Unless America’s leading institutions act accordingly, why would anyone believe Trump is a serious criminal threat - or that the danger to democracy is really all that severe?
Aside about Kafka: At the end of the war in 1918, Kafka caught the “Spanish flu” and was bed-ridden and quite ill for three weeks. As Reiner Stach discusses in his wonderful three-volume Kafka biography, when Kafka got sick, he lived in Austria-Hungary, but when he recovered, he lived in Czechoslovakia. And much of the transition took place in public, in the square just outside his window, but he was too sick to notice it.
Excellent points, too often left unsaid. Until people realize that they, or their children or loved ones, are actually in danger they (we) will continue to just live as normal.
“Elite signaling” to me means LEADERSHIP. And that is exactly what the takeover of American politics by a two-party-system has denied the nation. Leadership. So that will have to rise from another corner. Perhaps the labor movement. Maybe elsewhere. But we need that leadership, that “signaling” soon...now!
Thank you for this! It is worth noting that many Americans live in states that are not functioning democracies. Tennessee (where I recently relocated) is one of them, and I have already been bowled over by this state’s race-targeted voter suppression and gerrymandering, its dehumanizing forced-birth and transphobic laws, and its overwhelmingly white state legislature rearranging the political processes of cities with significant Black populations.
I think this may help explain the tendency to normalize what is happening to this country. When your state is already operated as a non-democracy, it’s harder to get exercised--easier to be cynical--about losing democracy at the federal level.
Absolutely. This is spot on. I expected you do say something--add a paragraph--about how the MSM handles everyday reporting on political events. This, for example, from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/20/1164691646/house-gop-trump-bragg. It is presented as entirely *normal* that the GOP should go after Bragg, the person who would restore faith in our institutions by charging the guilty.
An issue for prosecutors, and this relates to Bouies' observation, is whose prosecution takes precedence. New York, Georgia and DOJ all have indictments in the works. It will be hard to simultaneously try one person in three venues. Republicans will scream however this unfolds. My guess is first-come-first-serve will set the schedules.
I think a lot of the "normalization" pushback was co-opted by the Covid pandemic--exactly along the same fault lines of marginalized communities. The revolving door of illegalities, the outrageous reaction to BLM, NK, the outright denial of science all hushed under the weight of the pandemic and 'new normal' or 'build back better'-->no one wanted to go BACK except the now festering Rep. party. Florida cannot recover from the now emboldened, well fed, GOP+. At what point does the perception of GOP normal become the reality? They are the majority here (by hook and crook), and they are planning a nationwide tour. Justice delayed has already denied us.
Please correct your use of “persecution” where you meant to write “prosecution.” The right is constantly claiming that they and their leaders are being persecuted. Don’t give them ammunition with what is obviously a typo.
A great piece of work. I agree with Democracy Awareness Project. We need to stand united in the face of changing democracy, our decline in international political standing and new global economic realities. If we don’t face the issues with a united nation we’ll be back in the 1930s. MAGA isn’t going to cut it, but the cult may resurface in the absence of consequences stifled by a reluctant and to be diverted from ‘normalcy.
Excellent essay--even if, twice, you've written "persecution" when you mean "prosecution." There's a third stance, alas: It's the cynical synthesis of "everything is normal" and "this is an emergency and the institutions are functioning as they should." It's "This is the real world, in which almost nothing is as it *should* be. Rather, sometimes justice is served, and sometimes, due to corruption, laziness, careerism, or incompetence, it just isn't." That--the Oh, Well, What Can You Do? position--is also seen as normal, even if in this case "normal" isn't synonymous with "good."
Totally agree, but we have to change our tactics. Hope and faith are silent. Preaching to the choir doesn’t change anyone’s mind, we already agree.
We have to reclaim the symbols of our democracy that so many Democrats and Progressives have ceded to the GOP. Display the American flag. Show that you don’t believe it is us versus them. We are all Americans and we have more in common with each other than Russia or China. We must reject the calls for a “national divorce” and find common ground and shared interests.
Tl;dr: Less words, more symbolic actions. If you are on a zoom call or tv interview don’t waste the visuals. Show that you believe in “the perpetuation of our political institutions” as Lincoln put it. Wear your heart on your sleeve and a star spangled Möbius ribbon over your heart to show your unending faith in our democratic experiment. 🇺🇸♾
Aside about Kafka: At the end of the war in 1918, Kafka caught the “Spanish flu” and was bed-ridden and quite ill for three weeks. As Reiner Stach discusses in his wonderful three-volume Kafka biography, when Kafka got sick, he lived in Austria-Hungary, but when he recovered, he lived in Czechoslovakia. And much of the transition took place in public, in the square just outside his window, but he was too sick to notice it.
