Below is my column in The Hill on the latest calls to protect democracy with distinctly undemocratic measures. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton insisted that the 2024 election was our D-Day, suggesting that voters would have to fight the GOP like the Nazis in World War II. Clinton previously called on Europe to censor American citizens when Twitter sought to dismantle its censorship program and called her defeat in the 2016 election “illegitimate.” Yet, for many civil libertarians, the “defenders of democracy” are the very threat to democracy going into the 2024 election.
Here is the column:
In 2024, the greatest test for our Constitution may be whether it can survive the “Defenders of Democracy.”
Ronald Reagan often said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Today, Reagan’s line cannot compare with the line that sends many of us into a fetal position: “I’m a Democrat and I am here to save democracy.”
The jump scare claim is that unless citizens vote for democrats, the end of democracy will begin shortly. In 2022, House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told “Fox News Sunday” that “democracy will be ending” if Democrats lost the midterms.
The rhetoric has continued to ramp up with the upcoming election.
From President Joe Biden to a host of progressive politicians and pundits, the 2024 election is all about saving democracy. The public has been told that if the Democrats lose power, citizens will be living in a tyrannical hellscape. Vice President Kamala Harris stated in one interview that 2024 “genuinely could be” the last democratic election in America’s history. Dozens of Democrats have said that democracy will end if Biden is not reelected.
The Washington Post even ran an op-ed titled, “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.”
Many Americans have tuned out the overheated rhetoric, as shown by Donald Trump’s continuing lead in many polls even after his conviction in Manhattan. The warnings also ignore that our system has checks and balances that protected democracy for centuries as the world’s oldest and most successful constitutional system. These dire predictions would require all three branches to fail in an unprecedented fashion.
While these figures cite the Capitol riot on Jan 6., 2021 as evidence of the pending collapse of democracy, the system worked as designed on that day. Congress refused to be deterred by the riot and virtually every court (including many presided over by Trump-appointed judges) rejected challenges to the election.
The most obvious threats today to the democratic system are coming from the left, not the right.
Democratic secretaries of state sought to block Trump from the ballot in 2024, and Democratic members sought to bar roughly 120 colleagues from their respective ballots. It seemed that the greatest threat to democracy was its exercise by voters. Fortunately, a unanimous Supreme Court rejected the theory and added, “Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos.”
There has also been a push by Democrats to keep third-party candidates off ballots. Again, the last thing democracy needs is for voters to have more democratic choice.
In New York, Democratic congressional candidate Paula Collins even suggested that, after the election, the focus must be on “re-education” of MAGA voters, although she acknowledged that “that sounds like a rather, a re-education camp. I don’t think we really want to call it that. I’m sure we can find another way to phrase it.”
Democratic operatives are using the same rationalization to call for biased reporting to help Biden get reelected.
Democratic strategist James Carville this week demanded more “slanted” media coverage against Donald Trump to save democracy. Carville was triggered by New York Times editor Joe Kahn suggesting that the newspaper report the news in a fair and neutral manner. The suggestion sent many pundits into vapors at the very thought of reembracing objectivity in journalism.
“I don’t have anything against slanted coverage,” Carville insisted. “I really don’t, I would have something against it at most other times in American history, but not right now. F— your objectivity. The real objectivity in this country right now is we’re either going to have a Constitution or we’re not.”
It was particularly galling to hear the call for “slanted coverage” in the same week that the Hunter Biden laptop was authenticated and used as evidence in his Delaware trial. The government has called the widely reported claim that the laptop was “Russian disinformation” a debunked “conspiracy theory.” Carville was making his pitch for more biased reporting to the very media that buried the laptop story before the last election and spent two years in denial of its authenticity.
Yet, many journalists agree with Carville. Some journalism schools have been teaching that reporters need to dump concepts of objectivity and neutrality to achieve political and social reforms.
