Republicans ‘House of Cards’ is crumbling

Republicans ‘House of Cards’ is crumbling

Ambassador Curtis A. Ward

(08 April 2024) — The Republican Party built an image of a political party which believed in law and order and somehow has exploited American voters belief in American superiority to perceive the Republicans as best equipped to govern and preserve U.S. supremacy. They stridently advocate interpretation of the U.S. constitution based primarily on so-called strict constructionist intentions during the framing of the constitution by the founding fathers, which institutionalized a system which sanctioned enslavement of Africans, white racial superiority, and female gender inferiority.  The Republicans created a facade that they were the party best able to defend United States national security through a strong national defense establishment that could project its military globally to protect American interests. They developed into a party that wielded military power abroad to enforce American interests. They did not hesitate to intervene militarily in different parts of the world to ensure that American economic and military superiority would never be challenged.

The Republican Party spurned international multilateral organizations they could not control, and fought against what they denounced as ‘world government’ which they ascribed to the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. Republicans ardently pursued American exceptionalism, a philosophically and ideologically based concept of American superiority. That included, according to the Republicans, the U.S. constitutional form of government that is superior to all other forms of government. But the House of Cards has been shaken and is tumbling down as the checks and balances enshrined in the U.S. constitution have proven to be quite vulnerable to a populist narcissist who has used every possible means to destroy America’s hallowed democratic system of governance. Trump, in his pursuit of power, includes an objective which is set ultimately on replacing democracy with an autocratic system which would give him unfettered power.

Donald Trump, America’s 45th president, during his four years as America’s head of government, has shown all who wished to see, and have told all who wished to listen that he will do whatever he can to be an imperial president. His unvarnished admiration and imitation of the world’s most notorious autocrats and dictators define his behavior and his future aspirations. He has made it clear he wants to be a dictator, even for a day. Americans have been warned ad nauseam to believe that Trump intends to do what he said he would, should he become president for a second time.

Trump has built a following, the MAGA movement, which, though seemingly to have reached its zenith of political support at somewhere between 30 and 35 percent of the electorate, has propelled him to be the unchallenged leader of the Republican Party and made him the greatest threat to American democracy since the Civil War. Trump succeeded, aided by the political complicity and connivance of a Republican-controlled Senate under Mitch McConnell’s immoral and unethical leadership to stack the U.S. Supreme Court with conservative right-wing zealots whose rulings have eroded public confidence in the Court’s willingness to protect American democracy and the rights of American citizens. The Republican controlled House of Representatives now carry out Trump’s bidding.

American democracy is at an inflection point, an observation made frequently by President Joe Biden. Now, saving American democracy from Trump’s assault rests only with a majority American citizens. Voters will make that determination in the presidential and congressional elections on November 5, 2024. Most American voters will not vote for Trump, but his chance of being elected to another term as president is possible because of the anachronistic electoral system which has proven time and again to have outlived its usefulness by at least 200 years. The two most recently elected Republican presidents, George W. Bush and Donald Trump both lost the popular votes but won the presidency through the archaic electoral college. The so-called swing states in the balance are in the conservative Midwest and southern regions of the United States. Biden won enough of these swing states by slim margins in 2020 to defeat Trump. Most voters wanted to dump Trump because of his record as president. And, although American voters seem to have a short memory span, the Republican leader’s extremism may prove too much for the anti-Trump Republicans and Independents in these battleground states. They are likely to not only deny Trump their votes but to cast their votes for Biden, as they did in 2020.

The Supreme Court has proven that it cannot be relied on to curb Trump’s crusade to become an imperial president who will destroy American democratic institutions and rule of law. The Supreme Court is now being put to the test and must determine the level of immunity to ascribe to a U.S. President for actions taken during and after leaving office. The Supreme Court’s decision will determine the outcome of the criminal indictments pending in four separate criminal courts (two federal and two state). Denying immunity to Trump, which most constitutional scholars have posited as the right outcome, is likely to end in criminal conviction of the former president. His likelihood of winning the 2024 presidential election will be far less probable as a felon.

It is mind boggling that the support of most white evangelicals are fueling Trump’s quest for power, given his immoral and blasphemous behavior. White evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2016. They made him president. They supported and abetted Trump despite his immorality and blasphemous exhortations. He rewarded them with a conservative Supreme Court, and he appointed ultra-conservative judges throughout the federal judiciary. The white evangelicals and other southern Christians, whose racist religious practices protected the rights of slave owners and perpetrated racist policies for hundreds of years, found their implementer, their messiah in Donald Trump. What is most troubling is that the narcissist Trump believes the hype. He is more now than ever infusing religion into his presidential campaign. But rather than boost his political quest to the presidency, politicizing religion exposes his blasphemous behavior, and it will backfire. Trump’s outrageous words and actions are approaching intolerable levels even among many of his evangelical supporters. Though immeasurable at this time, even a minor erosion of support among these of Trump’s most avid supporters will contribute to his defeat.

It is still early in the campaign, but it is now quite probably that Trump’s cumulative actions which threatened the U.S. house of cards will cause his own house of cards to crash. The Republicans’ is already barely on life support. Most indicators in the political landscape now favor Biden to win a second term.

© Curtis A. Ward