American Carnage

A less obvious way Trumpism causes democratic decay

In his recent speech on the various threats to American democracy in Philadelphia, President Biden declared that “too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal.”

There is no clearer evidence of this than Biden’s own speech, which the president and his advisors decided was worth the political risk at an eerily uncertain and unstable time in American history. With the midterms approaching, the overwhelming evidence of President Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election hasn’t prevented a significant swath of the GOP from remaining in thrall to Trumpism. Biden recognizes how dangerous this is, and he’s willing to suspend the message of unity he campaigned on to acknowledge it directly.

Republican candidates across the country—whether for state legislatures or Congress—remain steadfastly committed to the idea that the 2020 election was hijacked and Biden’s presidency is illegitimate. According to a startling analysis conducted by The New York Times, a huge proportion of Republican lawmakers, across multiple states, have taken steps to “discredit or overturn” the 2020 election: 73 percent in Wisconsin, 78 percent in Pennsylvania, and 81 percent in Arizona.