With three weeks left in the 2024 presidential campaign, Republican nominee Donald Trump’s message is getting darker, more racist, and increasingly authoritarian. But even if most Americans are understandably tired of his divisive, dangerous rhetoric, we cannot succumb to Trump fatigue and tune out just yet—because our democracy is at stake.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that “the enemy from within” is an even bigger problem than migrants coming into the United States. Who is this nebulous “enemy,” you ask?
“Very bad people, sick people, radical left lunatics,” according to Trump, that could “be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
Trump’s 2016 opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called Trump’s musings “blatantly fascist” in a post on X.
“All the warning lights for our democracy are flashing red,” Clinton tweeted, encouraging voters to take him seriously and beat him by turning out to vote.
According to reports about Bob Woodward’s new book “War,” retired Gen. Mark Milley, who chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s term, called him “dangerous” and “a fascist to the core.” Milley, who served as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, says he fears being court-martialed if Trump is elected again.
This is Trump’s third consecutive presidential campaign and he has dominated our country’s political consciousness for nearly a decade. And even if Trump fatigue has set in among some Republicans, they’re not ready to abandon him—not as long as he’s good for their bottom line.
The New York Times reports that business leaders who witnessed Trump’s insulting speech at the Detroit Economic Club last week say they will vote for him—because they don’t actually believe he will do the things he promises to do. They’ve played down his claims that he’d be a dictator on “day one,” rationalized his sick fantasy about “one really violent day” to deal with retail crime, blissfully ignored when Trump called his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris “mentally impaired,” and turned a blind eye when he claimed that migrants are murderers and rapists with “bad genes.
MAGA’s undying support for Trump is buoyed by his economic vision, which, curiously, economists have said is an absolute disaster. So, the rest be damned. His backers just stick their fingers in their ears until Trump pivots to talking about tax breaks.
A recent NBC News report revealed that Trump has ramped up his promises to punish political dissent and criticism.
“She’s a criminal, she’s a criminal,” Trump said about Vice President Harris. “She really is, if you think about it.”
Reminder: It’s Trump who was actually found guilty in a criminal trial for paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign.
Trump said an edited “60 Minutes” interview with Harris should be “Totally illegal” and threatened to “TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE.” And at an August rally in Pennsylvania, he called for a ban on criticizing jurists who have ruled in his favor.
“I believe it’s illegal what they do,” Trump said. “Playing the ref with our judges and our justices should be punishable by very serious fines and beyond that.”
Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat told NBC News that Trump’s behavior is straight out of the “autocratic playbook,” and bears eerie similarities to other authoritarian leaders like India’s Narendra Modi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
At a September rally in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, Trump himself acknowledged the ominous nature of his speech.
“We’re going to do that … don’t worry … We haven’t gotten to that part yet,” Trump said. “No, I’m just saying this is dark. This is a dark speech.”
According to a Georgetown Institute of Politics poll in March, Democrats and Republicans alike are worried, with 81% of voters surveyed believing that democracy is under threat. What do they view as the biggest threats to democracy? Half of the respondents cited Trump at 51%, followed by MAGA Republicans at 49%.
Those who know the violent history of authoritarian rhetoric can see the threat clearly. American democracy is not impenetrable. It will take the will of the people to keep it intact, to call it out, and vote against antidemocratic norms in November.
Help preserve democracy by helping Kamala Harris win the White House.
