LISTEN HERE:
Recent declarations suggest that the Republican party, more specifically its former leader, Donald Trump, represent a significant ‘threat to democracy’ according to Democrat leadership. This is primarily in preparation for the forthcoming 2024 elections.
However, numerous Republicans and political analysts suggest it’s the Democrats themselves that might be undermining electoral processes. They base this assertion on various Democrats-led initiatives such as efforts to exclude Trump from the ballot, attempts to incarcerate him, constrict free speech on social media, and pushing for changes in election laws while combating strategies meant to secure voting legitimacy.
Such persistent efforts, these Republicans and experts argue, pose a largerscale threat to democratic norms than the infamous Capitol riot of January 6th, 2021, an incident repeatedly highlighted by President Biden and his Democratic colleagues.
Addressing this issue last year, Biden made a striking comment about rescuing the ‘soul of the nation’ from Trump and other Republicans. He stated that the Republicans were displaying ‘an extremism that shakes the foundation of our republic,’ were ‘a threat to American democracy,’ and presented ‘a clear and present danger’ to all citizens.
Lately, Democrats have shown support for legal actions at the state level meant to stop Trump from participating in the 2024 presidential ballots. An instance of such efforts is evident in Colorado, where the State Supreme Court this week passed a narrow 4-3 judgment stating that the ex-President had infringed upon the Constitution’s 14th Amendment due to his actions related to the January 6th incident, and therefore should not be eligible to contend.
‘The Democrats have strategically used the COVID-19 crisis as leverage to quickly and drastically alter long-established election laws and are now advocating for non-citizens to participate in U.S. elections,’ reported Ronna McDaniel, Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) to Fox News Digital. She further elaborates that the left is trying to eliminate political foes from the ballot, disregarding the American people’s privilege to choose their candidates.
‘Such onslaughts on the democratic process compromise the level of voter confidence and faith in the electoral system. Coincidentally, the RNC and associates are putting up a fight to ensure that the American public picks their presidential candidates, and not have the courts decide for them. The RNC prioritizes election integrity and advocates for policies that allow only American citizens to vote in elections,’ she added.
On the same note, legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor, agreed with McDaniel’s stance. He called the Colorado court verdict ‘the most anti-democratic opinion in decades.’ He furthermore argued that the credibility of the Democrats’ pursuit to defend democracy would be stronger if they weren’t backing efforts to stop voters from voting for Trump and abstaining from primaries in states like Florida.
Turley continues, ‘It’s quite a challenge to uphold the role of democracy’s guardians when your party is actively striving for the repression and exclusion of individuals with differing views.’ He posits that the ideal means to safeguard democracy is proactively supporting both the right to cast votes and freedom of speech – inclusive of those with differing perspectives. Turley’s reference to censorship points to accusations that the Biden administration, in association with Big Tech corporations, attempted to infringe upon U.S. citizens’ First Amendment rights by supervising controversial social media content related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the President’s son, Hunter Biden.
In October, the Supreme Court affirmed a review of a court-imposed ban on specific communications between the Biden administration and Big Tech. This decision came after allegations that senior government officials engaged with social media corporations under the premise of ‘combatting misinformation.’ State attorneys from Missouri and Louisiana made these allegations.
Several Democrats, challenging Biden for the party’s presidential nomination, including Marianne Williamson, Representative Dean Phillips (D-Minn), and now-independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr., blamed the Democratic National Committee for silencing their voices by avoiding primary debates.
Before declaring his decision to run as an independent candidate, Kennedy had to face criticism from fellow Democrats during a House hearing in July, supposed to address the ‘weaponization’ of the federal government in relation to censorship. Some Democrats in the committee aimed to use the hearing to harshly criticize past remarks made by Kennedy, which they deemed to be anti-Semitic and anti-Asian.
However, despite these actions, recent poll data indicates that, particularly in swing states, Democrats are more trusted than Republicans concerning the protection of democracy. Republican strategist Garrett Ventry attributes such confidence to Democrats’ persistent rhetoric around ‘threats to democracy’, which takes the place of addressing other pressing issues such as the economy, inflation, and job market.
‘They prefer not to talk about economic matters because the American people are well aware of their unsuccessful handling of these issues. We are facing an open-border situation, inflation has significantly risen in recent years, the economy is sluggish, and people feel their overall financial standing has weakened,’ Ventry explained.
Ventry further criticizes the Biden’s Justice Department for targeting American citizens, including Catholic church-goers, parents attending school board meetings to voice their concerns about their children’s education, and lower-income citizens, following the recruitment of 87,000 new IRS agents. He argues that the Democrat Party is the ‘greatest threat to democracy in our republic.’
With the 2024 election on the horizon, the Democrats’ vigorous efforts to counter Trump’s potential return have begun to cause unease among some influential figures within the party. Tim Wu, a former official in the Biden administration and now a professor at Columbia University, recently expressed concerns, saying: ‘This may be an unpopular post, but I think we need to realize that using undemocratic means to fight candidate Trump increases the odds of losing democracy itself.’