Excellent points, too often left unsaid. Until people realize that they, or their children or loved ones, are actually in danger they (we) will continue to just live as normal.
“Elite signaling” to me means LEADERSHIP. And that is exactly what the takeover of American politics by a two-party-system has denied the nation. Leadership. So that will have to rise from another corner. Perhaps the labor movement. Maybe elsewhere. But we need that leadership, that “signaling” soon...now!
Thank you for this! It is worth noting that many Americans live in states that are not functioning democracies. Tennessee (where I recently relocated) is one of them, and I have already been bowled over by this state’s race-targeted voter suppression and gerrymandering, its dehumanizing forced-birth and transphobic laws, and its overwhelmingly white state legislature rearranging the political processes of cities with significant Black populations.
I think this may help explain the tendency to normalize what is happening to this country. When your state is already operated as a non-democracy, it’s harder to get exercised--easier to be cynical--about losing democracy at the federal level.
Absolutely. This is spot on. I expected you do say something--add a paragraph--about how the MSM handles everyday reporting on political events. This, for example, from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/20/1164691646/house-gop-trump-bragg. It is presented as entirely *normal* that the GOP should go after Bragg, the person who would restore faith in our institutions by charging the guilty.
An issue for prosecutors, and this relates to Bouies' observation, is whose prosecution takes precedence. New York, Georgia and DOJ all have indictments in the works. It will be hard to simultaneously try one person in three venues. Republicans will scream however this unfolds. My guess is first-come-first-serve will set the schedules.
I think a lot of the "normalization" pushback was co-opted by the Covid pandemic--exactly along the same fault lines of marginalized communities. The revolving door of illegalities, the outrageous reaction to BLM, NK, the outright denial of science all hushed under the weight of the pandemic and 'new normal' or 'build back better'-->no one wanted to go BACK except the now festering Rep. party. Florida cannot recover from the now emboldened, well fed, GOP+. At what point does the perception of GOP normal become the reality? They are the majority here (by hook and crook), and they are planning a nationwide tour. Justice delayed has already denied us.
Please correct your use of “persecution” where you meant to write “prosecution.” The right is constantly claiming that they and their leaders are being persecuted. Don’t give them ammunition with what is obviously a typo.
Please proof read and correct.
It seems to me that you have used the word "persecution" several times when you intended to write "prosecution."
I would have forwarded this but am loathe to do so with this apparent error.
Thank you.
Otherwise, thanks much for your thoughts and your work.
Years ago when I was expressing fear about Trump being elected, a friend said that her husband told her that everyday life would not change.
A great piece of work. I agree with Democracy Awareness Project. We need to stand united in the face of changing democracy, our decline in international political standing and new global economic realities. If we don’t face the issues with a united nation we’ll be back in the 1930s. MAGA isn’t going to cut it, but the cult may resurface in the absence of consequences stifled by a reluctant and to be diverted from ‘normalcy.
Excellent essay--even if, twice, you've written "persecution" when you mean "prosecution." There's a third stance, alas: It's the cynical synthesis of "everything is normal" and "this is an emergency and the institutions are functioning as they should." It's "This is the real world, in which almost nothing is as it *should* be. Rather, sometimes justice is served, and sometimes, due to corruption, laziness, careerism, or incompetence, it just isn't." That--the Oh, Well, What Can You Do? position--is also seen as normal, even if in this case "normal" isn't synonymous with "good."
Totally agree, but we have to change our tactics. Hope and faith are silent. Preaching to the choir doesn’t change anyone’s mind, we already agree.
We have to reclaim the symbols of our democracy that so many Democrats and Progressives have ceded to the GOP. Display the American flag. Show that you don’t believe it is us versus them. We are all Americans and we have more in common with each other than Russia or China. We must reject the calls for a “national divorce” and find common ground and shared interests.
Tl;dr: Less words, more symbolic actions. If you are on a zoom call or tv interview don’t waste the visuals. Show that you believe in “the perpetuation of our political institutions” as Lincoln put it. Wear your heart on your sleeve and a star spangled Möbius ribbon over your heart to show your unending faith in our democratic experiment. 🇺🇸♾
I'd love to hear Marcy Wheeler on the podcast talking about these issues