NOTRE DAME — About every 80 years America has found itself at a historical hinge point. From the Continental Congress passing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on July 2, 1776 that set off the American Revolution, to Col. Joshua Chamberlain’s Union Army defense of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, to the June 6 D-Day invasion in 1944, had events turned out differently we would all be living in a very divergent country.
The American election on Nov. 5, 2024, will be another such point.
Once asked what America was, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
If Vice President Kamala Harris is elected as the first female commander-in-chief, America’s evolving institutions will continue to function in a manner we’ve known and lived with for almost 250 years. If Donald Trump is elected to a second term he is promising an authoritarian America with a strongman in charge.
The outcome of this presidential election will impact the rule of law, NATO, Ukraine, immigration, justice, journalism, a possible mass deportation of 11 million to 20 million people and the way presidencies and elections will be carried out in the future.
Here is how Trump has addressed some of these topics, in his own words:
Elections and the Constitution: On Dec. 4, 2022, Trump called for a “new election,” alleging “massive fraud” in 2020 (there wasn’t) and added that the situation “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Second-term retribution: At his campaign kickoff rally in Waco, Texas, in March 2023 on the 30th anniversary of the infamous Branch Davidians massacre, Trump said, “I am your warrior; I am your justice. For those who have been wronged and betrayed … I am your retribution.”
Authoritarian rule: Trump said at a Fox News town hall in early 2023 that he would not be a dictator “except for day one.”
Mass deportations: Trump said last week that he will invoke a more than 200-year-old wartime law that grants the president unilateral authority to deploy federal law enforcement for rounding up and deporting immigrants. His “Operation Aurora” would dispatch “elite squads of ICE, border patrol and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.” This act was last used in 1942-45 to round up and imprison nearly 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry.
Enemies from “within”: Trump said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” last weekend that America faces real danger from the “enemy from within,” including “radical left lunatics. It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the National Guard, or if really necessary by the military.”
Rule of law and summary executions: Trump said in Erie, Pennsylvania, last week that “one really violent day” would solve what he has described as a plague of unchecked property crime in American cities.
Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack: Trump said this past week Wednesday, “You had hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington. They didn’t come because of me. They came because of the election. Some of those people went down to the Capitol peacefully and patriotically. Nothing done wrong at all.”
Military tribunals for Pence, Cheney: Trump called for “televised military tribunals” for former Vice President Mike Pence, President Joe Biden, Vice President Harris, Sen. Mitch McConnell and former Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
Executing Gen. Milley: The former president suggested he would execute a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, who is quoted in Bob Woodward’s “War,” as saying, “He is now the most dangerous person to this country. Now I realize he’s a total fascist.”
Pulling out of NATO: Trump said numerous times that NATO allies “rip us off” by not meeting the 2% spending target. Trump appeared to invite a Russian attack against NATO deadbeats, saying he would “encourage” Russians to “do whatever the hell they want.” Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton told CNN, “The odds that he will withdraw from NATO are very high.”
Pulling out of Ukraine: In the Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Harris, Trump was pressed on his commitment to Ukraine. Trump responded, “I think it’s in the U.S.’s best interest to get this war finished and just get it done.”
We have witnessed the Republican Party morph into a Trump cult of personality. This is the second time in a century this has happened. The Ku Klux Klan of D.C. Stephenson co-opted the Indiana GOP in 1924, with disastrous, murderous results.
Many Republicans have jettisoned any set of conservative principles for Trump. The values of a cult of personality are the values of the leader, and Donald J. Trump is an amoral, damaged person.
When he began his presidential ascent nine years ago, Trump targeted immigrants and foreigners.
In the past several weeks, he has crossed the rubicon, now describing Americans who disagrees with him as “enemies from within.” Anyone who opposes him politically has been put on notice that they will be threatened in a second term. I’m astonished to hear his own words, which are antithetical to the American experience and have crossed into the current GOP mainstream.
Will we still be a democratic republic on Jan. 21, 2025?
Brian A. Howey is a senior reporter and columnist for State Affairs/Howey Politics Indiana. Find him on X @hwypol.
