The central arena at present of the American battle between Democracy and Fascism is the fight going on now between Donald Trump and the Rule of Law.
The Rule of Law will almost certainly win in the Court of Law.
What’s less clear is which side will win in the Court of Public Opinion.
That Court of Public Opinion is the only place that Donald Trump is waging the fight, because he has no legal defense: he committed the crimes, and the evidence that proves it has been abundantly gathered, and the indictments probe that the Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, and his team, will be presenting the case compellingly.
That’s important. But at least as important, for the future of American Democracy, is the battle for “the hearts and minds” of the American people.
And in that battle, there is an unfortunate mismatch: the Force of the Rule of Law is required to speak only in its legal filings. These have been excellent, but however expertly these are done, those presentations are no match for a lawyer for Trump going on a half-dozen TV News shows spewing lies and bogus arguments, and painting this prosecution as something being done by the “Biden Administration.”
Smith’s outstanding “speaking indictments” are not much absorbed by the wider public.
While the Prosecutor side can speak only in public filings, while Trump and his lawyers can spew toxins and lies into the public consciousness—relatively unchallenged by comparably powerful voices.
(TRUMP is
- cultivating the possibilities of violence, posing with a baseball bat and declaring IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU.
- claiming against all evidence that he’s a victim here, denying the obvious and significant truth: that Trump is a one-man crime wave who represents a serious Fascistic Threat to the American constitutional order.)
Much of the base seems determined to buy the lies. But we can assume that there are a lot of Americans – on the fringes of the Republican world, and in the swing-voter middle -- who aren’t sure what to think.
Moving those people from Lies to Truth might be accomplished, by an effective champion of the Truth.
It is on such movement of “Public Opinion” that – ultimately -- the fate of American Democracy will depend.
In the long run, it is totally in the realm of Public Opinion that American Democracy must be saved. And at this moment, the place where Democracy and Fascism are importantly embattled is in this battle between Donald Trump (and his Party) and the Rule of Law. And therefore the immediate battle in that Court of Public Opinion is to determine: What proportion of the American people will the public understand the important rightness of prosecuting Donald Trump, and support the Rule of Law against the Fascist Threat?
Which is why it would be folly for the Side representing the Rule of Law to allow the Trump fascists to have the arena for propaganda to themselves. Someone needs to step up and go toe-to-toe with them in that public media arena in whatever ways would be most effective in its impact on public opinion, which involves speaking some different things in different ways from what the Prosecutor is allowed to do.
It simply cannot be allowed for the Fascistic side to enjoy such an advantage in the battle for Public Opinion.
While Smith wins the battle in the Legal Court, we need Voices (or a Voice) that takes on what the Trump side has been doing – unrestrained -- in its fight against the Rule of Law. Exposing the lies. Denouncing the fascism.
We need the right kind of “warriors” step up to challenge this Trump side in that battle—to counter lies with truth, to denounce what’s wrong and proclaim what’s right, to champion democracy against fascism. To go toe-to-toe with the adversary when Trump tweets out “IF YOU COME FOR ME, I WILL GO AFTER YOU,” and when the adversary advances bogus arguments about “First Amendment rights,” etc.
We need effective voices powerfully exposing the Trump side’s basically fascistic thrust in ways that will help as many Americans as possible to see that Trump – having committed the most serious crimes in American history – simply had to be held accountable.
We need for as many Americans as possible to see that this is something that Trump has brought on himself. And that the failure to prosecute would have done irreparable damage to the Rule of Law. Not prosecuting would have devastated the principle – absolutely central to the American order – that “No one is above the law.”
We need loud voices – especially – to help as many Americans as possible to see the profound ugliness of what Trump has shown: the dark spirit behind his attempt to seize power that the American people had voted to give someone else.
And, with 2024 lying ahead, we need to help as many Americans as possible to see what this whole ugly Trump situation shows about the Republican Party, most of which continues to align itself with this kind criminal assault on American Democracy.
Although many such voices would be desirable, there’s a spot here for someone to take on the leading role in putting out to the people the Truth about this showdown.
And there’s someone I would like to propose for that role—someone who has shown himself highly qualified to wage this kind of contact-sport-level battle for Public Opinion regarding this whole confrontation of the Rule of Law with Trump.
Jamie Rasking has an ideal set of resources to be effective going toe-to-toe with Trump and his lawyers in that battle in the Court of Public Opinion.
Raskin checks the important boxes with respect to his realm of expertise, his ability to articulate clearly the basic truth of the matter, and the prophetic moral tone to convey the ugliness of what’s ugly about the what the Trump-world is saying and doing.
A combination of moral vision and a richly developed understanding of the meaning and history of the American Constitution.
Having watched Raskin speak to such issues in numerous public appearances, I can see him as the perfect “David” to go up against the Trumpian Goliath that does its ugly work on places like FOX News.
There is an example of a voice from the Democratic side getting on FOX, and cleaning their clocks repeatedly. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appeared several times on FOX, and was so effective in his ways of speaking to the FOX audience that videos and transcripts of his appearances were widely disseminated. The Liberal World applauded his performance as their champion, as he seemed articulate and effective telling the Fox audience some truths that they really needed to hear. And he got invited back.
So perhaps it is possible for an articulate political figure from the Democratic side to get onto such FOX Shows. And possible also that the appearances of such a figure could have a beneficial impact on the Court of Opinion, getting some of the people in the FOX audience to turn away from the amoral lies and grasp the moral truth.
So I hope Rep. Raskin – and others – will step forward to fill the void we have now, where the Good Guys can speak only in legal filings.
The polls suggest that a majority of Americans are siding with the Rule of Law. But that majority is not as big as it should be. Too many hearts and minds appear vulnerable to being captured by the Trump Lies (and to supporting Trump-incited violence).
What could be a more important way for this highly talented political figure – with just the right kinds of strength – to do with his position than to turn himself into a Voice for the Rule of Law taking on the Trumpites in highly visible ways where public opinion might be swayed.