The author believes that most Republicans really do support liberal democracy and do not want to live in a dictatorship, not even a mild, Orban-style dictatorship. Part of me thinks that is giving Republicans too much credit. On the other hand, the performance of most Republicans in this regard has pleasantly surprised me. Since the 2021 insurrection, all defeated Republicans, with the exceptions of Kari Lake and Solomon Pena have accepted the results.
So maybe Trump really is an aberration, and maybe if he can be kept out of the White House, our democracy can recover after he dies or becomes incapacitated. But right here and now in the real world, he is knocking on the White House door and all polling suggests he will be admitted. Republicans have not been able to stop him so far and won't be able to stop him in the future. Jonathan Last, the author, explains:
I absolutely believe that a majority of Republican/conservative elites have no interest in authoritarianism. The don't want to live in an Orbanist illiberal democracy.
It's just that they have other incentives that they want much more than they want *not* to live in an Orbanist illiberal democracy.
. . . . . .
It's just a matter of incentives. If your highest incentive is something other than the survival of liberal democracy, then you will eventually become a tool for authoritarianism, because the aspiring authoritarian will align your incentives with his own.
I agree with the premise that when an authoritarian menaces democracy, the only way to save it is for the democratic forces all across the spectrum to set aside their differences and join forces for the sake of democracy. Such statesmanship has been all too uncommon.
And I see no sign of such statesmanship in the US today. We are sleepwalking our way toward dictatorship and I have no idea how to stop us.
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