This week, reporters were irate after Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis issued a blunt message that the newspaper could not survive after losing half of its readership and tens of millions of dollars last year. He told the staff: “People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”
The fear that these newspapers might cover Biden and Trump in a fair and balanced way was immediately denounced as . . . wait for it . . . a threat to democracy. After Carville’s meltdown, the Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan warned Kahn and others that “our very democracy is on the brink, and how the Times covers that existential threat is of extraordinary importance.” She then asked whether the paper will “forthrightly identify the problems posed by a radicalized Republican Party that is increasingly dedicated to lies, bad-faith attacks and the destruction of democratic norms.”
Sullivan expressed alarm that the media would “try to cut the situation straight down the middle as if we were still in the old days — an era that no longer exists?”
The “era” appears to be the golden age of journalism when most Americans respected and patronized the same media outlets. Now, citizens are fleeing mainstream media, and polls indicate that they view reporters as pursuing the very political agendas embraced by figures like Carville and Sullivan.
Many voters are also responding to what they see as the politicalization of the criminal justice system, particularly with Trump’s recent trial in Manhattan. Again, these cases are being embraced as key to “defending democracy” when many citizens view them as the very antithesis of a nation committed to the rule of law.
This glaring disconnect was evident when President Joe Biden spoke on the top of the Point-du-Hoc in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Biden again used the event to suggest that democracy was in danger in the United States with the upcoming election. Yet, Biden has overseen widespread government censorship with federal agencies targeting those with opposing views on everything from elections and climate change to COVID-19 and transgender policies.
As Democratic secretaries of state sought to bar Trump from ballots, Biden refused to oppose the efforts. When liberal law professors and members demanded to pack the Supreme Court to guarantee a liberal majority, Biden refused to denounce it during the last campaign.
This is why some in the country may view Biden and the Democrats as existential threats not just to democracy, but to themselves. They see a party that is engaged in efforts to cleanse ballots (of Republicans), censor dissenting voices and prosecute political opponents. That is not exactly what propelled those men to climb the cliff of Pointe-du-Hoc in 1944.
Fortunately, our democracy does not depend on any president. It was designed by James Madison to withstand the worst, not the best, motivations of our leaders. After all, Madison wrote in Federalist #51, “If Men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
The system that he designed has withstood political, economic and social crises, including a civil war. It may even protect us from today’s “defenders of democracy.”
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
You are no longer a “Civil Libertarian” once you obsess how everyone should troll through Hunter’s stolen laptop to find any crimes they can. You are instead a Trump sycophant.
But is alright to “troll” thourgh Trump’s tax returnes and business checking account?
Gotta love GEB. For years the Democrats have preached “Globalism” on how the US needs to bow their collective knee to the WHO and the UN. The “America First” ideology headed by Mr. Trump goes against all they have forced down our throats for the last 60 years. If Mr. Trump wins, all that Globalism nonsense goes by the wayside as it should. It would be wise for the Democrats to take a look at the oldest example of trying look the same, be the same, treat everyone as if they all have the same talents and spread the wealth around in a society. Might want to ask the folks involved in the Tower of Babel How did that turn out?
We did the America First thing in the 1930s and early 1940s , at first by necessity, then by ignorance. How’d that turn out? The world is interconnected, and we have to learn to live and thrive in it. Otherwise we become one of those forgettable poor countries that you only hear about when some natural disaster hits it.
The top danger in my view is not the two political branches but the Judicial Branch. When judges are politicians-in-robes instead of providing their top constitutional duty of judicial review (overturning unconstitutional legislation by Congress and state legislatures).
For example: if you are conservative constructionist or originalist, how could you pass the “Citizens United” ruling? The flawed view that the Framers of the Constitution didn’t create the Bill of Rights to protect human-persons but the founders intended to protect corporate-persons in 1791.
Or that the 9th Amendment should have prevented overturning “Roe v. Wade” unless there was new evidence not known in the 1970’s. It was overturned by politicians-in-robes, not judges providing judicial review.
The political branches (Congress & WH) are designed to appease the “popular” issues that win elections. Judges are supposed to prevent politicians from violating Ronald Reagan’s torture treaty, prevent Cointelpro style blacklisting, prevent false imprisonment, prevent warrantless domestic spying, etc. Politicians will never solve these “unpopular” issues, only judges can do that!
