LETTER: The slow death of democracy
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As President Trump battles in the courts to contest his election loss, it feels like we are watching the slow-motion train wreck of our democracy.
What took 240 years to build has been gradually dismantled over the past four years. Norms, such as the peaceful transfer of power, have been shattered. Governing one nation has been replaced by a stark division of red vs. blue.
Trump launched his 2020 campaign the day after he was inaugurated in 2017. Since then, he has hinted that he might never concede defeat, and implied that only massive voter fraud could have led him to lose. After laying that groundwork, he’s now mounting court challenges to try to prove his case. Thus far, Trump’s crack legal team has won just a few of more than three-dozen cases they’ve filed.
In the contentious 2000 election, Al Gore stepped aside after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling stopped a Florida recount with George W. Bush ahead by just 537 votes. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan by a combined 79,316 votes. In 1960, Richard Nixon lost to John F. Kennedy by 118,574 votes nationally. All of the losers in these contests had more legitimate reasons to want recounts and court challenges than Trump, who lost the popular vote by more than 6 million votes. The difference in those close presidential races: Gore, Clinton, and even Nixon decided that the good of the country and our democracy were worth more than their personal disappointment.
Only Trump would put his feelings ahead of the values of our 244-year-old republic. What baffles me are the memes I see online that show Trump as a beleaguered defender of democracy, fighting off supposed “socialism.” When it comes time to actually defend our democracy, his actions instead erode it.
No matter how much he hugs the flag and professes to love this country, Trump always seems to do what’s best for himself.
Bernard Quarrick
Uniontown