Saving American Democracy: The Most Consequential Election of our Lifetime!

Has any presidential candidate in US history ever made such a threat?

What makes a strong country? The unity of its people, their commitment to respect one another, the equal treatment of all citizens under the rule of law, the right of political participation for all citizens, and tolerance for ethnic, racial and religious diversity. These qualities create a powerful sense of community which engenders trust, a bedrock upon which democracy rests. 

What makes a weak country? Social disunity, "culture wars," the refusal to acknowledge difference - whether political, religious, ethnic or cultural - and the feeling by one demographic that it has a monopoly on virtue. Thus, its values and definition of the nation should prevail over all other groups. Once a particular demographic decides its social political cultural views must prevail over all others, democracy lacks the fertile soil it needs to survive.  As a result, it gradually withers away.

It is this context which leads to the question: Why is the November 2024 presidential election the most consequential in our lifetime?  The answer is that our democracy and the rule of law, the future of the planet, and the American economy will all be in jeopardy if Donald Trump becomes president of the United States. Why is this the case?

Democracy under threat Donald Trump demonstrated his contempt for democracy and the US Constitution during his term in office. He is the only president in US history to have organized efforts to subvert a presidential election. His mobilization of a crowd on January 6, 2021 to prevent the certification of Joe Biden, elected in fair and free election, was the first time in American history that a sitting president tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to his successor. Bob Woodward on ‘The Trump Tapes’ we haven’t heard

Recently, we learned that considerable financial support was provided by a variety of organizations for the January 6 demonstration. As we know, it turned into a violent attack designed to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden as POTUS. Police officers were severely injured by the mob which breached the US Capitol and one died as a result. Congressional representatives, including Vice President Mike Pence, had to fear for their lives and the Capitol building experienced serious property damage. New evidence unsealed of how Trump's Jan. 6, 2021 rally was funded

Trump's incitement of a mob attack on the US Capitol was accompanied by the creation of fake elector slates in several battleground states. Phony slates from Georgia, Arizona Michigan and other states argued that they, the supporters of Donald Trump, were the true electors. Some of these fraudulent electors are now on trial. 

Yet Trump has been able to delay his own legal reckoning through decisions. He has been helped by the Supreme Court, to which he appointed 3 justices who have formed a pro-Trump majority, and by a decision by a Florida district court judge, Aileen Cannon, who he also appointed, to dismiss the Department of Justice case of stolen government documents which were illegally transferred to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. 

Trump's consistent claim that the 2020 election was "stolen,"and his refusal even today to concede that he lost, have undermined democracy in the eyes of many Americans, especially members of the Republican Party. Over two-thirds of Republican voters actually believe that Trump won the 2020 election. As noted above, trust constitutes a precious form of social capital in any democracy. For a candidate for the American presidency to knowingly undermine such trust disqualifies that candidate from holding public office.

The Trump economy  Compounding Trump's threat to democratic governance was his incompetence  in running the United States. There continue to be voters who say that the economy defines their choice for POTUS. They point to the economy while Trump was in office when they say their financial condition was better than today. 

Trump claims he created a strong economy. Not true. Trump never admitted that he benefitted from the strong economy he inherited from the Obama administration. It was President Obama, not Trump, who pulled the US out of the global recession of 2008. Trump was the only president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to leave office with less jobs in the American economy than when he became president.  

One reason the US economy lost jobs was the tariffs Trump imposed while in office. His policy sparked retaliatory tariffs which damaged the US economy causing a loss of jobs.  Trump says that, if elected, he will impose a new round of massive tariffs. Virtually all economists argue that the blanket tariffs Trump advocates will raise prices in the US, imposing in effect a sales tax of over $4000 for a family of four.  In other words, tariff is another word for tax.

Despite his promise to stem the offshoring of US manufacturing jobs,Trump neither created new manufacturing jobs nor did he stop their offshoring during his presidency (remember his promise to keep Carrier Air Conditioning jobs in the US after he took office?).  Trump vetoed a minimum wage bill and applauded Elon Musk when he fired Tesla workers who tried to establish a union. A friend of the working man and woman? Not at all. 

