DEMOCRATIC CRISIS UNDER THE DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENCY
/September 2, 2020
Khai Q. Nguyen
“We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
—Associate Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
We have long been told that capitalism and democracy are the ideal pillars of freedom and prosperity. The United States has both, but why have we been experiencing a democratic crisis for almost four years?
In fact, the two elements of capitalism (economy) and democracy (politics) have many fundamental differences, and sometimes they are in conflict. Democracy focuses on the power of ordinary people (demos = common people; cracy = power) and advocates the equitable distribution of prosperity to all people. Capitalism pursues self-interest. Its goal is not to share prosperity. The results of profit and loss may eventually overwhelm the ideal of freedom and democracy. That is the disposition of President Trump and the underlying cause of the current democracy crisis in the United States.
RULE OF LAW AND RULE BY LAW
Trump has represented a threat to America's democracy from the day he became president. That is what many political analysts have said, and I agree. He is a demagogic leader with authoritarian tendencies, advocating the rule by law and disrespecting the rule of law. This behavior has been demonstrated through the way he has covered up for and defended his subordinates and political allies.
Over the past four years, President Trump has reduced sentences for or pardoned eighteen corrupt government officials, accused war criminals, far-right figures, and a number of political allies including Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois. Blagojevich wanted to sell the vacant seat in Congress when President Obama won the presidential election in 2008. He was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. Blagojevich and Trump had the same enemies: former Special Prosecutor Robert Muller and former FBI Director James Comey. Trump commuted Blagojevich’s sentence on February 18, 2020, freeing him from prison six years early.
Paul Pogue, owner of a Texas construction company, was sentenced to three years of probation for tax fraud in 2010. President Trump pardoned him in February 2020. Paul Pogue’s son and daughter-in-law have donated over $200,000 to Trump's campaign fund since August last year.
Scooter Libby, former chief of staff for former Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007 after he revealed the identity of a CIA officer, Valerie Plame. At the time, Plame was married to a diplomat who had accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. Trump viewed Libby as a victim of Robert Muller as well and pardoned him in 2018.
Eddie DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, was jailed for failing to report a bribe of $400,000 to the governor of Louisiana. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and $1 million in penalties. DeBartolo once supported Trump's election campaign and hosted a pre-inauguration party. Trump pardoned DeBartolo on February 18, 2020.
In contrast, Trump has dismissed his opponents or those who carried out their official duties in ways that seemed harmful to him. Two such examples are Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey. He fired his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, for actually practicing diplomacy, and he forced out his defense secretary, James Mattis, and national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, for providing professional advice.
In addition, Trump also dismissed two key witnesses in his impeachment proceedings related to the Ukraine scandal: former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a former employee of the National Security Council. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned because she was against the separation of migrant children from their parents, citing concerns about court challenges and the closure of the border in El Paso, Texas, because it violates the law.
Steve Linick, former State Department inspector general, was dismissed because he conducted an investigation of an arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the status of staff in the State Department. This was the fifth inspector general to be removed by President Trump since the US Senate acquitted him of the Ukraine scandal. The most recent dismissal was that of federal lawyer Geoffrey Berman because he was investigating Rudy Giuliani, Trump's private attorney. Mr. Berman had convicted two of Giuliani's collaborators, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.
CORRUPTION
Gordon Sondland contributed $1 million to President Trump's inauguration committee and was later appointed as a US ambassador to the European Union. Later, he was dismissed after he agreed to serve as a witness at the House impeachment trial against President Trump’s wishes.
President Trump also planned to reward Mr. Stephen Moore, his former adviser during the campaign, by nominating him as a chair of the Federal Reserve System. Moore had an economics degree but had no experience, so he did not take that offer.
Another person nominated by President Trump for a second position at the Federal Reserves was Mr. Herman Cain, a successful business executive at Burger King and a successful business entrepreneur at Godfather’s Pizza. Mr. Cain also requested to withdraw his name, believing that he would not receive enough votes for his confirmation. Cain adamantly supported President Trump and recruited black voters for him and the Republican Party. He was a co-chairman of Black Voices for Trump.
In addition to practicing cronyism against democratic principles, Trump is also an advocate of nepotism. He has appointed son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump as senior advisers to the president and overruled his intelligence officials to give both of them top security clearances.
