How Trump’s 'authoritarian assault' on democracy is enabled by 'institutional cowardice'

31 October 2024

Former President Donald Trump's ascendancy and potential election to a second term in the White House is partially due to the moral cowardice of American institutions, according to one columnist.

In a recent column for Bloomberg, journalist Francis Wilkinson wrote that Trump may not be in a position to retake the presidency were it not for people in positions of power failing to stand up to him. He opined that "for every Liz Cheney icily staring down the barrel of MAGA death threats, there seem to be a couple dozen JD Vances sliding belly-first on a stream of pusillanimity."

Wilkinson bemoaned the billionaire owners of newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post cancelling their publications' planned endorsements of Vice President Kamala Harris out of fear of reprisal should Trump prevail in next week's election. He also didn't spare CEOs like JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, who the New York Times reported was personally voting for Harris but held back from issuing a public endorsement.

"Institutional cowardice has enabled and emboldened Trump’s authoritarian assault at every step," Wilkinson wrote. "But Trump still makes his political bones on personal weakness. He has been exploiting fear — scary Black man, no birth certificate — since long before he ran for office."

The Bloomberg columnist pointed out that Trump's 2024 candidacy is primarily defined by fear-mongering about racial and ethnic minorities. He pointed out that the former president's recent rally at Madison Square Garden was largely focused on ginning up fear of immigrants and making his predominantly white and male base feel victimized by the rise of a powerful, successful Black woman like Harris.

"His message is an endless cycle of Who’s More Frightening? Haitians starting a new life in Ohio? Or the trans kid at the local high school trying to make it through another day? Are Black women counting votes more terrifying than library books recounting history? It’s a close call in MAGA world, but the tie goes to the Black runner," he continued.

Wilkinson included a dig at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) for his own cowardice. The outgoing Senate Republican leader recently told a biographer that he viewed Trump as a "sleazeball" and a "narcissist" who had "done a lot of damage" to both the Republican Party and the country. Despite this, McConnell has still pledged to support Trump in the election, and has warned his fellow Republicans that Harris winning the White House would be the GOP's "worst nightmare."

CNN host Chris Wallace has also questioned McConnell's moral compass. He said that the Kentucky Republican's attacks on Trump feel hollow given his promise to still vote for him.

"I'm not at all surprised that McConnell feels that way. He was pretty clear and really for about two or three years after January 6, refused one to meet with Trump or even to say his name in public," Wallace said earlier this month. "What I find most troubling about this is he believes all that. He says all that on the record and some of that in private but he's going to vote for Donald Trump."

Wilkinson reminded readers that voters will have the choice between continuing America's experiment at building a lasting multiracial democracy, or surrendering to autocratic rule. He wrote that Tuesday's outcome boils down to "whether MAGA will be given the chance to vandalize an emerging world that it finds too frightening to join."

"Tuesday’s election is a referendum on national cowardice," Wilkinson wrote. "Weak men have forced the issue, and a strong woman has answered the challenge. Either the US will take a bold step into a multiracial, pluralistic, democratic, courageous future, or it will retreat into cowardly authoritarian chaos."

Click here to read Wilkinson's column in full (subscription required).

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