Trump's Covid-19 pandemic response Trump's policy on the Covid-19 pandemic was a disaster which caused many unnecessary deaths (Remember his suggestion that people with Covid-19 inject themselves with a cleaning agent?).  Trump's refusal to accept the advice of medical experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had led efforts to combat contagious diseases at the Center for Diseases Control in Atlanta since the 1980s, because members of his MAGA base, such as Florida governor Ron DeSantis, opposed vaccinations. As a result of Trump's politicization of the pandemic, many lives were lost which could have been saved. Coronavirus: Outcry after Trump suggests injecting disinfectant as treatment

How the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 will dismantle the US government

Project 2025 Despite his denials of knowing anything about Project 2025, when 78% of the contributors are former members of his administration. As Steven Rattner notes in his analysis of the 900 plus page document published by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, "The plan would also raise taxes for American families making under $170,000 a year — nearly tripling them for a family earning $75,000 — while cutting them substantially for those with higher incomes." Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise

Rattner goes on to point out that the corporate tax rate, which Trump slashed from 36 to 21%, would be reduced still further.  The tax on capital gains would likewise be reduced, further benefitting the wealthy. Those middle class voters who think Trump will help their financial bottom line are sorely mistaken. How Project 2025 Would Change the Country 

Medical coverage for the American people would be significantly reduced should Trump be reelected.  In 1921, almost 95 million people were enrolled in Medicaid which equals about 5% of the US population. Lifetime enrollment would be capped causing many to lose their healthcare protection. Project 2025 Blueprint Also Includes Draconian Cuts to Medicaid 

The Head Start Program which primarily benefits rural counties would be cut. As Rattner points out, the share of Head Start childcare centers is 45% in very rural counties and 32% in rural counties, and only 13% in metropolitan areas. For rural Americans, voting for Donald Trump is. as my late mother used to say, "cutting off your nose to spite your face."

Project 2025 also attacks our public education system, both municipal and charter schools.  It would transfer taxpayer funds to private schools, many promoting a politicized religious education.  Not only would this undermine our national sense of community but promoting more divisiveness, but deprive poorer school districts, already suffering from lack of resources, of funds.

The abortion pill would be banned the drug mifepristone which is used to prevent the onset of pregnancy.  Project 2025, written almost exclusively by men, indicates no support for women's reproductive heath care rights. Indeed,  stringent anti-abortion bills, such as in Texas and Georgia, have already led to there deaths of women who needed to terminate their pregnancies due to health reasons because local physicians were afraid they would be prosecuted and jailed if they aborted those pregnancies.     

The Heritage Foundation is known for its hostility to labor unions. While Project 2025 contains a section on labor but offers no material benefits to the working men and women of our country.  It proposes top reduce the budget of the Department of Labor and restrict the powers of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It strongly condemns efforts to make the American work forces more diversified, implicitly marginalizing workers who are women and people of color.

Project 2025's conclusion to its section on labor (p. 681) shows no attention to the US government's need to train American workers in the skills needed for the 21st century economy, no support for laborers unionizing to protect their wages and working conditions, and no concern about how huge wealth inequality (which the  Project will dramatically increase) adversely affects workers

"The good of the American family is at the heart of conservative labor policy recommendations. The longstanding tradition of a strong work ethic in American culture must be encouraged and strengthened by policies that promote family-sustaining jobs. By eliminating the policies promoted by the DEI agenda, promoting pro-life policies that support family life, expanding available apprenticeship programs including by encouraging the role of religious organizations in apprenticeships, making family-sustaining jobs accessible, simplifying employment requirements, and allowing employers to prefer American citizens when making hiring decisions, among the other policy recommendations discussed above, we can begin to secure a future in which the American worker, and by extension the American family, can thrive and prosper."

Finally, Project 2025 would greatly expand the president's power by stripping Federal employees of their civil service protections. Trump would be able to fire government employees at will and replace them with toady loyalists. 

In short, a Trump victory on November 5th would result in a serious negative impact on the United States. It would produce greater divisiveness and conflict in American society, undermine the economic fortunes of the middle and working classes, weaken US alliances like NATO and ties to the European union designed to prevent foreign enemies like Russia and China from threatening our country and its democracy, and further marginalize the "Other," namely, women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Trump has made clear that, if elected, his second administration will be dominated by three "Rs": reviling, revenge and retribution.  Analyses of Trump's speeches since 2016 demonstrate an increased calls for violence against those he perceives as enemies. Trump has promised to appoint loyalists to the Department of Justice which he will use to prosecute his opponents and put them in jail. This plan, which has repeatedly stated during his campaign rallies, has all the hallmarks of authoritarian rule.We analyzed 9 years of Trump political speeches, and his violent rhetoric has increased dramatically

Through imposing authoritarian rule on the United States, not addressing the growing climate crisis, and enacting policies which will cripple our public education system, Trump will deprive us of our most important investment in America's future - our youth. The "generation in waiting" - will become disillusioned with politics and be prevented from developing their aspirations and the initiatives we need to keep America great as we move further into the 21st century.