By Chuck Morse (January 28, 2017)
It’s tempting to see Trump’s attacks on the media and the democratic system (voting) as an expression of his self-sabotaging vanity, but I think we’re seeing something much more malevolent. I think he’s setting the stage for his re-election in four years and the assertion of a much more violent, racist regime.
That is, he introduces policies that throw the world into chaos and aggravate social polarization, which of course compromises his popularity, but his attacks on the media undermine the setting in which opposition can be articulated and his attacks on the voting system undermine the system that could dislodge him from power. This is straight out of the Stephen Bannon playbook.
This puts the left in a very difficult position. I think it basically has three choices.
1. Stay silent and prepare to die.
2. Defend “democracy” and the media. This would mean lining up behind outlets like CNN, MSNBC, and the NYTimes, which are hardly allies. And it would also mean supporting “democracy,” which of course has a million problems.
3. Fight for something else entirely.