To Save Democracy, Speed and Will are Key

We Know What Must Be Done, Now is the Time to Start Doing It

I made this on Midjourney.

This Tuesday, we’ll be 48 weeks from Election Day 2024. That seems like a lot of time, until we remember that the forces arrayed against American democracy, from Donald Trump to the Kremlin, are hard at work trying to assure their return to power. Their efforts will accelerate over the coming months and the pro-democracy movement must begin to match them.

The coalition that will save American democracy is hampered by our very nature: We believe in the rule of law, decency, and the common good. History has shown that democracies can and do win existential conflicts, but are slower to anger, to prepare, and to respond than despots and tyrants. It is defensive in composition and mindset.

There are several reasons for this, including:

Failing to understand the nature of the opponent.  

At this point, we don’t need another ‘live from the diner in real America’ story to understand what drives MAGA and their god-king, Donald Trump. Resentment, grievance, and a desire to return to a world that never really existed and never will again keep base Republican voters in line. Their beliefs have not and will not moderate in the next 11 months. To expect that there will be some Rip Van Winkle-like great awakening is whistling past the graveyard of democracies past.

Believing that normalcy will win out.

The “old GOP” has not defended itself, does not, and will not. The last vestiges of the party in which I grew up have been swept away. The descent that started (literally) with Donald Trump has achieved full devolution with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Time and again, the likes of Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, and many others had the chance to dislodge MAGA from the Republican Party. Each time they’ve chosen the path of least resistance, and their own enrichment, empowerment, and aggrandizement.

Misunderstanding the nature of the threat.

As my old friend and Lincoln Project senior advisor Trygve Olson has been preaching for years: We must understand the fight we’re in, not the one we’re used to. If we know that Trump and his allies have orchestrated and executed an attempted coup against the government of the United States, why would we approach them as just another political party? If Trump and his allies are telling us what they’re going to do to their political opponents, those they’ve deemed ‘others,’ and the country at large, why would we believe MAGA’s staunchest supporters and advocates will listen to reason?

We’re 50 days to the Iowa Caucuses. In that time, despite the RNC’s best efforts to secure Trump the nomination, he will be in a fight with the likes of Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Chris Christie. As each of them understands that their campaigns are coming to an end, they will ramp up their attacks on the front runner, hoping to dislodge him from voters’ hearts. They will fail in the attempt, but Trump’s counterattacks are likely to drive a wedge further between him and the last 20% or so of the GOP that doesn’t like him and would rather leave their ballots blank than vote for anyone next year.

The pro-democracy coalition must be ready to take advantage of the existing fissures in the GOP and be prepared to expand them. For example, just last week we saw an intra party battle break out in Trump’s strongest base of support: White evangelicals. In Iowa, this wing is open warfare with itself as a prominent leader in the movement chose to endorse DeSantis.

We must highlight, magnify, and exacerbate these and other differences. Trump cannot afford to lose any of these voters. His electoral ceiling, already well below 50% cannot sustain any erosion. If there are indeed some evangelicals who would rather take a pass on 2024 than get in line behind Trump, all the better.

To do so, democracy’s defenders must go on the offensive. Super Tuesday occurs in early March 2024. We can expect he’ll secure the position as ‘presumptive’ Republican nominee at that point. Between now and then, Never Trump Republicans, Only Biden Democrats, and members of the coalition across the spectrum must significantly step our efforts to remind Americans who Trump is, what happened during his first term, and the real-world impacts of his return to the White House.

For the campaigners among us, we the ads write themselves. For the activists among us, we must remind our constituencies of the stakes of the 2024 election. It’s not about whether Joe Biden can beat Donald Trump. He can. We must communicate the consequences of apathy, antipathy, and inaction that will allow Trump and his allies to return to power.

We must be faster, hit harder, and be willing to do the things necessary to win. This is what Richard Ben Kramer described in his opus, What It Takes. We as the pro-democracy movement do have what it takes to win in 2024, but we must believe it, and start acting like it.

In this fight, the forces of darkness do not rest, and they don’t play by the rules we’re used to (we should’ve learned that by now.) Donald Trump’s reelection in 2024 would be a failure of will: In this time, with all that’s on the line, we must go on the offense – now. If you’re someone who still looks at the world with disbelief, spend some time imagining what American and the world look like with Trump sitting in the Oval Office. 

Listener Notes:

Check out my conversation with Brian Stelter about his new book about Fox News.

Also, listen to an encore presenation of my conversation with democracy and humanitarian activist Aleksandra Wisniewska, now a member of the Polish Sejm (lower house of parliament!)