Our Democracy Is Under Attack
In December 2022, former President Donald Trump called for the Constitution to be terminated so that he could be restored to the presidency he lost in 2020.
Our democracy held the line against his unprecedented coup attempt in 2020, but Trump’s attacks continue.
Trump’s refusal to accept that he lost the presidency has opened the door to wholesale attacks by Trump and his followers on our democracy, on the will of voters, and on the functioning of our government.
House Republicans, driven by their extremist wing, are doing everything they can to discredit and undermine essential institutions like the courts, the Justice Department, and the FBI for partisan political reasons. They are out to protect Trump no matter what the costs are to our democracy.
These kinds of dangerous attacks on our political system are taking place today in Washington and throughout the country.
Here are three current examples.
>> Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s attack on the armed forces
Sen. Tuberville (R-AL), apparently, sees himself as a self-appointed dictator when it comes to the policies of the Pentagon.
For more than seven months, Tuberville has used the Senate’s “hold” process to block consideration of the promotions of more than 300 senior military officers. Tuberville’s unprecedented effort is singularly holding the entire military hostage because he wants to unilaterally change a military policy on reproductive rights.
The Senate “hold” is an informal process that allows a single Senator to place a hold on an action by refusing to agree to a unanimous consent request. This antiquated process should be eliminated.
Tuberville’s abuse of power is extremely damaging to our national security and to the senior officers and their families who protect our nation. His one-man attack on our armed forces is obscene.
>> The Alabama legislature’s attack on the rule of law
The Republican-controlled Alabama state legislature violated the Voting Rights Act when they drew new congressional districts that included one Black-majority district in Alabama instead of two.
The racially gerrymandered voting map was challenged in court and made its way to the Supreme Court which ruled the map unconstitutional and sent it back to the state to draw a new, fair map with two Black-majority congressional districts.
Alabama legislators proceeded to thumb their noses at the Supreme Court and the rule of law, drafting a “new” congressional map that was essentially the same as the map declared unconstitutional. They blatantly ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The case went back to the courts and this week a three-judge panel ruled the “new” map unconstitutional and appointed an independent Special Master to redraw the districts.
The three-judge panel wrote: “The law requires the creation of an additional district that affords Black Alabamians, like everyone else, a fair and reasonable opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The 2023 Plan plainly fails to do so.”
>> The Wisconsin legislature’s attack on the citizens of Wisconsin
In April, Wisconsin voters elected Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court by a margin of more than 200,000 votes. This gave liberals a 4-to-3 advantage on the Court.
Protasiewicz was sworn into office last month, hasn’t heard a single case, and already Republican state legislators have begun pressing to impeach her.
This would be an extraordinary abuse of the impeachment power and a rejection of the will of the people by a heavily gerrymandered, Republican-controlled legislature.
Lawsuits challenging Wisconsin’s gerrymandered voter maps are moving forward and Republicans could lose political power that massive gerrymandering has given them.
For example, in 2022, Wisconsin Republicans won just a bare majority (53%) of votes for Assembly seats, but the gerrymandered districts gave them nearly two-thirds (65%) of Assembly seats. (A similar imbalance affects the Wisconsin Senate.)
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We should not underestimate what is going on. Our nation is under attack from within. Election deniers and MAGA supporters are threatening to take down our democracy.
Yesterday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) threatened that 2024 will be the last election “decided by ballots rather than bullets” if Trump’s legal battles lead to him lose the 2024 election.
Our democracy held strong on January 6, 2021. But, we are still engaged in a battle for the soul of our nation.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears on Thursdays in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s and other recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
