By Kenneth Tiven in Washington
Freedom House, which usually excoriates foreign dictators, is suggesting that White House conduct is similar to that of “Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Pakistan where military forces silence the voices of legitimate dissent.”
Polling numbers climb for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who looks competitive in some deeply red states.
If Americans vote with the intensity brought to the on-going protests, it will shift elections a few points closer to a landslide. On the other hand, many Trump supporters will be voting afraid that without Trump they will lose something, even if they are not sure what. Some Republicans will simply not vote, finally admitting that what their leader says (see any recent Trump declaration or tweet) cannot be supported. This is the same as one more pro-democratic vote.
The “Black Lives Matter” movement includes a wide range of people by any distinction, thriving and growing on the obvious fact that the cops have become aggressors more than protectors. Therefore, the law and order argument of former President Nixon in 1968, in the midst of the anti-war turmoil, doesn’t play so well. Maybe President Donald Trump’s dismal leadership on the pandemic has diminished the value of his tough talk. As he did in 2016, Trump will claim a loss can only result from rigged elections. What he never said then was a win was probable only from a rigged elections.
Wining or losing, the 11 weeks between elections and Inauguration day will be uncomfortable for Americans who are used to peaceful transitions of power regardless of the level of acrimony in the campaign.
Until January 20th Attorney General William Barr has what is a virtual private police force drawn from federal agencies. Republicans have their Supreme Court judges, where one vote can shift the court right on any issue—and often have. His bevy of enablers may act like the Praetorian Guard, but consider that those bodyguards did assassinate several Roman emperors, including most famously, Caligula, whom Trump most closely resembles in personal style.
Yes, it is possible to be cynical that none of this matters, because the status quo always seems to win. But the sweep of actions on the roads, highways, public squares and electronic screens in America cannot be denied without engaging in moral blindness. Incremental change is the way most societal change takes place but sometimes more quickly than dreamed possible. The next six months will be a dismaying and difficult period of getting to something far better. Hopefully history will record that this time America saw itself with 2020 vision.
— The writer has worked in senior positions at The Washington Post, NBC, ABC and CNN and also consults for several Indian channels
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