The modern Democratic party never fails to declare who they truly are and who we should truly be concerned with.
If they tell you what they want do, it’s always rooted in utopianism and a loss of rights. If they warn you about the evil of others, it’s rooted in the reality of what they plan to do or are doing themselves. And it will always result in a loss of rights.
I can’t control my wife when it comes to flying a flag.
However, I can control YOUR wife when it comes to getting an abortion.
—– Justice Samuel Alito
The fact that Justice Samuel Alito calls his wife “Mrs. Alito” instead of “mother” is, honestly, pretty weird.
—-Mike Pence
Justice Samuel Alito says he was unaware of his wife’s “88” tramp stamp.
With respect to the Stop the Steal flag, I had absolutely no right to control my wife or tell her what she must do.
Remember this is a flag we’re talking about, not her body.
—-Justice Samuel Alito
The hysteria coming out of the Democrat party is all about their imminent loss of power once Trump is elected. Gone will be their golden geese projects (aka: rackets) around wars and climate, which are very lucrative for a few, but costly for many. And if Trump manages to attract a good share of the non-white vote, as he seems to be doing, maybe we won’t have to put up with the incessant accusations of “racism” and “white supremacy” anymore. Of course, the Democrats will once again unleash chaos in the streets — Antifa and BLM will likely make a comeback after being in semi-retirement for the last four years — but, the second time around, that con is less likely to impress anyone or be tolerated by anyone. What Trump’s next presidency should do is put the final nail in the coffin of establishment Democrats and Republicans, and usher in a new generation of populists who are opposed to foreign aggression and domestic repression. Exactly the opposite of what another Biden presidency will bring.
Truly ironic that Hillary Clinton, the wife of a Vietnam draft dodger, used the D-Day celebration to compare Republicans to Nazis.
PRIORITIES:
Alvin Bragg publishes a bimonthly newsletter with the most important prosecutions by his office.
The latest one lists the Grimaldi’s Pizzeria wage stealer ahead of the Donald Trump conviction.
Weaponization of the justice system against pizza is where I draw the line
In a word…”NO”! Hillary and company need to realize Mr. Trump only wants good for our country. I am not sure why they miss that. A good idea would to read Prof. Jordan Peterson’s article on the Trump haters. He has a lot of wisdom and insights on the Left.
Thing is, Turley, as we see your pleas for free speech regularly followed by your rage at D’s exercising that right, and your constant defending of trump after he literally tried to overthrow an election, you have to realize you’re in no way a trusted source on this…
Not to mention the fact that it’s very likely you’ve put time in on working on Project 2025…, the literal blueprint put out by the legal circle you call home that’s designed to systematically further erode our democratic Republic as we know it.
So you’re obviously free to share your opinion on your fox supported blog. I, in turn, am able to laugh like hell at your sheer hypocrisy. And also to be disgusted at your years long McCarthy-esque Swiftboating of Hunter Biden.
You’re a clown. Or at least the fox interns you’ve granted permission to write under your name are…
Hey, how do you think trump will do with his PO today?
Needless to say, but those framing this election as democracy vs. Autocracy are entirely on the money.., and you’re on the side of autocracy, Turley.
What time is your appointment today with your therapist? I believe you will get your diagnosis today . . . mentally ill.
This goes with the PO comment.
Oh snap. You funny.
Trump and the Republicans engaged in the first attempted coup in US history. That is about as anti-democrocy as it gets. Trump’s convictions have no connection because he actually did what he was accused of. And on top of that Trump is ineligible under 14A3.
With Republicans every accusation is a confession.
“the first attempted coup in US history”
I think you meant to write 2016 and the Russian hoax. Nancy and the like should be in jail for the real coup attempt.
Jim22,
Well said and it continues to this day.
Democrats use lawfare in an attempted coup to keep not just Trump off the ballot, Republicans, any challengers to Biden and of course third parties.