Trump once gave Ivanka, an unqualified person with no political or economic expertise, an opportunity to attend the G-20 summit and gave her the responsibility of selecting the president of the World Bank. In addition, President Trump also assigned his son Eric Trump, a professional wedding planner, the responsibility for running federal housing services in New York and New Jersey.
Jared Kushner, following in his father's career footsteps, was a real estate investor and developer with no foreign affairs and public health expertise. Even so, President Trump has assigned his son-in-law to lead many diplomatic missions across the Middle East, with more experienced professional staffers of the State Department reporting to him. In addition, Trump also gave him the responsibility of coordinating the administration’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including an important role to oversee the supply and distribution of vital medical equipment.
THE PRESS IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
President Trump has regularly attacked the press, saying that journalists are really "the enemies of the people." Since Trump became president, "fake news" has appeared everywhere. The President himself has made more than 20,000 false or misleading claims, while democracy requires transparency. Recently, Trump has replaced the heads of government information agencies, such as Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), to gain more control of information. If the rule of law is the first pillar of democracy, freedom of the press is the second.
Like fake news, riots have also disrupted our democracy. President Trump has publicly advocated violence against journalists. He defended the Saudi government when they killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi in their embassy in Istanbul, Turkey. A few days later, between October 22, 2018 and November 1, 2018, Cesar A. Sayoc Jr., an ardent supporter of President Trump, used the address of Congressman Debbie W. Schultz (Democrat, Florida) to mail bombs to the headquarters and homes of Democratic politicians and anti-Trump media offices. Targets included former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Senator and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder, movie actor Robert DeNiro, three Democratic members of Congress, two former intelligence directors, and two billionaire Democratic donors. A package of bombs was also sent to CNN headquarters.
According to Sayoc’s lawyers, he was inspired by President Trump's inflammatory statements about immigration and political opponents. He watched Fox News faithfully. Representative Schultz said in a statement that Mr. Sayoc "was admittedly inspired by the president’s hateful rhetoric. This president’s words have consequences."
RIOTS AND VIOLENCE
In mid-April of this year, President Trump publicly called on the American people to liberate three states with Democratic governors: Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. These states ordered shutdowns and other measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this call, many extremist groups brought weapons to the state houses in these states to protest against the order and to demand reopening. Trump called the protesters “fine people.” Clearly, he has instigated domestic rebellion against democratic principles.
Governor Jim Justice (Republican, West Virginia), an ally of Trump, said he would listen to medical experts to decide how to open the economy. Governor Jay Inslee (Democrat, Washington) says Trump's liberation tweet put millions of people at risk for COVID-19 infection. Governor Ralph Northam (Democrat, Virginia) said he and his staff were focused on fighting the "biological warfare" rather than getting involved in the "war of tweets."
Trump has advocated using violence to handle riots. When he needed to walk through Lafayette Square Park to take pictures for campaign ads in front of St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, he ordered security personnel to use tear gas grenades and rubber bullets to disperse some peaceful protesters in front of the White House, although curfew was scheduled to begin about 30 minutes later. He also threatened to use "guard dogs and ominous weapons" to prevent protesters from trespassing at the White House.
He also vowed to use force to quell riots after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. He repeated a statement by a Florida sheriff, "When looting starts, the shooting starts.” These words only added fuel to the fire. In addition, President Trump urged mayors and governors to be more aggressive with the protesters and to use the military to quell the demonstrations. He also urged his followers to organize counter-protests.
On the one hand, President Trump has promoted violence and division, but on the other hand, he has spread fear about violent crime to divert attention away from Covid-19, economic and racial crises.
CHECKS AND BALANCES
Trump considers the system of "checks and balances" in the government an obstacle rather than an important principle of power decentralization in a democratic system. He wants to control the judiciary branch. Trump and the Republican Party blocked the appointment of Supreme Judge Merrick Garland, nominated by the Democratic Party, and brought in two Republicans, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Cavanaugh. As a result, the US Supreme Court currently has five conservative justices appointed by Republican presidents, including Chief Justice John Roberts and the two judges appointed by President Trump, Neil Gorsuch (2017) and Brett Cavanaugh (2018). Democratic presidents appointed the remaining four judges. In addition, for nearly four years, Trump had rushed to add 197 federal judges in lower courts. Trump wanted to make presidential-appointed judges political appointees, who could be possibly dismissed or replaced. Once the judiciary of the United States becomes an instrument of the executive branch, the independent posture of justice would collapse, and so would democracy.
