Jamie Raskin tells the BBC American democracy is fighting a ‘profound struggle’ to survive

18 February 2022

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Stephen Sackur, host of the BBC’s “HARDtalk,” is known for being a forceful, aggressive and sometimes abrasive interviewer who isn’t shy about asking tough questions. And when Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland appeared on “HARDtalk,” the two of them had a very frank conversation about the fact that democracy is fighting for its survival in the United States.

Raskin was a key figure in former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment, which followed the January 6, 2021 insurrection. And the Maryland Democrat, a former constitutional law professor, described Trump as part of a global wave of authoritarianism during his “HARDtalk” appearance.

Raskin, now 59, told Sackur, “Look, the authoritarians and despots and bullies and kleptocrats are on the march all over the world. We know that. It’s Putin in Russia and Duterte in the Philippines and Orbán in Hungary and el-Sisi in Egypt and Bolsonaro in Brazil — you name it, those are all of Donald Trump’s friends. And they are all rooting for the dissolution and the destruction of American democracy.”

Sackur bluntly interjected that there are “millions of Americans” who “would still vote for Donald Trump.” And Raskin acknowledged that Trump still has a lot of support among Republicans but noted that Democrats won the popular vote in 2016 — although Trump won the electoral vote that year — and 2020.

“It’s the will of the majority versus their bag of tricks, and I concede to you that we are in a profound struggle for American democracy,” Raskin told Sackur. “But what we need is not judgement and carping from around the world — we need people to join our struggle and to help us vindicate the continuing progress of democracy in America.”

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