We just won – but now we face an even bigger battle for all the marbles
As the old expression goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Shocking and dismaying though the unlamented passing of the Trump era may be, it pales in comparison to the horrors that could come our way. If Republicans ever realize their current goal it won’t just be the ballgame for America, it will be the ballgame for the entire world. The stakes really are that high.
The brand new evil that was born in Trumpland is today at work corrupting America’s voting rights. Once voting rights have been sufficiently poisoned by gerrymandering and barriers to entry so as to influence election outcomes in favor of Republicans, it could guarantee majorities in state and national legislatures. Should Republicans also regain the presidency in 2024, that will complete their golden trifecta. Together with their current ownership of the Supreme Court and control of the proactive branches of government, the executive and the legislative, there will be nothing to stop them. And once they own America I don’t believe Republicans will ever give America back.
Back in 2018 Republicans had no choice but to relinquish control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats. Hard though it may be to believe today, back then Republicans actually accepted the outcome of elections, however peevishly. Since 2020 it has been a different story. Trump taught his disciples to reject the outcome of any election they didn’t win. Imagine what that will look like should Republicans ever be back in power.
We know what the likes of Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kevin McCarthy would be doing right now had they been in charge. There would be no January 6th committee, for one. Instead there would be an inquest into the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, together with a host of Benghazi-like retribution witch hunts weaponized to destroy their political enemies. They would also even now be impeaching Joe Biden for withdrawing from Afghanistan and other “crimes” as revenge for the two legitimate impeachments of Donald Trump.
There certainly would be no build Back Better bill before the House. Instead there would be legislation designed to favor corporations and the oil industry, and new legislation disguised as “security measures” to ensure the near impossibility of ever electing another Democrat to anything.
This road never travelled is the one too horrible to contemplate. Yet how can it be otherwise? With each passing day Republicans have shown us what they are capable of. The era of nonpartisan cooperation is over. Virginia should be our wakeup call.
We can’t afford to lose this battle because if we do it could be the last battle we ever fight. Republicans can and will pass legislation inimical to freedom, favorable to the wealthy, guaranteed to ignore global warming and advantageous to the deadly spread of coronavirus. A party of religious adventists who believe the end of the world is a good thing won’t be stopped by that eventuality either. If we don’t start and keep winning elections then we are doomed. Failure is not an option. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.