'Complacency is dangerous': Ex-Reagan speechwriter warns 'check and balances' won’t survive Trump 2.0

13 December 2023

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Some critics of former President Donald Trump have argued that if he wins the 2024 election and returns to the White House in 2025, the United States' system of checks and balances will be robust enough to hold back any authoritarian moves he makes. Conservative Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who has endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for president, insists that Trump is "too dumb to be a threat to democracy."

But veteran conservative columnist Mona Charen has a very different viewpoint.

In an article published by The Bulwark on December 13, the former Nancy Reagan speechwriter warns that America's checks and balances may not be strong enough to survive a second Trump term.

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Charen explains, "Even the supposedly serious conservatives on the Wall Street Journal editorial board assure readers that 'We think American institutions are strong enough to contain whatever designs Mr. Trump has to abuse presidential power'…. So, the Journal isn't at all concerned that Trump would follow through on plans to instruct the Justice Department to prosecute his opponents; pardon all of the January 6th rioters, fake electors, and others who helped him attempt to steal the 2020 election; withdraw from NATO; impose a 10 percent tariff on all imports; investigate NBC for treason; and shoot shoplifters on sight."

The Never Trump conservative goes on to lay out some reasons why "this complacency is dangerous."

"The truth is that institutions don't uphold themselves," Charen emphasizes. "They require constant reinforcement and reaffirmation. They depend upon individuals who are committed to something other than their own narrow self-interest. Our institutions were not strong before Trump took center stage in American life, and they are even weaker now."

The former Reagan White House speechwriter continues, "The best possible check on the excesses of any political figure is a strong party that exerts pressure to conform to certain standards…. If the Republican Party were not such a shell, it would have shut down Trump's dangerous lies about the stolen election on November 3, 2020…. The institution of the Republican Party cannot be relied upon to check Trump in a second term."

Charen also fears that the military, the courts, the media and organized religion wouldn't discourage Trump's authoritarianism during a second term.

"What about the military?" Charen writes. "For the most part, the military has held steady, affirming that it has no role in domestic politics. But there are a disturbing number of former officers like Michael Flynn and others who are fully paid-up members of the Trump cult…. What about the churches?.... White evangelicals have shown themselves to be among the most susceptible to the lure of a would-be authoritarian…. What about the courts?.... Things will be different if Trump is reelected. He will have learned the importance of putting a toady in the attorney general's office."

Mona Charen's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

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