Biden has to emphasize future of democracy or else 'violent fascist' Trump wins: columnist

Some pundits, frustrated by Donald Trump's stranglehold on the 2024 GOP presidential primary, have lamented that too many Americans don't care about preserving democracy in the United States — they're too worried about crime and inflation. If Americans cared about democracy, they have concluded, Trump wouldn't be on track to win the GOP nomination — and possibly defeat incumbent President Joe Biden in the general election.

In an article published on January 5, The New Republic's Michael Tomasky emphasizes that if "people don’t care about democracy," Democratic leaders and organizers have to make them care by getting across everything that is at stake in the 2024 election.

"This campaign will be about a lot of things, as all campaigns are," Tomasky writes. "But the main question will come down to this and this alone: Will a majority or plurality of Americans use their vote — that is, employ the peaceful means of democracy's most essential right — to put a violent fascist back in charge of this country? That the answer isn't a clear 'no' is terrifying."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

Tomasky continues, "But here's the thing. Some would argue that the fact that the answer isn't a clear 'no' means that Biden and Democrats shouldn't emphasize the issue because it's not a clear winner. I say the opposite is the case. Emphasize the issue and make it a winner. If polls today show that not enough people care about democracy, don't just follow the polls. Change the polls. Make them care."

Democrats, according to Tomasky, "need to be mapping out a plan now that, stage by stage, will lay out an argument to voters — swing voters especially — that by Election Day, will have them terrified at the prospect of Trump getting back into the White House."

"This can, and must, start with January 6," Tomasky writes. "But then, by late spring say, and especially by the fall, the argument should be almost entirely about the future."

Tomasky continues, "Attack ad after attack ad simply need to take Trump's own words, and the words of his people in leaks to media outlets, about how they're going to impose authoritarianism in his second term…. Will Americans use the tools of democracy to hand their country to a democracy destroyer? They won't if Democrats refuse to accept the 'people don’t care about democracy' argument and make them care."

READ MORE: Economist Robert Reich: Trump is 'going full fascist' with 'the backing of prominent billionaires'

Michael Tomasky's full article for The New Republic is available at this link.