Unless you’ve been living in denial – known as the Oxford University Conservative Association – you’ll have seen how, within weeks of his inauguration, Donald Trump has acted swiftly to debase and undermine liberal democracy in America. A nation whose democracy survived the Civil War, two World Wars, the Great Depression and numerous other crises has abandoned the egalitarian ideal that it had been, imperfectly, striving towards: the dream of a more perfect union. This repudiation of progress has been led by the most unimpressive wannabe-authoritarian since Yoon Suk-Yeol’s 10-minute coup in South Korea.
A sundowning geriatric, a ketamine-addled divorcee, crypto-bros, a sofa-loving VP and white nationalist postgrads have combined, like a disappointing rendition of the Power Rangers, to undermine the institutions of American democracy. A depressingly dreary triumvirate now sits in the White House, president, vice president and the actual president all deciding how to hurt the vulnerable and enrich themselves. The Republicans who control Congress have willingly and gleefully disregarded the Constitution with which they once battered Democratic presidents. They’ve not just handed full control of the national purse to the executive, against the wishes of the Founding Fathers, but to a group of unelected and unaccountable advisers who run around taking jackhammers to America’s government. Every statement out of Speaker Johnson’s mouth could have his predecessors as House Speaker spinning so fast in their graves as to supply America with centuries of renewable energy.
USAID? Unilaterally closed. Tens of thousands of federal employees? Offered severance packages the administration had no power to grant. Programmes to improve diversity in the government? Done away with. The NOAA? Under threat. The National Institutes of Health have had their funds unilaterally frozen and face further threats to their independence and capabilities. The Department of Education’s existence is threatened, whilst the CIA and FBI are being gutted so Trump’s appointees can do whatever they want. The administration, and some particularly spineless allies, have called for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza to turn it into an American enclave on the Mediterranean. Republican states are passing resolutions to encourage the Supreme Court to re-examine Obergefell, the landmark case that made gay marriage legal across the entire United States under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. This same amendment provides birthright citizenship, the repeal of which is the sudden new obsession of the American right.
What can be done? The Democrats are still dealing with the ramifications of their loss. Chuck Schumer, though a good man, is unfit to lead their Senate caucus. He is too old, a relic of the 90s – bound to the myth that the Republican Party can be ‘saved’ and that 2008-style politics, bereft of Obama’s charisma, can win. Opposition will need innovative, proactive leadership to resist an administration whose illegality faces little intra-party restraint and moves at breakneck pace. Democrats must be untainted by the Trump administration’s failures and the damage it will cause to so many disparate groups across America, and exploit these failures when elections come around. They cannot express any support for the administration’s policies, and must use every tool available to them, as Republicans did when they were in the minority, to delay, weaken and frustrate their agenda. It will not be easy – but if the Democrats want to abandon America and the constitution by becoming the willing supporters of pieces of the Trump agenda, they ought to disband and fade into obscurity. They wouldn’t deserve the title of ‘political party’ if they fail to be the face of opposition in America.
The courts have blocked some controversial elements of the Trump agenda – but they cannot act alone, and cannot protect against political actors who move far faster than the system was designed to cope with. Removing Musk’s access to the Treasury payments system is good, but does not nullify the effects of giving a private coterie of ideologues unrestrained access to America’s financial information. The Democrats must ‘flood the zone’, loudly proclaiming their opposition to every unconstitutional and extreme Republican act over the next four years. The institutions of American democracy must be upheld and supported as best they can. Normal concessions cannot be made, as this is not a normal presidency.
I don’t intend to give policy advice to the Democratic Party, or opposition figures in the US. There were enough op-eds written after the election, enough ink spilled claiming that every writer’s pet issue just happened to be the one that killed Harris’ campaign in 2024. But the time for waffling and worrying about norms, conventions and decency was in 2021, when the sitting President orchestrated an attempted coup to preserve his reign. After a few days where they conceded that maybe inciting mob violence was wrong, Republicans then rallied to Trump’s defence and stalled Biden’s presidency whenever they had the chance.
Democrats should learn from their example. There’s no political profit to be found in kindness towards a party which, when presented with the outreached hand of friendship, rewards it with vitriol and conspiracy. The communities who need protection from the cruelty of the modern Republican party haven’t just gone away: the ill, those without great privilege, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, working families and minorities. If the Democrats sacrifice them in pursuit of a warped ideal of ‘moderation’, there’s no guarantee they will ever regain power.
But you can be sure that those they abandon wouldn’t forget – any victory on such a basis would be hollow. How much is such a victory worth, if it is won solely at the cost of the party’s soul?