A Super (Tuesday) Wake-Up Call

Time to pour on the work

Credit: Getty Images

The presidential campaign is well and truly underway. After Super Tuesday, Donald Trump now has most of the delegates he needs to win the nomination. And with Nikki Haley bowing out, he has no competition for the remaining ones. President Biden is similarly situated to secure his party’s nomination in the next few weeks. While this outcome was hardly in doubt, it is now, in effect, done. 

The 2024 presidential race will be a rematch of 2020. Many people had hoped it wouldn’t be. But unless something politically extraordinary happens or heaven intervenes, it will be Biden versus Trump in a fight to the finish for the future of the country.

For any and all Americans who want to preserve our democracy as we have known it, it’s time to pour on the work.

I have added some analysis in this audio recording. Please take a listen.

What’s at Stake

Many in the media — including this writer — have been saying that a second Trump administration will mean the “end of democracy.” But what does that really mean, and has it been said so often that it’s losing its potency? Let’s spell it out, as a reminder to ourselves and others.

Trump’s past behavior is telling: his seditious efforts to encourage a mob intent on taking over the U.S. Capitol, refusing the peaceful transfer of power, using the federal government to punish his enemies … the list is long. But it is what he promises to do if reelected that is most concerning and what makes a second Trump term even more dangerous than the first.  

Trump’s actions have shown that he is an authoritarian. He wants to be the only one in charge by doing away with our system of governmental checks and balances on power, something the Founding Fathers were adamant about.

A thing called Project 2025 is the brainchild of the far-right Heritage Foundation. The plan is predicated on the belief that the president of the United States has — or should have — absolute power over the executive branch. That includes all of the Cabinet offices and the nonpartisan civil servants whose job security has never in modern times been tied to the party in power. Project 2025 would recruit tens of thousands of self-described “conservatives” to replace those civil servants. The plan would go into effect on Inauguration Day if Trump is elected.

Several constitutional crises were averted during his first term by people who put the country before the president’s demands — such as requiring complete loyalty to Trump, instead of to the Constitution. It’s likely that Trump has learned from his first term and will appoint even more personally and rabidly loyal people who will not stop him in similar situations.

Trump’s jingoistic disdain for our allies may lead him to pull out of NATO, one the most effective alliances in world history and one that has saved countless lives. 

Trump’s love of fellow authoritarians like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un should be a resounding alarm that he is a danger to our constitutional republic. 

If he makes it back into the White House, he might never leave. That sounds hyperbolic, but it isn’t. He was the biggest perpetrator of the “big lie,” the false claim that he won in 2020. There is real concern he could suspend elections.

He stacked the Supreme Court with anti-abortion jurists who reversed Roe v. Wade. While this was an unpopular decision with a majority of the country, Trump has bragged about it, taking credit for curtailing the rights of American women. And he won’t stop there. He wants a national 16-week abortion ban. He could very well have an opportunity to appoint another Supreme Court justice.

In his first term, Trump reversed a multitude of Obama’s progressive initiatives. In a second term, he promises to go even further. He wants to deny funding for schools with vaccine mandates and roll back transgender protections. As a denier of science and facts, he would halt legislation to combat climate change. He would appoint judges who will do his bidding. We have already seen how effective that strategy has been.

How Haley Helped

Let’s look at what we can learn from Super Tuesday’s results and exit polls. Although Nikki Haley won just one state, Vermont, her average across the 15 contests was more than 25%. That’s a lot of people not voting for the presumed nominee. Trump’s difficulty persuading moderate, well-educated, suburban voters has not improved.

He will also have a hard time with Republicans who know he lost in 2020. And three in 10 said they won’t vote for him if he is convicted of a crime. Also remember the MAGA base accounts for only about a third of all voters. He needs to convince a lot more people. 

What Now

Time to repeat and remind that the outcome is not predetermined. A lot can and will happen in the next eight months. Also remember that Americans have fought fascism and won. Americans have faced corrupt leaders and gotten rid of them.

We survived, together, the worst days of the Great Depression. We rallied from the dark days of Hitler and a Japanese invasion. The American people — your neighbors, friends and family — together can defeat this threat to our democracy.

But it takes work, lest we forget.

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