Fear and Hate 2.0... A Poison Pill For Our Democracy

In the run-up to the midterm election, which is finally now almost upon us, the Divider-in-Chief is trying to rally his base with absolutely appalling fear mongering and vitriolic hate-filled rhetoric against Democrats in general. He has settled on calling the Democrats not only too radical to govern but evil(!!), and has been accusing both Democratic politicians and citizens of mob rule, including during the recent Kavanaugh debacle. That in addition to the standard lies that Democrats want open borders, crime, etc. Unfortunately, this pernicious policy is probably working, at least for diehard Trump fans. Although it may help turn out Republican voters, this certainly alienates large segments of the population, if they are still listening to anything Trump says. But beyond that and more critically, the president of the United States is intentionally, for his own and his party’s political purposes, pouring gasoline on the steadily growing fires of political, social and ethnic/racial animus which are threatening to eventually tear apart the fabric of this country. This behavior is something that until this administration would be literally unthinkable as well as totally unacceptable for any POTUS! Like Trump’s relentless attacks on a free press, this stoking of social and ethnic/racial divisions for the sake of political gains is actually a serious threat to the future of our very democracy, such as it is! I really don’t know whether or not Trump is smart enough to understand this serious risk of his hate-and-fear rhetoric, and in either case whether he even cares, or would actually prefer to degrade US democracy, particularly if he can somehow benefit from that! And as usual, most elected Republicans are either complicit in this process with their silence or even using similar rhetoric, particularly some senators’ comments regarding mob rule!! It seems more and more likely to me that this process of division and alienation has become irreversible in the foreseeable future, even if we can elect a sane president in 2020 who understands the importance of trying to unite rather than divide the country. That is a very sad commentary on the shaky future of our great experiment in democracy!

Meanwhile, it is looking pretty clear that Trump and his administration are trying to bend over backwards to give the Saudi royal family another pass on incredibly bad behavior, this time the recent presumed murder of US resident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a team including at least one high-ranking Saudi intelligence officer inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Now at least two weeks after initially denying any knowledge of or involvement in the journalist’s disappearance, and after an emergency visit by Secretary of State Pompeo, the Saudi government under the sham guise of conducting an impartial investigation is still trying to figure out the best story in order to own up to his killing (e.g. accidental during interrogation) without implicating the king and crown prince, at least the latter of whom almost certainly knew about and probably ordered the operation. Neither Trump nor Pompeo has expressed any real outrage over this horrible act, with Trump emphasizing that he was not a US citizen (so why should we care, right?)! Predictably, Trump seems much more concerned with protecting his relationship with the Saudi royals than getting at and publicizing the truth (which he likely already knows pretty well) and imposing appropriate consequences on a strategic ally. This comes on top of repeated civilian atrocities in the Saudi proxy war with Iran in Yemen using American weapons and multiple other outrageous acts by the crown prince within Saudi Arabia itself. As usual, amoral Trump is barely even trying to maintain a façade of his administration’s support for ethical standards among nations, further eroding US influence around the world and further emboldening dictators everywhere. It is only the outrage expressed by multiple other civilized governments, the withdrawal of multiple governments and private companies from an upcoming Saudi Arabian investment conference and the persistent attention to this murder by the media that is preventing Trump from ignoring it all. Depending on what Trump does, it also remains to be seen how much action will be taken by Congress, where there at least seems to be bipartisan support for sanctions and possibly other reprisals against the Saudi government and responsible parties.

Things are still looking good for taking back the House, but unfortunately reclaiming the Senate is looking pretty hopeless this time around.