This page contains links to recent blogs by Lincoln Mitchell
Tagged with: Repubilcans
By spreading doubt and trafficking in deliberate lies about the election, Trump and his Vichy Republican enablers are continuing to undermine America’s faith in its democracy. Trump’s universe, where elections either end in victory or fraud, is the product of his narcissistic and authoritarian mind, but when that view becomes widespread it threatens the basic processes and functioning of democracy.
The problem with this symmetry framework is not only that it does not hold up under real scrutiny, but that it overlooks the most important development in American politics over the course of the last few years, and in some respects much of this century-not the rise of polarization, but the descent of the Republican Party into a far right, white supremacist, conspiracy mongering, anti-science collection of cult-like followers of Donald Trump who now happily overlook, and at times celebrate, the criminality, cruelty, bigotry and avarice of his failed administration.
As the US careens towards an election that is already ripe with confusion, misinformation, voter suppression and lack of confidence-a situation that is likely to get much worse in the coming weeks-it is increasingly apparent that America’s electoral structures and rules are not working. The undemocratic nature of the electoral college and the US Senate have been well documented, but on a more granular level, American elections are inconsistently, and frequently, poorly, administered. This is in significant part due to efforts by those in power to limit access to the franchise, but it is also frequently the product of incompetence and antiquated rules and structures.