At the August 23, 2023 Republican primary debate, six of the eight candidates on the stage pledged that, if Donald Trump became the 2024 Republican nominee for president, they would support him – even if he was convicted.
The Republican frontrunner stands accuse of racketeering, conspiracy, obstruction, and charges related to the continued effort, and the coordinated effort, to overturn a Presidential election – thus ending the American, small d, democratic experiment.
Ali Veshi
This is NOT normal. This is NOT ok. This is NOT patriotic. This is NOT supporting the Constitution. It is, in fact, a self-inflicted madness. This is how democracies fail. This is how republics become dictatorships.
The end of democracy
We have an entire political party that is devoted to a criminal defendant – someone who tried to overthrow our democracy. That is the overriding issue of our time, of our day. It is beyond Donald Trump. It’s not only the people on the (republican debate) stage, it’s millions of Americans who have bought in to this. This is an issue of extreme seriousness.
Jennifer Rubin
Until and unless the Republican Party cleans up its act, starts to tell the truth, ceases its support of criminals and traitors, and takes power away from the fascists in their ranks, every election in America will have the frightening potential to be the LAST free election in America.
We have a party that has betrayed America and I think it behooves us to remind people over and over again what this is really about. The question is really: Democracy? or someone from the Republican Party?
Jennifer Rubin
The choice is clear
The political choice in America is not left vs. right, or liberal vs. conservative. It is a choice between democracy or an authoritarian fascist dictatorship. Millions of people seem to be blind to this very real and immediate threat.
You’ve got one party in America that is in favor of democracy and you’ve got another party in America that is enthralled by, and in league behind, a former president and presidential candidate who has told you he is going to institute a presidential dictatorship if he gets elected next year – with big elements of fascism. How clear does it have to be?
Michael Beschloss
On August 23, 2023, a majority of the Republican candidates indicated they would support a man in prison as their nominee for President of the United States. This is serious. This is wrong. This is crazy. This is dangerous. Warn your family and friends. Our country is in big trouble.
This level of self-delusion is so dangerous and you at times wonder if they really believe what they are saying, but I think if they keep saying it we should believe what they say – this is their mindset – it’s delusional.
Jennifer Rubin
Sources:
Ali Veshi, “Rubin: The GOP is ‘an entire political party devoted to a criminal defendant’,” MSNBC, August 24, 2023.
Heather Cox Richardson, “August 24, 2023 (Thursday),” Facebook, August 24, 2023.
The party of “law and order” has lost its moral leadership. Followers of the party by following are also saying they don’t care about morality like they used to. When I hear from a Republican follower that both parties are the same or that Biden is a crook, I feel sad because they are not thinking with their brains, and their hearts are deceived with flattery or worse yet, moral blindness.
You’re right Brian. It’s not about left or right, liberal or conservative it’s about democracy and authoritarianism.
Democracy is fragile. It not only dies in darkness but also from apathy. We have a clear and present danger in the GOP. They know it and yet they support it. Their apathy is born in cowardess. They fear the MAGA base and have willingly aligned themselves with the madness. The only way that it will change is for all good Americans to vote for those who oppose Trump and the attempt to destroy our country.
Rachel Maddow commented that, “the election means one of two things, if this is the way he’s going to approach it: Either he loses the election and he goes to prison. Or he wins the election. He doesn’t go to prison.”
“And that, is that for life that he gets to be president? Will we keep having more elections, or No? If every election is a new opportunity for him to go to prison, do you think he allows us to have new elections?” Maddow asked.
“If those are the stakes, if winning the election is his plan to stay out of prison, what happens in that election if and when he does not win it? Does that kind of an election end with a graceful concession to a fair and square reelect President Biden?”
And if those are the stakes, how are the Republicans, whose 2020 platform consisted of a loyalty pledge to Trump, going to administer and respond to the 2024 election?
Scary times. Scary to think of a nation whose Greatest Generation greatest achievement was defeating fascism, has to watch their children surrender to fascism.
The Democratic Party must be an exemplar of democracy if it hopes to defeat Trump. Right now it isn’t, preventing an primaries challenging President Biden. In other words from the DNC support us or drop dead.
Yes we are on the cusp of a Trump fascist dictatorship. Have you wondered why the Church has so little to say in the face of this emergency. Answer: all of the Brethren are Republicans and think like it.
It is my opinion that the First Presidency letter dated June 1, 2023, was a clear call for members of faith to abandon Donald J Trump as a candidate for president. No, they did not say it in that many words (they can’t and retain political neutrality), but you tell me why else they would release this particular letter on June 1, sixteen months before the 2024 election, and long before Trump could secure the nomination.
They normally wait until the month October before an election to release this type of letter. This letter cautions us to vote for leaders of “integrity, compassion, and who show service to others.” Donald Trump demonstrably does not have any of those qualities. It says don’t vote on a straight party line. It says don’t vote one way just because it’s tradition. It says there is good to be found in various parties. And it says voting for someone who does not fit these criteria is a “threat to democracy” and “inconsistent with revealed standards.” How much clearer does this letter have to be? What do you think they were trying to say to us?
Read for yourself:
“Some principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties, and members should seek candidates who best embody those principles. Members should also study candidates carefully and vote for those who have demonstrated integrity, compassion, and service to others, regardless of party affiliation. Merely voting a straight ticket or voting based on “tradition” without careful study of candidates and their positions on important issues is a threat to democracy and inconsistent with revealed standards (see Doctrine and Covenants 98:10).
Unfortunately, I think most church members, when they heard their bishopric member read this from the pulpit, just nodded and said, “Yup, I shouldn’t vote for that evil Joseph Biden.”
Matthew 13:15 — For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.