Mediaboss Marketing

This is not how the process is supposed to work. What you sort of realize in watching how Trump has conducted himself [and] in how Mitch McConnell has conducted himself is that [the] functioning democratic process as we know it is not embodied in law or in the Constitution. It depends on both parties ... believing in a set of democratic norms about the value of public input, about the value of transparency, about allowing the public to have a say in whats happening. And if one of those parties ... decides to disavow all those norms, we get to a place where ... this is not American democracy. We basically have an election and live in a quasi-authoritarian state until the next election.

Trumps authoritarianism and McConnells are two very different strains. The president is a narcissist who gathers power for personal gain self-gratification. He cares little for the specifics of policy outcomes, and merely wants victories that he can boast about. For instance, on Friday morning he tweeted

and then appeared on Fox and Friends to make the patently false claim, Ive done in five months what other people havent done in years. Constant displays of alpha-male dominance is also central to Trumps brand of authoritarianism. He taunted his GOP rivals during the Republican primary, and since then has mocked his Democratic foesfirst Hillary Clinton, and now Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. This week, he tweeted that the House and Senate minority leaders, respectively, were doing the Republicans a favor by remaining in charge, the implication being that theyre ineffective if not incompetent.

This is the authoritarianism of pure spectacle. McConnell, by contrast, is withdrawn and diffident in his public. (Hes jokingly likened to a turtle because of his appearance, but behaves like one, too.) While the majority leader doesnt crave attention, he does care deeply about a specific policy agenda: advancing the plutocratic preferences of the Republican partys donor class. Infinitely more knowledgeable than Trump about how government functions, McConnell subverts norms with a laser-like focus on advancing that agenda. His authoritarianism, in other words, is one of procedure.

As different as they are, these two forms of authoritarianism depend on each other. Its unlikely that the Republican Party would have won a unified government last fall without Trumps theatrical flair. To judge not only by last years election, but also this weeks special congressional election in Georgia, Trumps tribalist politics have far more appeal with the Republican base than a forthright agenda of tax cuts for the rich and entitlement cuts to the poor. And when it comes to that agenda, all that really matters is that the policies be sold through the lens of negative partisanship. After all, Trump campaigned on a promise not to cut Medicaid, whereas McConnells version of the AHCA would slash the program by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. But Trump easily resolves such dissonance by reminding his supporters of the real enemy here: Obamacare.

If the Republican Party needs Trump, the president is equally dependent on the GOP. Given his manifest disinterest in policy and the details of governance, he would be unable to pass anything without crafty leaders like McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. But there is a more sinister dimension to Trumps alliance with these Republican leaders: Congress has the power to check the president, including impeachment and removal if necessary. Ryan and McConnell are the bulwarks protecting Trump from a wide range of areas where he should be held accountable. If they wanted to, they could push for laws requiring him to reveal his taxes, force him to place his assets in a blind trust, and use nepotism rules to limit the power of family members, among a range of other checks.

See the original post:
The Twin Authoritarians Who Are Endangering American Democracy - New Republic