REPRISE: Compromise Fundamental Values to work with fascists? NEVER!
Reaction to Biden's Inaugural Address in January 2021
Originally published as “Unity with fascists? NEVER!”by James Rowles in The Trenchant Observer on January 26, 2021
See,
1) Molly Roberts, “Unity is dead. Long live unity,” Washington Post, January 26, 2021 (6:47 p.m. EST).
Ball writes an insightful column taking as a starting point a statement by Joe Biden:
“To restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words,” Joe Biden said in his inaugural address. “It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity.”
2) Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Nearly all GOP senators vote against impeachment trial for Trump, signaling likely acquittal,” Washington Post, January 26, 2021 (6:17 p.m. EST).
The headline is misleading. 90% of Republican Senators voted to not hold the impeachment trial on the thin pretext that an impeachment trial of someone who has left office is unconstitutional. The fallacious nature of this argument will become clear in the coming weeks.
The real story here is that there were five Republican Senators who voted against Rand Paul’s motion. 10% of the Republicans in the Senate. They could form the basis for the construction of a democratic Republican Party, one dedicated to upholding democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law.
Should Democrats compromise their core values in order to achieve compromises and “bipartisanship” with Senate and House members of the fascist* Republican Party?
To be sure, Democrats should seek compromises with Republicans who have shown through their actions, or who may yet show through their actions, that they have broken with Trump’s co-conspirators and the fascist members of the Republican Party.
The fundamental division in American politics today is not between Conservatives and Liberals, or even between all Republicans and Democrats.
It is between Insurrectionists and Constitutionalists, between those who believe in democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, on the one hand, and those who support fascist ideas and fascist leaders, on the other.
It is that simple: The division is between American fascists, now represented by the Republican Party and most of its leaders, and democrats (small “d”), those who believe in and militate in support of democracy.
The fascists are the enemies of American democracy. Republican fascists have demonstrated through their actions over the last four years, and in particular over the last three months, that their loyalty is not to American democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, but rather to a fascist Leader, Donald Trump, and his attempted coup d’état.
They engage in and accept monstrous lies.
They look the other way when legislators, election officials, and others who oppose the authoritarian will of the Leader are subjected, with their families, to death threats and other threats of physical harm.
They are utterly unwilling to risk their political careers by taking on the fascist base of the Republican Party, a cult-likgroup built on a personality cult of Donald Trump, subsisting in a delusional world made up of monstruous lies and propaganda which they themselves repeat, or at least with bad-faith verbal legerdemain fail to call out.
They tell big lies. They give succour to the propaganda and lies and delusions in the propaganda bubble which envelops their fascist base.
As short as memories have become in this Internet, Social Media, and Cable News world, Democrats and all proponents of American democracy should pinch themselves in the arm and remember exactly what this fascist Republican Party has done, and not done, during the last four years of the Trump Presidency.
The Senate and House members of the fascist Republican Party, with few but laudable exceptions in the persons of men and women of character and courage, make no pretense of honoring their sworn oaths of office to uphold the Constitution, and also in the Senate their oaths to serve as honest and impartial jurors in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
They have shown their colors.
Let us not be surprised by their bad-faith arguments that the trial is unconstitutional, as they seek to avoid their constitutional duty to hold an impartial trial of Trump and to vote whether or not to convict him based on an honest and fair evaluation of the charges and the evidence.
Should Democrats seek to reach compromises with such men and women?
The path of redemption should always be held open for those who genuinely repent of their sins against our democracy. That does not mean that they should not be prosecuted where the evidence points to the commission of crimes.
So, what is the course we and other Constitutionalists should follow?
One huge fundamental truth bears repeating:
The fundamental division in American politics today is not between Conservatives and Liberals, or even between all Republicans and Democrats.
It is between Insurrectionists and Constitutionalists, between those who believe in democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, on the one hand, and those who support fascist ideas and fascist leaders, on the other.
We should never forget, not even for a moment, the true nature of the fascist threat we face, the true nature of the current fascist Republican Party, and the true nature of the fascist Senators and Representatives who have participated in Trump’s crimes, including his attempted coup, and who acting in bad faith refuse to hold him to account.
Many Republican Senators will vote against the conviction of Trump in February, as they did in February, 2020 in his first impeachment trial, despite overwhelming evidence in both cases of his guilt.
We should write down their names, and then mount a massive effort at the polls, with a billion-dollar warchest, to remove them from the body politic when they come up for re-election.
Let them worry about being “primaried” by other fascist candidates if they honor their oaths of office and convict Trump.
What a dilemma: “Should I honor my oaths to be an impartial juror and to uphold the Constitution?
By their votes they will define themselves and the future of the Republican Party, for all history.
If they fail, once again, to honor their oaths to serve as impartial jurors and to uphold the Constitution, let them be removed from office in their next elections by a wrathful American populace which still believes in honor and truth, and taking oaths to uphold the Constitution earnestly.
In the meantime, Democrats will need to be prepared to make compromises with the fascist Republican Senators in order to achieve passage of important legislation.
In doing so, they should never lose sight of the true nature of their fascist opponents, who have a long history of acting in bad faith.
Should Democrats compromise their core values in order to achieve compromises and “bipartisanship” with Senate and House members of the fascist Republican Party?
NEVER!
FURTHER READING
James Rowles, “Forget Bipartisanship: Extirpate the Fascist Threat and Defeat All Fascists,” The Trenchant Observer, February 16, 2021. reprinted in The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024), pp. 347-349. This chapter and the book itself are available on Amazon in Kindle and printed editions.
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*Definition of “fascist”:
1) Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
fascist /ˈfæʃɪst/(sometimes capital)
n
1. an adherent or practitioner of fascism
2. any person regarded as having right-wing authoritarian viewsadj
Also: fascistic /fəˈʃɪstɪk/
characteristic of or relating to fascism2) WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2020
fas•cist (fash′ist),
n.1. a person who believes in or sympathizes with fascism.
2. (often cap.) a member of a fascist movement or party.
3. a person who is dictatorial or has extreme right-wing views.adj.
Also, fa•scis•tic (fash′ist), of or like fascism or fascists.
fa•scis′ti•cal•ly, adv.
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James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities.
He studied the history of Nazi Germany at Stanford, and has studied and worked on human rights, judicial reform, and access to justice projects in many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and in Afghanistan and Russia. At Harvard Law School, he taught a course on “Law, Human Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America”.
At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, he worked on human rights cases involving forced disappearances, executions, and torture in a number of authoritarian countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recent Books by the Author
The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (September, 18, 2024). Available on Amazon and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (November 11, 2024). Available on Amazon and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
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7/20
I'm cautiously hopeful and agree with you.
Great nations fall from within, and the USA needs some humbling from our superiority complex. But we also can rise up and learn from our mistakes.
I pray we will do that...and soon.
7/7 Yes let's do that. But also, let's build a consensus with the MAGA people who are beginning to 'see the light' and the independents who want Democracy more than then they want fascism.