Democracy may yet save the day in the West
After a few bad innings around the world, democracy is finding its stride again. In three beleaguered capitals, hope is stirring. Voters, judges and legislators, each in their own way, are resisting the slide into authoritarianism.
As Adam Gopnik, John Ralston Saul, Timothy Snyder and others eloquently remind us, liberal democracy has been facing its greatest threat since the 1930s. The erosion of freedoms in Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Russia, India and Brazil is troubling enough; the spread of the contagion to Israel, Britain and the United States, all sophisticated liberal democracies, is terrifying.
Consider, then, with cautious relief, the events of the last fortnight in Jerusalem, London and Washington. In each, the opposition has challenged strongmen flagrantly defying the law. The threat is not vanquished but it is contained — at least for now.
In Israel, the recent national election has not ousted the corrosive Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying desperately to insulate himself against the prospect of corruption charges. He has the first chance to form a government, again, and he just might.
For the moment, though, let us praise the power of the blue-and-white centrists, the surge of the Arab parties, whom Netanyahu intimidated, and the failure of the racist parties to enter the Knesset.
If Netanyahu does form a government, it will be without the ultraorthodox religionists. He may even have to share power with Benny Gantz. Or, he may be forced out entirely by Likud, so it can forge a coalition without him. As the Jews say, it could be worse.
In Britain, Boris Johnson has suffered defeat after defeat since becoming prime minister. He can’t call a national election and he can’t leave the EU on Oct. 31 without a deal, as he wants. In the sweetest of reversals, he was blocked from suspending Parliament for five weeks.
If the Queen could not stop him from prorogation — and by Jove, she damn well should have — the Supreme Court did. It was a dazzling assertion of institutional authority. Like Netanyahu, Johnson may ultimately prevail, although that, too, is uncertain. Watch for the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats to play kingmaker in a hung Parliament.
But the greatest blow for democracy is, of course, in the United States, where the ground beneath Donald J. Trump is shifting. The decision by the Democrats to open a formal impeachment inquiry is epochal.
It is also necessary to protect democracy against the man on horseback. He is claiming — as all tinpot heroes do with nihilist tones — that only he can save the republic from the “traitors” and “spies.” “And après moi, civil war!” In truth, it is Nancy Pelosi, the shrewdest tactician in Washington, who will save the country.
Pelosi did not want to launch impeachment and she fought the firebrands in her caucus. But she didn’t see a winnable case until Trump’s curious telephone chat with the president of Ukraine in July.
Rather than rely on the findings of the Mueller report or other allegations of obstruction of justice or financial impropriety, here she saw something clear and clean: the president using his office to pressure the leader of a foreign land, threatening to withhold U.S. aid, to smear a political opponent. As they once said of the case against Richard Nixon, this is something the cab driver in the Bronx can understand.
The Democrats had no choice but to act or see Trump humiliate them. Trump is abusing his office, stonewalling congressional demands for witnesses and documents. Assured he is right, he will say anything to protect himself. Expect rhetorical scorched earth.
By December, exactly 21 years after zealous Republicans impeached Bill Clinton on a weaker case, the House will impeach Donald Trump. By then public opinion — already moving sharply — will support the Democrats. While the Vichy Republicans will exonerate him in the Senate, this will be more than the feel-good “esthetic” impeachment the alarmists fear. It will be about principle, decency and accountability.
Trump may prevail — and Netanyahu and Johnson too — but don’t bet on it. The walls are closing in on all of them.
Three cheers for democracy.
Andrew Cohen is a journalist, professor and author of Two Days in June: John F. Kennedy and the 48 Hours That Made History.