Anyone following Continuations knows that I have been writing for quite some time that Trump represents an attack on the institutions of democracy. Here is the opening paragraph of a post I wrote about why I was voting for Hillary Clinton (despite disliking her as a candidate):
The 2016 Presidential race is not a typical election between two candidates based on the merits of their positions on key issues. Instead, it is a stark choice between Hillary Clinton, whose positions you may disagree with, but who is firmly grounded in the democratic and scientific tradition that has made America great, and Donald Trump, a candidate born from reality television who is an autocratic demagogue willfully ignoring science and intentionally trashing any rational discourse.
There was plenty of opportunity to see this ahead of time and then to watch it play out over the last four years, culminating in the demonstration yesterday that ultimately spilled over into a breaching of Congress.
Now there will be those who will say it was all a farce, that as the great Karl Marx quote that goes “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” The implication being that this was all a bunch of bumbling fools who can be safely ignored.
I think that doing so would be a grave mistake and would be ignoring both history and the signs that are already clearly visible today. Events like this are never just about the event itself. Instead, it is important to recognize that (a) the people actually there are the visible tip of the iceberg (with the far greater group of supporters and sympathizers submerged) and (b) the myth making that will follow.
German history unfortunately provides not one but two relevant historical precedents that are worth understanding better. I have already tweeted about one of them, the so called Dolchstoßlegende (or stab-in-the-back myth). People seem to be wondering why Trump clung to the fiction that he had won this election and were overly focused on the threat of overturning the current outcome. The real threat is the myth being built that will fuel Trumpism and any would-be successor movement for years to come.
The second precedent worth knowing about is the Munich Putsch, also known as the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. Obviously a great many differences but one important lesson. The existing powers didn’t take it seriously enough. Yes, they threw a couple of organizers into prison, but they didn’t at all disable the underlying movement that was building. Instead they provided an opportunity for that movement to grow much stronger.
We should not make the same mistake now. Not only do we need to strengthen the institutions of democracy but we also need to firmly counter those who would happily overthrow it, if given a chance. This, however, can only be accomplished if it has broad political support, meaning the GOP needs to be part of it. Otherwise it will be seen as a partisan effort and further undermine democracy.
