How to curb the drift of American democracy? We dared to hope that the return of the Democrats to power would make it possible to bring at least the beginnings of a solution; However, the question remains tragically unresolved, a year after the assault on January 6, 2021 against the Capitol. And it is not the speeches delivered Thursday morning by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the occasion of this fatal anniversary that will slow down the sinking. The United States is too divided politically – and in the media – for the head of government and his right-hand man to be able to undo the lie that three-quarters of Republican voters continue to believe, namely that Mr. Biden is an illegitimate president and that the presidency has been stolen from Donald Trump. Still happy that Mr. Biden finally decides to denounce Mr. Trump by name for what happened.
Undermined by inequality, democracy in our nearby neighbors not only needs to be fixed, it needs to be rebuilt. Trump is the monstrous symptom of a “de-democratization” of public space that has been growing since Ronald Reagan. If the lie of the stolen election in 2020 has managed to perpetuate itself beyond all understanding, through crude ideological manipulations, it is more profoundly that the Republican Party, now subjugated to Mr. Trump, is well served. by the political and electoral system itself. What does it matter to these Republicans if Joe Biden won the popular vote with a majority of over seven million votes, since it would have been enough for Trump to win, courtesy of the iniquitous Electoral College system, for him to return 43,000? votes in three key states.
With the result, summarized an American expert, that “an undemocratic system gave birth to an undemocratic party”. And that, another points out, the progressive policies put forward by the Democrats are hampered less by a lack of popular support than by the disproportionate balance of power available to the right – in the Senate, which favors white voters in states. sparsely populated and more rural; in the appointment of judges; and in the organization of the Union, which allows States to block black access to elections and which gives free rein to gerrymandering (partisan division of constituencies).
“Every day is now a January 6”, headlined the New York Times in editorial last weekend. Associated with a trivialization, at the end of the day, of political violence and the far-right movement. The shock of the assault on Capitol Hill has not changed the method of grabbing power applied by Republicans for several decades. Not even a certain awareness of the serious danger they pose by illiberalism to the said American democracy and, by extension, to all democracies in the world. This amounts to saying that, under the guise of constitutional legality, the Republicans continue to obey a logic of “coup” which does not speak its name in view of the legislative elections of mid-term, scheduled for next November. , and the presidential election of 2024.
How to stop the sinking? That Mr. Biden has taken, against all odds, a salutary progressive posture since coming to power is one thing. Whether he has the power, or even the will, to carry out the necessary economic and structural reforms that he has promised (“ Build Back Better ”, defense of the right to vote, reform of labor law, fight against climate change, etc.) is another. The president faces significant obstacles in Congress as well as an endless pandemic, but he remains a man of the seraglio, who became a presidential candidate with the support of elites who especially did not want to by Bernie Sanders. However, the left wing of the party, which has demonstrated its capacity for popular mobilization, has become an essential engine of social progress. To forget it condemns the United States to their drifts.
Moreover, the investigations into the events of January 6 – those of the Department of Justice and the Committee of the House of Representatives – are likely to accelerate, given the electoral horizon. After giving the impression so far of hesitating to tackle the brains of the assault, the country’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, was finally more assertive on Wednesday, promising to prosecute the culprits “whatever. or their status ”, in the context where the evidence implicating Mr. Trump and his entourage is obvious. Those responsible for the barely bipartisan parliamentary inquiry continue to summon witnesses, most recently including ex-vice president Mike Pence and foolish Sean Hannity of Fox News. Importantly, the committee will hold televised hearings in a few weeks at the earliest, in the hope of being credible enough to deflate the lie to a number of Republican voters. It is not forbidden to try.