign Manager Rick Gates who colloborated with the justice department received a token sentence while George Papadopolous, a foreign policy advisor to the campaign, who let the cat out of the bag of the Russian support of Trump's electoral campaign also sat in jail for months. In total thirty - four indictments emanated from the Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

Again Jay H. Ell can go on and on, on Trump's disregard of the rule of law. When everyone that he was joking that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue - he wasn't he was obviously dead serious.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRUMPISM'S APPROACH

The leader and or the Party have to be accountable to "We the people". In Russia they also have elections where the result is a forgone conclusion as all the powerful opposition are never allowed to run. Trumpism wants to rig the elections either by simply rigging them or making it difficult for the opposition voters to get to the polls.

The universal method of accountability is by "fair and free" elections. Trump refuses to accept the result of the 2020 contest that has been ratified again and again. He initiated sixty court challenges all of which failed. He has come up with a set of weird conspiracy theories, some of which have resulted in civil litigation, as to how the election was stolen from him. While the Republican States that he attampted to persuade to alter the 2020 election results initially demurred, they now fearing his wrath, have passed legislation that is outright designed to suppress the minority groups who overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Measures such as limiting voting hours and facilities and allowing unlimited campaign finance backed by the gerrymandering are being enshrined into State Law.

Trump having failed in every possible attempt to reverse a "fair and free" election then instigated an insurrection on January 6, 2021 in the hope of interrupting the ratification of the Electoral College victory of Joe Biden. Four hundred rioters have been charged as a result and Rudi Guilliani, his current personal lawyer, who spoke at the incitement of this sedditious act, is being investigated for various other charges where he claims he was acting on the former President's behalf. 

This whole sorry saga of January 6 is being played down by the Republican legislators who are further backing "The Big Lie" that Trump won the election. There are a small number of Republican legislators who won't buy this garbage. They are lead by highly Conservative Liz Cheney who is part of the Establishment GOP, her father being Dick Cheney a decades old Republican leader and Bush 43's Vice President. Her Republican leadership position was terminated as a result.

Representative Cheney speaking in the House Legislative Chamber, which had only one other other Republican present, claimed that President Trump had provoked a violent attack in an effort to steal the election. She argued in the vein of Edmund Burke that for evil to succeed it was enough for good men, (women!), to do nothing.  Ms Cheney claimed that, "...I will not watch in  silence while others ... join the former President's crusade to undermine our democracy". She will remain a powerful rallying force within the Party.

Meanwhile the Senate is taking up the Democratic sponsored "For The People's Act", which if passed would override all the States' efforts to suppress the vote, as well controlling financial contributions. Mitch McConnell has reassured Trumpism that there will not be one Republican vote for it and has vowed to block the effort.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

It is not unreasonable to argue that the Republican Party has abandoned democracy in favor of Trumpism. The question is now whether it is for a Soviet style democracy or a South American banana republic type.  

Furthermore it is not hype to argue that America is at a crossroad and much depends on whether Biden and his administration can right the ship. 

Trump is desperate and powerful. From his perspective he either regains power or he will sink in a morass of legal disgrace. He won't hesitate to instigate violence again as Cheney warns. Nor should he be underestimated after all, he has the party of Lincoln believing he is still President.