COLLUSION WITH DICTATORS
On the foreign affairs front, President Trump seems comfortable with authoritarian leaders. He has praised Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Adel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. He has expressed admiration for the Vietnamese Communist leaders and views Vietnam as an ideal model for North Korea. He has hosted Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the White House, praising his great relationship with Duterte and his way of solving the drug problem in the Philippines. He congratulated Xi Jinping on the removal of term limits. He once said the United States should follow China's system of "lifelong presidents." He also agreed to cancel $700,000 in aid to Hungary's budget to support independent media. He has welcomed Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a number of foreign leaders who have won their elections despite the lack of freedom in the election process.
In contrast, President Trump has never raised any concerns about the setbacks of democracy and the violations of human rights around the world, except for a few notes on democratic principles in the National Security Strategy of the US government. Traditional US foreign policy pursues three main goals: (1) efforts to advance democracy; (2) protecting an open international economic system; and (3) building a global network of security alliances. Trump rejects all these three goals as unnecessary or unfavorable for the United States. Trump adopts an “each-country-for-itself” approach, embodied in the slogan “America First.” This is a narrow-minded and shortsighted strategy.
President Trump's stance is in stark contrast to that of former President George W. Bush. In his inaugural address in 2005, former President Bush rightly stated, “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in the entire world.” He continued, “So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”
CONCLUSION
The democratic values and norms of the United States have been attacked by the head of our government. An atmosphere of unrest is everywhere. In addition, four consecutive crises that have overlapped for some time have put America in a state of severe depression: trade wars, economic stagnation, the impeachment investigation, and COVID-19. The American public has lost faith in its government.
Admiral William McRaven, who oversaw the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, once stated that Donald Trump is now the biggest threat to US democracy.
According to a Cambridge University study, "The Trump Presidency and American Democracy: A Historical and Comparative Analysis—October 29, 2018," in the past the US political system has survived serious threats from crises such as the Civil War (1861–1865), the First Red Scare of 1919–1920 (Palmer Raids), the Second Red Scare of 1940–1950 (McCarthyism), and Watergate in 1972.
However, the study said, Donald Trump poses an extremely serious threat if the three traditional conditions of US politics come together and reinforce each other: (1) the polarized division between the two parties; (2) the system of government is divided because of partisanship; (3) the erosion of democratic norms and values at the leadership level and at the general public level. It seems that all three phenomena are happening at the same time.
After the Cold War, liberal democracy once again prevailed over Communism. The number of worldwide democracies increased from 46 in 1974 to 76 in 1990 and 120 in 2000. However, over the past 12 years, from 2006 to 2018, democracy has declined in 113 countries according to a Freedom House survey. Countries like Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela have fallen into authoritarian rule. Democratic norms have eroded in the Philippines, Poland, and Burma. Right-wing populists have been gaining influence in Western Europe.
The fate of the United States, once the leader of the free and democratic countries in the world, is in a state of internal democratic crisis. According to Reporters Without Borders, the ranking of US press freedom among 180 countries continues to decline, from 41/180 in 2016, to 43/180, 45/180, and 48/180 in the three following years. Not only that, the democracy of the United States is also threatened from the outside. Thanks to internet technology and by the president’s open invitation, Russia and China have interfered into the internal affairs of the United States.
The United States was not classified as a full democracy but rather as a flawed democracy from 2017–2019, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index (EIU). In a flawed democracy, there are free and fair elections and civil liberties are honored but the governance is weak and the political culture is underdeveloped with low public participation.
Over the past 120 years, the United States has overcome extremely serious challenges including three economic crises in the early twentieth century: 1901, 1907, and 1920–1921, the Great Depression of 1929–1939, the energy crisis in the 1970s, the financial crisis in 2007–2008, and two world wars. The United States and the free world still defeated both the Nazi regime and Soviet Communism.
Donald Trump has been the first political crisis of the United States in the 21st century, and this has occurred at the same time as the Coronavirus Crisis. Trump's weak leadership makes the pandemic severely critical. The number of new infections every day has skyrocketed over the past few weeks. Over 6 million people had been infected with the virus as of August 31, 2020, and the death toll has exceeded 181,000. The unemployment rate in July 2020 was 10.2%, and 16.3 million people were unemployed according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. America needs a responsible and competent leader to quickly replace the incumbent president in order to end the current double crises and restore order to the oldest democracy on Earth.