Why the Republic Can Hold Beyond 2020

Why the Republic Can Hold Beyond 2020
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Almost from the moment it began, the year 2020 seemed to be building toward some terrible climax. We can barely remember it now, but in the waning days of 2019, the House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump along partisan lines, setting the stage for 2020 to open with the drama of a Senate trial. A partisan acquittal came in early February — and then things really got wild. The global Covid-19 pandemic, the consequent economic downturn, the police killing of George Floyd, and the subsequent protests that morphed into riots in many cities all left Americans with the sense that the country was spinning out of control.

These mounting crises brought out the worst in our elected officials. The Republican president appeared feckless in the face of the virus, as his reality-television model of the presidency ran aground when confronted with a real crisis. His efforts to talk the virus out of existence were almost as embarrassing as the willingness of other elected Republicans to play along for the sake of the president's mood. Progressive mayors, governors, and national politicians followed suit, proving worthless in the face of escalating violence and disorder, refusing to defend the property and safety of those living in their cities — supposedly their core constituency. Presidential candidate Joe Biden's fitful criticism of the summer's violent rioting fell largely on deaf ears, while his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, didn't hesitate to visit a Wisconsin man shot by police during a domestic dispute as he appeared to be grabbing something from his car. She neglected to visit the two Los Angeles police officers hospitalized after being shot in an ambush attempt on their lives — an incident that occurred in her home state.

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