We are at a turning point and November’s midterm elections will determine the fate of this country for decades to come. You’ll see a lot of memes to “Vote Now” and obvious reasons why, but Brian Klaas nails the unearthed, very real reasons we all must vote. Here are excerpts of Klaas’s opinion piece in The Washington Post.
“The endless barrage of news stories — Rod J. Rosenstein, Brett M. Kavanaugh, the United Nations literally laughing at President Trump — are all worthy of attention. But they shouldn’t make us lose sight of a simple but urgent truth: The 2018 midterms are the most important election in modern U.S. history. The 2016 presidential election pales in comparison. And if these midterms result in a Republican win, they are likely to have a greater impact than the 2020 race, too.”
Klaas says the stakes are higher. “This election is not about policy or partisanship; it’s about the principles of democracy. This election will decide whether Trumpism will become the new norm.” The writer explains how.
“Consolidated democracies don’t die from the rise of a demagogue. They die when the demagogue successfully co-opts the institutions and political parties that would otherwise resist authoritarian-style politics. They die when checks and balances become abstract theories on old parchment, instead of oversight exercised in practice. They die not when voters elect a strongman, but when they give his authoritarian brand of politics their stamp of approval in the subsequent election. That’s how ailing democracies died in Turkey and Hungary. It cannot be allowed to happen in the United States.”
Millions of voters tolerated Trump’s “alarming, despot-like outbursts, his racism, his lies, his apparent unfitness” for office during the campaign, and saw him as sort of a “circus” that would disperse after Hillary won. Others decided to “roll the dice,” says Klaas. Was it out of boredom with the current system to see what would happen—or a lashing out? Today, “nobody is under any illusions about who Trump is or what he represents,” and he is “a threat to the democratic system itself.”
Brian Klaas reminds us how Trump is brainwashing many people into believing that the free press is an enemy of the people and the FBI is a “cancer,” when the media and the FBI are actually there to be the voice of the people, and protect the people.
Klaas goes on:
“Trump also scapegoats minorities for political gain, targeting black athletes, Mexicans, Muslims and migrants. He makes a mockery of democratic ethics, using public office for private gain. He appoints unqualified cronies or his unqualified family members to senior posts. And he consistently praises the world’s worst tyrants — Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — while directing an endless stream of vitriol at America’s democratic allies.”
A greedy, self-serving, weak-kneed GOP has allowed Trump to continue, but November 6 is the day of reckoning, says Klaas. “If Democrats sweep into power, winning at least the House, Republicans will be forced to reassess their spineless kowtowing to a wannabe despot ...Trump’s worst impulses will be constrained.”
“But if Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress, they will double down. Trumpism could be cemented into American politics for a generation, posing an existential threat to democracy itself. Republicans will receive the message that embracing Trump’s authoritarian streak is the surest path to victory. The feeble rhetorical resistance of Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) will be replaced by, at best, a deafening silence and, at worst, a full-throated battle cry for Trumpism. He will get away with more. He could be reelected in 2020, and his Republican successor would likely follow his authoritarian-style playbook.”
Klaas says democracy can be destroyed in just a few “tipping point” elections, and ours has arrived. “This election is not Democrats vs. Republicans on the ballot: It’s democracy vs. authoritarian populism. We can’t afford to make the wrong choice.”
Read the full op-ed by Klaas in the Washington Post here.
May Brian Klaas’s opinion resonate into a sad fact and bear weight upon millions of swing voters and/or those thinking their votes don’t matter. Because they do matter—now more than ever.
Register now, vote early, help others to register and vote early, and/or help them make it to the polls.
Brian Klaas is an assistant professor of global politics at University College London, where he focuses on democracy, authoritarianism, and American politics and foreign policy. He is the co-author of "How to Rig an Election" and the author of "The Despot's Apprentice" and "The Despot's Accomplice."
Democracy Dies in Darkness