August 20, 2020
Moral demise of the Republican Party
By Prof. Arthur Kane Scott
Over the last three and half years, the Republican Party has lost what Joe Biden describes as the soul of the nation by entering a Faustian Bargain with Trump to retain power. The Grand Old Party has abandoned democratic values for fear, prejudice, class antagonism, racism/sexism, white nationalism, police terrorism, ecological denigration as well as displaying gross incompetence in responding to a national health crisis posed by the coronavirus epidemic.
President Trump thrives on the politics of divide and rule he calls the “art of the Deal.” It relies on a strategy of polarization, pitting one group against another, specifically, white Americans against the emerging darker diversity as well as males against females. Lying is his specially. anti-science, magical thinking is his calling card. The snake oil salesman as it were had wormed his way to the White House.
He seeks to return America sociologically to a 1950 playbook. A playbook in which white males dominated, women stayed at home, children know their place, Sunday churches were packed, the manufacturing economy humming, the GI Bill is in vogue, and Black/Brown America are reasonably quiet, although making some inroads in national sports and civil rights.
President Trump through Executive Orders and temporary appointments sought to reshape America: he undercut climate awareness by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, he curtailed the role of Center for Disease Control (CDC) in addressing the coronavirus by side lining Dr. Anthony Facui. He is threatening the 2020 Presidential election by overhauling the Post Office through the appointment of Louis De Joy, a millionaire contributor, whose primary agenda is to make voting by mail difficult and raising doubts about the election’s credibility.
His presidency has been often marred by real estate/money interests which gets in the way of being president. The thorny question is: “Is he acting on behalf of America, or for Trump Enterprises?” Most of his inner circle are family members who are investors/promoters like Ivanka, and her real estate tycoon husband, Jared Kushner, along with Wall Street notables Steven Mnuchin of Goldman Sachs and Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor, who made millions in China and Mexico.
But the core issue revolving around the “idiosyncrasies” of Trump World is the role of the Republican Party. It has been his enabler beginning with the distasteful firing of FBI Director, James Comey over Russian influence in the 2016 Presidential election and again in 2020. The Republican Party has failed to challenge him on these matters:
- Not releasing his taxes although New York State Attorney General Office has demanded that Deutsche Bank release details abouts Trump finances and global investments and ties
- Silencing mainstream press through “fake news” tropes, and the ultra- conservative voice of Fox News
- Undermining environmental protection and redirection of national policies in favor of big oil & coal
- Appointing outliers to head critical Federal Departments such as Betty DeVos, Secretary of Education, whose only qualification for the position is the Amway fortune
- Persistent war on women by defunding Planned Parenthood and his sexual dalliances
- Putting at risk 22-24 million Americans by eliminating Obama Care
- Jeopardizing the existence of millions of undocumented `Dreamers, ‘and incarcerating thousands of children seeking American asylum
- Imposing a travel ban on Muslims, and even restricting entry of foreigners with special skills
- Limiting voting rights protection through jerrymandering action by state legislatures in Red States
- Removing inheritance tax exemption on the 1 percenter and providing corporations with windfall tax reform of 21%
- Inability to respond to current Economic depression in which 30 million Americans are unemployed; compounded by a corona virus in which 160,000 Americans have lost their lives
- Refusing to extend the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Act (FPUC) thus putting millions at risk regarding housing, food security and credit card debt. Nearly half of the nation is unemployed while Congress take a summer hiatus
- Inadequate national policy response to addressing the coronavirus, politicizing the wearing of masks, or complicating the safety of school opening, except that of passing it off to the States, or calling for a vaccine through the hyperbole of “Warp Speed”
- Found guilty by the House for impeachable activities in the Ukraine, but exonerated by a Republican Senate which still ignores Russian bounty payments to Taliban military for American kills in Afghanistan,
- The Republican Party over the last three years has allowed this nightmare/debacle to grow and fester by not challenging Trump on his many inappropriate actions and policies. This Apprentice president has been disastrous for the nation and will be even more disastrous for the Republican Party. By now, one would think that it would demand his immediate resignation before he does even more damage. Instead, it continues to bury its head in the sand, more concerned with retaining position and power than making America humane, compassionate, and democratic again – the very definition of a Great America.
Lincoln must be rolling over in his grave with the party he founded today led by Mitch McConnell, dubbed “Moscow Mitch”, and Lindsay Graham. House Republican Speaker, Paul Ryan, after making sure that the rich grew richer with the tax cuts he has been dreaming about since school days abandoned public office before the Democratic House resurgence in 2018. No Republican, not even Mitt Romney, has consistently spoken out against the “crimes and misdemeanors” of the White House, until the recent advent of the Lincoln Project consisting of never Trump Republicans who gleefully has taken Trump to task for his abuse of power, his shredding of the constitution, and his 24,000 and counting documented lies.
Making matters even worse is that some Republicans Senators, Ron Johnson, Wisconsin, Chuck Grassley, Iowa, are using Russian-Ukrainian propaganda to attack Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Such actions, especially after the report of the Senate Intelligence Committee found Russia guilty of interfering in the 2016 Presidential election, is unconscionable, if not bordering on treason.
Another key to the 2020 election would be a Democratic win of the Senate. There are currently 23 Republican seats up for grabs. The Democrats just need 4 seats to control the Senate. Vulnerable Republicans are Susan Collins, Maine, Cory Gardner, Colorado, Sally McSally, Arizona, Steve Daines, Montana. Even Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham’s positions are in play.
A Democratic sweep would dramatically shift the political balance in Washington ushering in a more compassionate voice to national politics under Biden-Harris in which the fissures of hate exploited by Trump would be mitigated and the nightmare of authoritarianism and division reduced. Women are once again leading the way as they break away from the historical misogyny/sexism of Donald Trump and the Republican Party, to usher in a transformative gender realignment in American politics that celebrates and reflects the hundredth year anniversary of the nineteenth amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
In resisting and ignoring deep societal trends such as the Black Lives Matter movement as most recently embodied by George Floyd, Trump finds himself at loggerheads with the emerging younger generations: xers’, millennials and blended, who have a different vision of America. A country based on socio-economic equality, housing and educational opportunity, gender, and sexual fairness in which the prejudices of the past will wane and freedom for all becomes a reality and not just an ideal or a cliché.
As John Lewis so eloquently put it in his final NYT comment:
Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.
Arthur Kane Scott is Professor of Humanities and Cultural Studies at the Dominican University of California and Fellow of American Institute of International Studies.
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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