When Trump wins this November, what other coup attempts will they take?
Yes, this election is looking to be a disaster if Trump wins (dems will destroy the country) or if the dems steal it again. I keep telling my wife, just be prepared, because Newsome will most likely be the next President.
What a dystopian world we live in where words can have the opposite meaning then their original; just as rachel levine is not a woman, prog/left word “democracy” is the exact opposite, it means tyranny but is nothing but a chimera for the prog/left media to use at their will and need.
Have you been to the Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico? It’s absolutely lovely; you must visit one of these days. I did, a little while back.
What it can be called is a huge, muddy hole in the ground with glorious views of the Pacific, and the Punta Bandera wastewater treatment plant.
Trump Baja is a classic Trumpian swindle: grandiose promises that shatter like cheap glass against the hard, unyielding edges of reality. For a man who became famous for his forays into the brick-and-mortar business of real estate, Trump has thrived and survived by jumping from one lily pad of fantasy to another, saved at critical moments during his career by bankruptcies and loans, not to mention ordinary Americans willing to hand him their money and their trust.
‘Their’ democracy, the one filled with and defined by their own privilege, very well might be on the line if we strengthen what we actually have – an egalitarian representative republic. Make no mistake: these people are terrified of losing privilege and authority and having to do what everyone else has to do, and having to face the same consequences others do. It is about narcissism, class, and privilege, and that’s all.
They are ridiculous children underneath if you strip away the menace, and it’s time we take our freedom back. Not a damn thing has changed on the left since they fought to retain other human beings as property.
The Democrats are the masters of gaslighting. The AZ governor ran ads nearly every hour was the election neared telling people that Kristi Lake wanted to take Arizona out of the union. Needless to say, so many ignorant voters these days who have no clue how a state can secede from the Union. They play dirty and we are about to see the dirtiest ever.
As to Madame Clinton’s comment “…fight the GOP like the Nazis in World War II,” how rich. The Dems are the party of antisemitism and they call their opponents the antisemites. More gaslighting. Even Ingrid Bergman’s character wouldn’t fall for this, but the voters do.
We often underestimate the power of the people to effect change in this country. I think most Americans, even many liberals, democrats, and independents are disturbed by what they see happening in our streets, our universities, our traditions and our culture. Adam Smith (1723-1790) coined the expression “invisible hand” to explain how economies function in a free market. What Smith viewed likely is present in political arenas as well. Regardless of all the hot air we will hear between now and November, when it comes time to vote, most of us will be voting for an end to the chaos and corruption and once again the invisible hand will show us the way. The founders trusted the people and so should we.
HRC and her allies are totalitarian thugs. If Trump is elected, I hope he uses lawfare and destroys these these people for good. In a normal world I would never suggest such a thing, but we have asymmetrical warfare and without retribution the true thugs will win and finish off creating a one party state.
When Trump first ran, he said he’d go after HRC.
Not for partisan reasons but because she’s an actual criminal.
Now he denies even saying it. Wouldn’t hold your breath.
Finally an article that Dennis and Gigi can get behind! Well, most of it.
Certainly they’re in favor of all these undemocractic ways to save democracy.
They’re the same kinds of comments they make here every day.
The same kinds of fear mongering and slanted coverage.
Making excuses for the perpetrators. Helping them get away with it.
Feeling they have won while the whole country is actually losing.
I think Trump should consider making a formal speech explaining how the Democrats actually represent the “threat to Democracy.” It should be careful in tone and factual in nature, aiming to persuade the few in the middle who may be open to persuasion.
Knowing Trump he would mangle any speech and it would quickly devolve into an incoherent rant. His last two speeches at his rallies were nonsensical. They were so bad that rally goers started leaving in the middle of his speeches.
Well he never pooped his pants, forgot who he was, or fell off the stage, so I guess he has his opponent beaten so far…
Professor Turley,
Not only well said, spot on, but I think one of your best, most accurate columns describing the real threat to democracy.
And in true trial lawyer fashion, you brought the facts and evidence with you.
Well done!