Señor Trumpanzee’s Birthday Parade Flopped— His Congressional Enablers’ Careers Are Next

I’m Betting Voters Will Remember Who Backed The Tyrant

"Insurrectionists By Any Other Name" by Nancy Ohanian

Still in recovery mode from my most recent chemo infusion, I decided to not go down to the big L.A. No Kings rally downtown, which drew 200,000 people and was pretty wild. Instead I went to the local rally in my neighborhood, expecting a mellow little event. There were several thousand people who showed up for that one too! The dozens of neighborhood rallies all over L.A. and the suburbs drew tens of thousands of people, more than Trump’s disorganized and miserably failed birthday bash. The White House claimed 200,000 people attended. Trump later claimed it was 250,000. It wasn’t a tenth of that. Independent reports were that something between 10,000 and 20,000 (tops) attended the dull, even pathetic, though extremely expensive, event.

This morning, Paul Krugman wrote that in our post-democracy, competitive authoritarian society Señor Trumpanzyy and his henchmen “haven’t yet fully consolidated their hold. America still has a chance of reclaiming itself from the grip of brazen corruption, mindless destruction, and contempt both for the rule of law and for our erstwhile allies. We don’t have to become a country bullied into submission. But we’re teetering on the edge, and one of the most important ways we can step back from that edge is for ordinary Americans to engage in mass protests.”

Krugman was part of the massive rally in NYC on Saturday which, he wrote, “was huge despite the rain.” There were between 50,000 and 100,000 participants at the main event in Manhattan, at Bryant Park, but not counting the large rally uptown at Columbia University as well as huge events at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, MacDonald Park in Forest Hills (Queens), a Staten Island march and rallies in Yonkers, Mineola, Port Washington, Babylon, Huntington, up and down the Hudson Valley and in Newark, Jersey City, Weehawken, Perth Amboy and all through the New Jersey suburbs.

“Meanwhile,” noted Krugman, “Trump got the military parade he wanted for his birthday. And it was a box-office bust, probably attracting far fewer people than the 250,000 the White House claimed. In fact, the optics were simply embarrassing. As the Washington Post noted, ‘Some in the crowd filed out as the parade continued, the number of onlookers thinning before the president gave his remarks. Even bleacher seating for VIP guests, positioned directly across from a riser for news cameras, remained half-empty throughout the program.’ Why does this matter? Is counting attendance in rival rallies just an exercise in one-upmanship? No. Right now crowd sizes matter a lot because competitive authoritarianism rests largely on self-fulfilling expectations.”

While there is a cadre of Trumpist true believers who will obey the Leader under any circumstances, most of those doing the dirty work of undermining democracy and the rule of law are cowards and opportunists. They’re willing to participate in the destruction of America as we know it because they believe that many others will do the same. As a result, they believe that they are unlikely to face any personal consequences for their actions and may even be rewarded for their lawbreaking.

And what of those who oppose Trumpism? While there are heroes willing to take a stand against tyranny whatever the personal cost, most anti-Trumpists are reluctant to stick their necks out unless they believe that they are part of a widespread resistance that will grant them some measure of safety in numbers.

In other words, the victory or defeat of competitive authoritarianism will depend to a large extent on which side ordinary people believe will win. If Trump looks unstoppable, resistance will wither away and democracy will be lost. On the other hand, if he appears weak and stymied, resistance will grow and— just maybe— American democracy will survive.

So what we saw on Saturday was more than just the juxtaposition of a poorly attended parade that was supposed to glorify the Leader against massive, enthusiastic protests. We also saw a body blow to Trump’s image of invincibility and a demonstration that millions of Americans are willing to stand up for democracy.

Furthermore, other developments are also suggesting a serious pushback against Trumpism. One is the remarkable comeuppance of law firms that capitulated to Trump’s threats and signed deals agreeing to do pro bono work on behalf of Trump’s causes. Now they see their top talent and major clients walking out the door, moving to firms that had the courage to stand up to Trump.

Another encouraging sign is the blowback against the administration’s aggressive, lawless roundups of immigrants, with hardly any effort to determine whether they are legally here. Many pundits assumed that the spectacle of arrests and deportations, would work to Trump’s political advantage. But the polling is clear: ICE’s actions have caused Trump’s approval on immigration to plunge, while there is strong opposition to his attempts to militarize immigration policy.

This isn’t the end of the assault on American democracy. It isn’t even the beginning of the end. But it may well be the end of the beginning. Trump spent his first 6 months in office trying to steamroller over all opposition, creating the impression that resistance is futile. Clearly, he hasn’t succeeded. On the contrary, resistance is stiffening, and those who preemptively capitulated seem to be paying a higher price than those who showed some backbone.

Although the tide may be turning, MAGA isn’t simply going to roll over and slink away. On the contrary, the administration’s power grabs will become even more aggressive and desperate, with growing efforts to intimidate, prosecute and even physically harm political opponents, as well as widespread efforts to suppress dissent with force.

Nonetheless, despite the difficult times ahead, America has just passed an important test. May freedom ring.

Trump’s congressional enablers— the spineless, cynical crew who’ve normalized his authoritarianism and abetted his assault on democracy— will soon discover that history has been quietly taking notes. The message from this weekend’s mass mobilizations wasn’t just aimed at Trump; it was directed at every elected Republican who chose submission over principle, who shrugged at kids in cages, who voted to gut checks and balances, who repeated lies they knew were lies. If public opinion really is a battlefield of perceived momentum, these lawmakers are beginning to look like soldiers marching on the wrong side of history— and into a buzzsaw of popular revulsion. This TV spot started playing in New Jersey today for people still making up their minds about Trump enabler Tom Kean:

Many of the congressional co-conspirators like Kean, thought they could ride the dragon without getting burned. But the midterms next year will be a harsh reckoning for phony “moderates” like Mike Lawler (NY), Don Bacon (NE), Juan Ciscomani (AZ), Young Kim (CA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA), Ryan Mackenzie (PA), Jen Kiggans (VA), Derrick Van Orden (WI), Nick LaLota (NY), Rob Bresnahan (PA), David Valadao (CA), Maria Salazar (FL), Zach Nunn (IA), Bryan Steil (WI)… 

They traded their spines for MAGA hats. Hope they kept the receipts; click on image

The same tidal energy that filled city centers and suburban streets with chants of defiance is going to flood the ballot boxes with consequences. These Members of Congress, most of whom rely on low-turnout elections, passive electorates and being on the right side of lesser of two evils equations, now face a growing and galvanized resistance— one with a taste for protest and, hopefully, a long memory. Whether reluctantly or enthusiastically, they signed up for a would-be strongman’s project; they may have also signed up for their own pink slips. This was Krugman’s musical choice today: