This is not a drill

 

Photo credit: James Benjamin (August 2021)

Timothy Snyder's recent newsletter post, Decapitation Strike, is a must read. Snyder here outlines some fundamental functions of our democratic republic and how those are now under threat now that we see what Trump has in store for installing his own loyalists to head these key agencies. The damage potentially done to our public health agencies, our military, and our intelligence agencies is essentially incalculable. What I think can be safely asserted is that we may find much of our government's bureaucracy irritating, but we are in deep trouble without it. I'll post a couple highlights:

Imagine that you are a foreign leader who wishes to destroy the United States. How could you do so? The easiest way would be to get Americans to do the work themselves, to somehow induce Americans to undo their own health, law, administration, defense, and intelligence. From this perspective, Trump's proposed appointments -- Kennedy, Jr.; Gaetz; Musk; Ramaswamy; Hegseth; Gabbard -- are perfect instruments. They combine narcissism, incompetence, corruption, sexual incontinence, personal vulnerability, dangerous convictions, and foreign influence as no group before them has done. These proposed appointments look like a decapitation strike: destroying the American government from the top, leaving the body politic to rot, and the rest of us to suffer.

I do not defend the status quo. I have no doubt whatsoever that the Department of Defense and the Food and Drug Administration require reform. But such a reform, of these or other agencies, would have to be guided by people with knowledge and experience, who cared about their country, and who had a vision of improvement. That is simply not what is happening here. We are confronted instead with a group of people who, were they to hold the positions they have been assigned, could bring an end to the United States of America.

It is a mistake to think of these people as flawed. It is not they will do a bad job in their assigned posts. It is that they will do a good job using those assigned posts to destroy our country.

However and by whomever this was organized, the intention of these appointments is clear: to create American horror. Elected officials should see this for what it is. Senators, regardless of party, should understand that the United States Senate will not outlast the United States, insist on voting, and vote accordingly. The Supreme Court of the United States will likely be called upon. Although it is a faint hope, one must venture it anyway: that its justices will understand that the Constitution was not in fact written as the cover story for state destruction. The Supreme Court will also not outlast the United States.

And citizens, regardless of how they voted, need now to check their attitudes. This is no longer a post-electoral moment. It is a pre-catastrophic moment. Trump voters are caught in the notion that Trump must be doing the right thing if Harris voters are upset. But Harris voters are upset now because they love their country. And Harris voters will have to get past the idea that Trump voters should reap what they have sown. Yes, some of them did vote to burn it all down. But if it all burns down, we burn too. It is not easy to speak right now; but if some Republicans wish to, please listen.

Both inside and outside Congress, there will have to be simple defiance, joined with a rhetoric of a better America. And, at moments at least, there will also have to be alliances among Americans who, though they differ on other matters, would like to see their country endure.

This is a tall order, and I honestly hope we are up to the task. He is right that any of our republic's institutions will not outlast this republic. Once those institutions have been destroyed, there is no US to speak of in any meaningful sense. Maybe a second republic that is committed to democratic values rises from the ashes eventually, but I sure would not want to pin my hopes on that prospect. This is the republic we know and this is the republic we need to do our level best to keep intact. 

Snyder also makes a good point about the knee-jerk reaction I have seen to Harris voters' upset/anger/concern regarding the electoral outcome and to Trump's apparent cabinet appointments. Speaking for myself, I am a patriot first and I voted because I wanted to preserve the nation we have, however imperfect it may be (and I can certainly offer my own take on where this is room for improvement). There was no point in tearing down what he have, and if that is indeed what transpires, we will all lose - some much more than others, but there won't be a happy ending for any of us outside of a small handful of oligarchs.

Remember that Timothy Snyder, among many others, warned us all about this moment. Many of us listened and heeded their advice. The rest are sleepwalking their way to an authoritarian or fascist regime and taking us along with them. The best time to prevent this catastrophe was before the election. Today is the next best moment. Use it.