Submitted by Dan Quigley, Greenwich
As Donald Trump’s guilty verdict was read on live television, the reactions from prominent Republicans via social media were both offensive and dangerous. The trial was called a “sham”; the judge “crooked”; our legal system “cannot be trusted”; America is now “a totalitarian, banana republic”.
These comments make clear that national Republicans have decided that it is in their interest to sow mass distrust in our justice system for political gain. In doing so, they also undermine the credibility of a foundational pillar of our democratic system of government. All in the name of facilitating the re-election of the only two-time impeached former President in US history who also inspired an attack on the US Capital, refused to attend his successor’sinauguration, was convicted in a civil court of sexual abuse and defamation of character and is now the only convicted felon to have served as President in US history. This shortsighted and shameful strategy deliberately erodes trust in the democratic institutions that have served and strengthened our country since the Constitution was ratified 235 years ago.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell once said this in reference to Mr. Trump’s culpability in the January 6th assault on the US Capital; “We have a criminal justice system in this country….and former presidents are not immune from being held accountable.” Mr. McConnell said this week that the trial which led to Mr. Trump’s guilty verdict “should never have been brought” and that he expects the conviction to be “overturned on appeal”. His comments, while acknowledging the judicial proceedings involved with the indictment, also recognize that there is an appeals process embedded in our judicial system that allows for redress of potential faulty verdicts. Unfortunately, House Speaker Mike Johnson called the process “not a legal one” and said that “The weaponization of our justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden Administration” falsely implying that the trial and its verdict were orchestrated by the White House. His statement ignores President Trump’s repeated efforts while in office to exert some level of control of the legal system, and his attempts to ignore it while out of office.
Other Republicans were worse in their assertions. Former Republican presidential hopeful, Senator Marco Rubio said, “The verdict in New York is a complete travesty that makes a mockery of our system of justice.”. He went on to add that “Biden and the Trump deranged left will stop at nothing to remain in power.” Local Republican and former state RNC rep Leora Levy wrote on “X” that “I weep for President Trump after this insane verdict in NYC. I weep for America, now officially a totalitarian banana republic.” Of the legal process, she added “It is the definition of a rigged process.” Franklin Graham, son of respected evangelist and civil rights advocate Reverend Billy Graham stated that the verdict “raises questions about whether our legal system can be trusted”. Tucker Carlson said of the current state of America “Import the Third World, become the Third World,” ominously concluding his statement by saying that the verdict marked “the end of the fairest justice system in the world”.
Americans have become inured to Mr. Trump’s questionable behavior the same way children can become numb to the graphic violence in some video games. We have also become uncomfortably tolerant of the support for his behavior from the far-right of the Republican party embodied by members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Greene, JD Vance, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and others, and media pundits like Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones. What is becoming more evident is that the hierarchy of the Republican party has been completely co-opted by MAGA ideology.
Their plan is simple. Flood right wing media with disinformation, tales of stolen elections and the “deep state” and blame the Democrats and President Joe Biden for all ills and demean the integrity of our democratic institutions while insisting that the only antidote to this dystopian society is the re-election of Mr. Trump. The same individual who attempted to interfere in the transfer of executive power for the first time in America’s history.
It is worth recalling instances of political leaders in American history who, in the face of political defeat chose grace, courage and an unwavering belief in our democratic institutions. Two such examples come to mind for me.
Well after midnight on November 9, 1960, it became clear to Vice-President Richard Nixon that he had lost his campaign for the presidency to bitter rival Senator John Kennedy. The margin was razor thin and many Republicans at that time, and historians since, had a strong suspicion that the state of Illinois was “rigged” for Kennedy. His supporters strongly urged Nixon not to concede but to contest the results.
Nixon disagreed, putting the good of the country above his own personal ambition. In his concession speech, after formally congratulating Kennedy, Nixon said “I want to say that one of the great features of America is that we have political contests. That they are very hard fought, as this one was hard fought, and once the decision is made, we unite behind the man who is elected.”
Five days later, Nixon and President-elect Kennedy met in Miami and discussed how Nixon could help pave the way for a smooth transition.
In 2000, after the closest presidential election in US history and following a narrow Supreme Court decision that finally ended the Florida recount process, Vice President Al Gore was faced with the task of whether or not to give a concession speech. In what must have been a moment of crushing disappointment for Gore, he quoted Stephen Douglass who after his loss to Abraham Lincoln said “Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism. I’m with you, Mr. President, and God bless you.”. In an incredible moment of grace and deference to our democratic institutions Gore added “Neither he (Mr. Bush) nor I anticipated this long and difficult road. Certainly,neither of us wanted it to happen. Yet it came, and now it has ended, resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy.”
Both men stood tall in moments of great personal anguish and put their country ahead of party and their own ambition. In their concessions, Nixon and Gore recalled the importance and strength of our institutions and the respect they had for them in an effort to heal the political divisions in America after two incredibly close and bitterly fought elections. There is a sharp contrast between their words and the recent statements by prominent Republicans and Trump’s unwillingness to accept the 2020 election results and his denigration of the legal system after his recent guilty verdict.
There are American politicians and their supporters committed to maintaining and strengthening America’s democratic institutions, and there are those who see nothing but political machinations, conspiracies and illegal intentions behind every act and closed door when they lose the levers of federal power. They will say whatever they need to in order to gain and retain that power, including denigrating our institutions and those who don’t agree with their conspiracy theories.
Is the legal system they currently characterize as “corrupt” and “Third World” going to magically become what the Framers intended if President Trump wins re-election?
It is all too clear that the political divisions in America are growing not healing, and unlike Nixon and Gore, Trump and his MAGA acolytes are intent on exacerbating them for political gain. Through their constant attacks, they subvert the virtue and integrity of our essential institutions that have made the United States the oldest surviving democracy on earth.
The level of political vitriol that exists today is frightening in its intensity. I am extremely fearful that these irresponsible efforts to degrade our elections, our courts, our agencies, and our institutions will only leave them in a weakened state.
In August 1974, as former President Nixon was leaving the White House after resigning as President he said, “Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”
Our goal as citizens should be to remember that as Americans, we are the beneficiaries of the greatest and most successful experiment in democracy in the history of humankind.
We cannot let the level of scorn, hate and distrust continue or we run the risk of destroying this noble experiment our ancestors entrusted to us.