2/ You see, McConnell and pals want to undermine democratic institutions.
They're having trouble winning national elections. Their policies are unpopular, and their demographics are shrinking. (Duh, right? They cater to white supremacists in a country growing diverse.
3/ This public statement was brilliant if your goal is to undermine democracy👇
I'll count the ways.
First, the GOP has benefitted politically from politicizing the Supreme Court.
The promise of appointing conservative justices gets their base to the polls.
4/ By the way, this all started as a backlash to the liberal Court of the 1950s and 1960s, which did things like desegregate courts and try to eliminate the racism in the criminal justice system.
Conservatives reacted by vowing to own the Court.
5/ Second, McConnell's behavior effectively undermines democracy by rendering the government dysfunctional.
From Steven Levitsky, co-author of 👇the greatest danger to democracy is the government slipping into dysfunction, which will erode public confidence.
6/ Also from Levitsky: When public confidence erodes, people become vulnerable to the appeal of a strongman, who promises to get things done.
7/ Constitutional hardball is behavior that isn't technically forbidden by the Constitution but subverts the intention of the Constitution.
It's played by those trying to permanently rig the game in their favor.
It thus batters and damages democratic institutions.
8/ For more explanation on that, see the video or transcription.
Another way McConnell's statement is evil genius:
All he has to do is utter his threat (which we know he’ll carry out) and suddenly his opposition looks weak and ineffective.
9/ What a neat trick, right? McConnell says something norm-breaking and suddenly he can make his opponent look weak (bad).
It also provokes this reaction👇
Now his opponents are willing to join him in a game of Constitutional hardball.
10/ When both sides engage in Constitutional hardball, democratic institutions will weaken more because the democratic institutions are being battered by both sides.
Both parties suddenly look the same. "He started it" is never a justification for bad behavior.
11/ One more way McConnell's comment was evil genius: It's hard to respond in a soundbite. Counter messaging is difficult. Truth is nuanced.
The short-term problem is figuring out how to convey to the public that McConnell, like these guys, is bashing democracy.
12/ A better, long-term solution is what legal scholar David Pozen calls anti-hardball reform.
I meant the average voter who leans democratic but isn't watching the news cycle and thinking about government and politics all the time doesn't get it because it's complicated.
The long-term solution to GOP power grabs is to strengthen and depoliticize our democratic institutions to better enable them to withstand autocratic power grabs.
As you'll see, I leaned heavily on legal and political science scholars for this.
From Levitsky (co-author of 👇) the greatest danger to democracy is the government slipping into dysfunction, which will erode public confidence.
When public confidence erodes, people become vulnerable to the appeal of a strongman, who promises to get things done.
1/
When the public loses confidence in democracy, they are willing to torpedo democratic processes. Using anti-democratic means to save democracy has obvious problems.
McConnell wants to break the government because he doesn't like what America has become.
2/
“Is it too late to save democracy?”
“Will the fascists win?”
I answered these questions by talking about Susan B. Anthony.
(Talking for 10 minutes to my Ipad is feeling less weird each week)
Subtitle: Everything you never knew you wanted to know about Susan B. Anthony
If you prefer an [edited] transcript, it’s here: terikanefield.com/susan-b-anthon…
I’ll come back and do a brief Twitter summary.
But first, more ☕️
2/
I think we start with the fact that there will always be people trying to undermine democracy, and they are motivated and acting from fear and desperation.
Then, when they land a blow, instead of reeling with shock, we figure out how to respond.
See:
Just a friendly reminder that if the people who abused power are not held "accountable," it's because they are being shielded by a major political party that holds a lot of power.
You can't say Schiff and Swalwell haven't been doing their best.
Underestimating how entrenched the anti-democratic forces are? Unreasonable expectations? Thinking change can be swift?
Think about what would be happening right now if Trump was in the White House and compare.