Democrats have framed the 2024 presidential election as a battle for American democracy, but a new column argues that making sure Donald Trump loses is just part of that ongoing struggle.
The former president actively attempted to overturn the results in 2020 to remain in power, yet he almost certainly will be the Republican nominee next year and has promised to act as a "dictator" — at least for a day. His allies are plotting to help him seek "retribution" against his enemies, wrote New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie.
"The American republic is genuinely at stake," Bouie wrote. "But as Democrats and their allies gear up for that battle, they should understand that beating Trump is the beginning of the beginning. We need to fight political despair everywhere we find it, which means this country needs an overhaul of its economic system, its political institutions and its public life."
Democracy must be practiced by equals as part of a community, Bouie wrote, but the contemporary U.S. has few spaces where ordinary Americans practice the habits of democracy, and many political institutions seem almost designed to make people feel helpless and hopeless.
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"Now, it is too much to say that this is premeditated, although you do not have to look hard to find Republican officeholders expressing the belief that political participation should be made more onerous," Bouie wrote.
"At the same time, it is hard not to miss the degree to which attempts to nullify popular referendums or redistrict opponents into irrelevance can also work to inculcate a sense of hopelessness in those who might otherwise seek political change," he added. "Yes, it is true that many people will push back when faced with a sustained challenge to their right to participate in political life or exercise other fundamental rights. But many people will resign themselves to the new status quo, persuading themselves that nothing has fundamentally changed or concluding that it is not worth the time or effort involved to pick up the fight."
