Democracy is not something you agree to disagree on

Chris Cillizza writes:

In an interview with Donald Trump earlier this week, conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt said something truly breathtaking.”You know, Mr. President, you and I disagree about the election, but we agree on so much,” Hewitt told Trump, segueing into a conversation about China’s hypersonic missiles.Talk about an other-than-that-how-was-the-play-Mrs. Lincoln moment!

That Hewitt uttered that line without irony is a telling window into how conservatives have found ways to rationalize Trump and his fundamentally anti-democratic attempts to undermine the faith of the American public in the 2020 election results.

Here’s the reality: You can’t just sort of yada yada the election rejection embraced by Trump. Because in refusing to accept the result of the 2020 election and repeatedly (and falsely) alleging voter fraud, Trump is actively working against everything that makes America, well, America.

Hewitt’s attempt to dismiss his disagreement with Trump over the election then as just another policy disagreement is laughable. This isn’t Hewitt saying we should have stayed in Afghanistan and Trump saying we should have pulled American troops out. This is the former President of the United States refusing to accept the results of a national election.

This is the key point. Trump is such a sore loser he refuses to accept the results of any election, unless it is one in which he wins. That isn’t democracy. That is not something on which you say “We agree to disagree”.

And it would be semi-ok if it was only a token protest. But he is making it a litmus test for Republican candidates that they must agree with him that he won, or he will campaign against you.

Trump is working to make a belief that the 2020 election was stolen a central piece of the Republican Party platform. And, again, this isn’t like making abortion or trade a party platform. This is making a rejection of American democracy a major part of what it means to be a Republican.

It’s such a shame as the US needs a good Republican Party. Biden has moved so far to the left that he could well be a one term President if the next election is fought on issues such as the economy, education etc. But if Trump insists it be fought on a single issue – how he is no actually a loser, then Biden may once again be the lesser of two evils and win (again).