Dan Crenshaw: How--Exactly--Does Trump Undermine Democracy?
Yeah, I've been puzzling over this one, too....
Trump does a lot of things...in many obvious ways he's bad for the country...but how is he "undermining democracy"? I mean...I'd have thought that it's the other side that's most clearly making anti-democratic noises. For one thing, there's a sense in which they've never accepted the result of the 2016 presidential election. And there's certainly a widespread idea that Trump should be thwarted at every turn. Should that count as undermining democracy?
But, anyway, lest I tumble fully into that tu quoque... How's Trump doing it? Contra these knuckleheads, bashing the press for fake news doesn't count. For one thing, he's often right. For another thing, even bogus attacks on the press aren't clearly a case of "undermining democracy." News flash, press corps: criticizing you is not undermining democracy. I'm not saying that BS attacks on the press are good...but that's a different issue. Throwing Jim Acosta out isn't "undermining democracy."
Anyway: how is it that Trump is "undermining democracy"?
Trump does a lot of things...in many obvious ways he's bad for the country...but how is he "undermining democracy"? I mean...I'd have thought that it's the other side that's most clearly making anti-democratic noises. For one thing, there's a sense in which they've never accepted the result of the 2016 presidential election. And there's certainly a widespread idea that Trump should be thwarted at every turn. Should that count as undermining democracy?
But, anyway, lest I tumble fully into that tu quoque... How's Trump doing it? Contra these knuckleheads, bashing the press for fake news doesn't count. For one thing, he's often right. For another thing, even bogus attacks on the press aren't clearly a case of "undermining democracy." News flash, press corps: criticizing you is not undermining democracy. I'm not saying that BS attacks on the press are good...but that's a different issue. Throwing Jim Acosta out isn't "undermining democracy."
Anyway: how is it that Trump is "undermining democracy"?
posted by Winston Smith at
6:54 AM
4 Comments:
Throwing out a reporter for asking difficult questions is, pro tanto, undermining a free press. A free press is fundamental to democracy, therefore...
Too indirect? Try this: Constantly lying about voter fraud, when you are the President of the United States, undermines confidence in electoral procedures. That just is undermining democracy.
These are just two items from a long list. None of Trump's predecessors ever did anything remotely like this. This wasn't because they were nice guys. They just didn't want to be seen to be undermining democracy. There's nothing hyperbolic about saying that Trump is undermining democracy. I don't see how you don't see this.
Part of the problem is that if you cast it in terms of 'making anti-democratic noises' then all kinds of people are going to count as 'undermining democracy'. But don't you see that there's a massive difference in kind between the President of the United States spreading lies about voter fraud, and virtually anyone else doing so?
'Throwing Jim Acosta out isn't "undermining democracy"' is about the clearest case of a blatant falsehood I've ever seen here.
Uhh...Maybe questioning the legitimacy of elections on spurious (read: totally made up) accusations of voter fraud should count?
Yes! Absolutely right about the voter fraud. It's not that I don't see that, though it (weirdly) didn't come to mind at the time.
'Undermining' might be a bit too strong here, but I'm not that interested in niceties. It's a goddamn stupid thing to say, and no president should be saying it without very clear evidence of it. Which doesn't exist currently.
Acosta, though...still not convinced. Was he thrown out for asking tough questions? Or for being an asshole? Both, it seems. If this became a pattern, I think it'd be different. But this seems like another instance of the press intentionally provoking Trump until he does something dumb and not completely kosher...and then proclaiming it evidence that Trump is Hitler. I'm not wild about it, but I'm not freaking out about it.
Also: not about democracy. Not to split hairs, but I say people should at least be minimally clear about what they think Trump is undermining. I think what they mean is that he's undermining the Constitution.
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